Can Humans Change Their Sleep Cycle?

Have you ever wondered why some people are early birds, and others are night owls? Are you the type who always falls asleep at 8 pm no matter what, or do you stay awake until 2 am finishing work? It really gets you thinking— Why DO we have sleep cycles? In this episode, Dr. Tina Lasisi walks us through the peaks and valleys of our circadian rhythm, how our environment affects our sleep, and why we evolved to have different sleep schedules.

"Why am I like this?" is a show hosted by biological anthropologist Tina Lasisi, and produced by STEMedia, that dives deep into evolutionary biology to explain some of our existentialism or everyday questions about our body.

And keep up with Weathered and PBS Terra on:

[ItsASleepySheepy]

I am and have always been a perpetual night owl, despite all the efforts I've made to try and shift into a more strictly diurnal schedule. I'm exhausted throughout the day, but wide awake at night. While I'm glad there is some kind of genetic or evolutionary validation to this, on the other hand, it's still really frustrating!

[simonsaysism]

I was born a night owl, but even now at age 30, I still can't get my dad to accept the fact that there is a genetic basis to this preference

[johnwt]

I am tired of diurnal people "suggesting" I just "try and make an effort to wake up early" whenever I tell them I sleep from 4am to 11am, and have my peak performance at midnight. Before noon I am practically a zombie. Try you living in a society where you're forced to work from say 6pm-2am (my preference) and you're told should just try harder.

[JoeBob]

For several years I was on a 25-26 hour cycle, where I'd wake up a little bit later every day, and every few weeks I'd be going to bed at 1:00-2:00pm; and I really hated it so I'd often stay awake for 24 hours or longer to get back to waking up early.
But even when I did that, my body always tricked me into avoiding the mornings, so I'd either sleep for 3-4 hours and wake at 4:00am, or else I'd sleep for 12 hours and wake around midday.
I think something in my brain just hates mornings, and I'll either undersleep or oversleep to avoid them if I can, but not consciously. I'd love to be a morning person but I just can't convince myself to like mornings.

[melusine]

Not every one does one stretch of sleep, commonly we used to have second sleep/ two sessions of sleep at night. Very handy for sharing guard duties or watching over the fire, animals or babies

[Vector_Ze]

When I was young I was an early bird, but after working late night and overnight for a few decades I am afraid I'm permanently a night owl.
But, beyond that, I think I just hate phase changes. In other words, I resist going to sleep, but once asleep I hate to wake up.
Now retired, I no longer use an alarm clock and my circadian rhythm seems to drift. I think I'm on a cycle significantly longer than 24-hours. Changing clocks twice a year doesn't help, especially when winter dusk is around 5 PM (eastern side of a time zone). So glad that 2023 might bring and end to the changes and will leave us permanently on what we now call Daylight Time. I heartily approve.

[andrewwojtas]

I used to get up at 3am during the spring and summer, it was great, during the fall it went to a cycle of getting up at about 7 now

[laanierhae]

I love PBS Terra. Informative content with great hosts.

[NonBinary_Star]

4:30 😂😂 "The early bird gets the worm [...] But those are just the worms I decide to leave behind!" 😂😂

[MikeTheSeeker]

The look on your face when your roommate said good morning was priceless and hilarious 😂

[ginaslevinsky]

Thank you for mentioning high latitudes! This seems to be left out most of the time I learn about circadian rhythms, and I live at a high latitude. I just learned the word "zeitgeiber" and now I can research more than just sunlight.
Ps: I took a remote work job for the winter. If I worked normal hours for my time zone, I'd start in the dark and have ~1hr of daylight after work. Instead I chose to line up with my colleagues 3 time zones East: I still start work in the dark but have daylight in personal hours. I use my SAD lamp at the same time daily as my zeitgeiber.

[ronkirk]

Night owl or early bird doesn't matter to me either way, I just wished I could still sleep for 8 hours like I did when I was younger. Like flipping a switch when I turned 68, I started sleeping only about 6 hours a night and even that requires a medium dose of a sleep aid (Trazodone). Oh, to sleep like a baby again!

[gigakoresh]

It's so satisfying to watch these get better with every episode haha

[aelolul]

The "sleeping less" ad skit made me chuckle.

[imberrysandy]

I always love the bloopers. They are so wholesome

[kidmohair]

My work involved me being a day person for the darker times of the year,
and an evening person for the less dark months, with occasional switch-ups.
I retired at the end of one of the latter, and now find that I *seem* to be on a permanent
evening schedule, that is proving to be not, always, a good thing (although how much do I care?).
I actually like how such a schedule makes me feel, it feels natural, even if it does mean
the rest of the workaday world is (note) out of sync with me...or vice versa.

[emilycreamer]

Working at Starbucks with an "open schedule" is a disaster. They have you waking up at 3 am for an open and then staying up til 11 pm for a close in the same week. Sometimes having you get off work at 11pm and then returning to work 7 am. Legally an 8 hour gap is all that's required, but how are we supposed to sleep adequately when we still need to travel to and from work, sleep, eat, and shower in that 8 hour gap?

[heavymetalbassist]

I like my late night quiet time to work in my shop. But farm chores need to be done by 10am. I am considering changing my rhythm. Ive read about people that are awake 4 hours then sleep an hour, and that seems ideal for my lifestyle.

[平和-vz]

This show is very well-made, I enjoy it a lot!

[torravengael]

3:28 Ummm, excuse me, not just any onesie, we're talking about a CORGI onesie. Innovator status unlocked.