Not just ideas, but motivation in general. I'll waste the best part of the evening on God knows what pointless crap or other, then at around 1am everything starts coming together. A musical idea. The urge to roll my sleeves up and start mixing a track I've been putting off. A work related task I  should have done 4 hours ago. Some online research which I've been meaning to do. 

And then before you know it it's 3am and way past my bedtime. Result: not enough sleep. 

It's almost 2am and I'm measuring for shelves. What the hell is wrong with me? 

Nothing except for whatever forces you to get up before you've had enough sleep!  I also do my best work in the middle of the night, but then I always still manage to get a good 7.5 hours of sleep (five 90-minute sleep cycles) which is really what an 8-hour night of sleep is.  I must say however, that it's rare that I get all that sleep at once.  Usually I'll sleep 4.5 or 6 then take a nap later.

Now, if I have a life-sucking, de-motivating, unexciting and commute-heavy J.O.B. to go to, then I'll want a lot more sleep.

Sometimes guilty of the same.  I think some of it is that late night is much more quiet and peaceful, and perhaps I am a bit more relaxed (often end up getting to bed around 2:00 A.M. or so).

sharke


Not just ideas, but motivation in general. I'll waste the best part of the evening on God knows what pointless crap or other, then at around 1am everything starts coming together. A musical idea. The urge to roll my sleeves up and start mixing a track I've been putting off. A work related task I  should have done 4 hours ago. Some online research which I've been meaning to do. 

And then before you know it it's 3am and way past my bedtime. Result: not enough sleep. 

It's almost 2am and I'm measuring for shelves. What the hell is wrong with me? 

same with me , I guess some people are owls and some larks...

I would much rather sleep during the day and do all the other stuff at night.

Yeah to offnote's statement.

Some of us have a different circadian cycle than others. 

My own seems to be in-between ....sometimes I'm nightowl...other times not so much.

And as one gets older they may find they need less sleep as well....

Unless you are Martha Stewart....

I've never liked being a morning person..... I detest having to get up before my body wants to get up naturally. 
Now that I'm a bit older..... staying up at night is getting harder to do and for some reason I seem to be waking earlier. Of course, much of that may be coming from the fact that my wife is a school teacher and she gets up fairly early every day of the week. 

As far as good ideas at night..... maybe..... I've had a few where I have awakened in the middle of the night with what seemed like a really good idea for a song......but I've never felt compelled to get up and write it down in any way.  

I have, on occasion, after toking a few in my younger days... been setting with my guitar and come up with some freaking brilliant ideas AND had the recording machine ready to roll......and let it roll. After the recording, I recall thinking that I had just captured the next #1 hit song........ hoooooo boyyyy!    Time for bed and I'll get up tomorrow and refine it and get it ready.....  Next morning..... what the.....?  That's can't be the same tape.... no..... this sux........ what was I thinking? 

And as one gets older they may find they need less sleep as well....

I've been waiting for this to happen for years!

No sign of it happening here - and my need for a lunchtime nap seems to grow daily (I missed a meeting on Monday because of this )

Bristol_Jonesey

And as one gets older they may find they need less sleep as well....

I've been waiting for this to happen for years!

No sign of it happening here - and my need for a lunchtime nap seems to grow daily (I missed a meeting on Monday because of this )

The Spanish speaking countries have it all together.... afternoon siesta..... then hang out until 1am or so... and sleep in until 10am which is "early". 


While I was in Argentina I noticed tables and chairs near the sidewalks in many of the residential neighborhoods. I asked about it. I was told this is a custom..... In Argentina, the normal dinner hour starts at 9pm.... here in the US.... we normally eat between 5pm to 7pm at the latest ..... in Argentina, the restaurants don't open their doors until 9pm.... so, back to the neighborhoods..... around 11pm, people start to gather outside near the sidewalks at the tables and chairs they have set up and they eat and drink and some will walk around and hang out with others..... kind of like a nightly block party. This gathering can last well into the early morning hours in some cases..... 3am or so.... 


Ride through a city like Raleigh NC at midnight and the streets, even in the downtown areas on week nights are deserted. Not so with Cordoba Argentina. It was like a carnival going on. Every sidewalk cafe and bistro had all of it's tables filled, people were packing the sidewalks and I even remembered seeing a juggler with flaming torches juggling in the street while we were stopped at the red light. 

Humans, like most animals, are designed to wake up when it gets light and go to sleep when it gets dark.  How a whole society can effectivly become nocturnal is beyond me.