After I've been away hiking for a week, I come back and sleep well - because for a week I've been going to bed at sunset, waking up at sunrise and exercising the whole day. But, once back at work, the cycle begins again.
I think a major cause of the late bed-times and insomnia is using the computer in the evening: email, IM, browsing - damn you digg and reddit - and my pet projects, tasks and goals that I work on after-hours, often till after 11pm. And even if I'm off by 10pm, I simply cannot fall asleep diving from the computer onto the bed - even reading a few chapters of a book first. Sometimes falling asleep takes hours. I sometimes go out with friends during the week, but then I usually fall asleep quickly.
So, my new idea is to do all my home computer tasks early in the evening as the first thing when I get home from work. Once I'm tired, around 8pm, I'll shut it down, shower, have dinner, and spend the rest of the evening relaxing - TV, dead-tree books, and scribbling notes on paper, and go to bed as soon as I'm relaxed and bored.
2 comments:
That's exactly how it is for me as well. I get sleepy about 1 hour later every day - or more when I'm on vacation and spend the whole day online (programming/gaming/chatting/reading).
Your brain still gets "tired" but the rest of your body doesn't. I like to tell myself I'm getting more out of life by having a 25-hour day instead of the normal 24, but sitting in front of a PC all day can't be healthy. :P
Good thing my employer is not too strict about specific working hours!
To paraphrase the famous quote, nobody was ever on their deathbed wishing they had spent more time with their computer.
Yes - the brain gets tired from computer use, but you still can't sleep because your body has been sitting still the whole time.
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