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thedeadhaji
39489 Posts
For most young adults, the status quo is to stay up into the wee hours of the night. Whether it hours be procrastinatory or productive in nature, makes no difference; we seem to be naturally inclined to stay awake, rather than go to sleep. It's a rather curious phenomenon, one that I feel has resulted in us requiring courage to go to sleep early in the night[1]. Suppose it's 10pm on a weekday, and you're browsing some sites online. You're not being particularly productive in the grand scheme of things, but you're being entertained and you're soaking up new (possibly superfluous) information. Worldly pleasures are at your fingertips. You feel a little bit of fatigue, but you're unlikely to let that convince you to go to sleep so early into the night. You subconsciously feel as if you'd waste a few hours by going to sleep so early. There's so much more you can do by continuing to browse and click away. Naturally, the notion of sleeping now is cast aside. Suppose it's midnight on a weekday. You're a student. You're studying. You have dozens of pages that you have to read by the day after tomorrow, as well as a handful of assignments that are due in the next two to three days. You don't have any immediate deadlines tomorrow. You're feeling pretty tired, operating at maybe 60-70% efficiency. Do you go to sleep? Of course not! You're managing to output something, albeit at a reduced efficiency. The natural inclination is to keep on chugging. It's mental inertia, if you will[2]. It's not like we're likely to be productive at this hour of night, and yet we talk ourselves into staying awake. Staying awake is a known commodity. We know what to expect. If we sleep, who knows what will happen? Who knows how productive we will be in the morning? Who knows if we can even wake up earlier? Moreover, it feels good to keep hacking away at our task. We don't want to sleep in such a state, even if it's 2am. That is, unless we physically can't take it anymore. We've been trained through our youth and young adulthood to defy our body's signals and continue toiling until the early hours of the night. If the body's nature is to go to sleep early, then it is the mind's nature to continue on course, even if it contradicts the body's desires. Productivity? Efficiency? Such "logic" doesn't enter the picture. Having been molded into this behavior, it is no longer natural for most of us to go to sleep earlier than absolutely necessary, as demanded by our bodies or our schedules the next day. However, it is in most cases undeniable that going to sleep earlier would be a boon to our productivity and overall happiness (by virtue of our health), both short term and long term. In such a world, it takes strength and courage to defy convention and sleep early. But for those of us who enjoy the act of sleeping and enjoy being active in the morning, such a change in routine can be life-changing.
[1] I imagine it's slightly easier for women, who have the beauty sleep motivator. [2] I am extremely guilty of both these examples. Things were particularly bad when I was a student.
Crossposted from my main blog.
 
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United States24701 Posts
It's particularly tough to get to sleep when you have 6 waves of catapults coming into each of four of your cities in about 45 minutes.
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if you sleep before midnight, you will never get a job. So keep studying and no sleep.
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On February 24 2012 02:09 micronesia wrote:
It's particularly tough to get to sleep when you have 6 waves of catapults coming into each of four of your cities in about 45 minutes.
=]] so many sleepless nights because of this game
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I'm glad to be an exception to this rule. When my body says "sleep", I say "yessir!" and get right on that.
I typically go to bed around 10 pm and occasionally have a few naps during the day.
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This is a very interesting topic indeed. I suffer quite severely from the notion of refusing sleep. Its quite remarkable now that I think about it... even to the point where, at the beginning of this semester of school I had a decent sleep schedule, going to bed and getting up early and it felt great. I was alert and awake for morning classes. Despite the fact that I am aware of this feeling, now that I am mid-way through the semester, my sleep schedule is horrible. In fact, I had a 9am class this morning and didn't get to bed until about 3:30am. And subsequently, today, I am quite tired.
Perhaps this will allow me to realize the value of not combating sleep... But more than likely, it won't.
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Good topic, I haven't slept early through a night in ages. I don't have to get up particularly early, but I hate the drowsiness when you wake up from a sleep deprived night.
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This is so true for me. I procrastinate sleeping, imagine that.
On February 24 2012 02:09 micronesia wrote:
It's particularly tough to get to sleep when you have 6 waves of catapults coming into each of four of your cities in about 45 minutes.
What game is this?
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Interesting point, as somebody who has hudge trouble going to sleep early i find that intersting. I remember reading a developer's blog where he explained that he is more productive at night when there is nothing to bother him (no client calls for an example) and that even if you are tired and not as efficient than during the day, being tired actually helps you because you only focus on the task you are doing and you are not frantically checking twitter/reddit/facebook/whatever is your favorite internet drug.
Wheras during the day with your full capacity and coffeine in your body you tend to be all over the place and not really focusing on what you are doing, but trying to multitask to much. I don't really agree with the point he made in his blog, i know that at night i just like to enjoy some relaxing time, it can be playing games or watching movies/TV Shows.
"But for those of us who enjoy the act of sleeping and enjoy being active in the morning, such a change in routine can be life-changing."
Procrastinating this change in my life since 6 years now, i'll try...tomorow.
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Netherlands45349 Posts
Dota is the bane of my sleeping schedule
''just one more''
''I AM NOT GOING TO BED UNTIL I WIN''
...
Cue the 3 games lost, each taking ~45min.
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On February 24 2012 02:54 FortuneSyn wrote:This is so true for me. I procrastinate sleeping, imagine that. Show nested quote +On February 24 2012 02:09 micronesia wrote:
It's particularly tough to get to sleep when you have 6 waves of catapults coming into each of four of your cities in about 45 minutes. What game is this?
I think he's talking about Travian?
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Hey, i'd just like to say, I really enjoy reading your blogs 
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well shit, why couldn't you have posted this before last night.
Hopefully I'll keep this in mind next time I have an exam to study for.
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For an interesting take on an opposite sort of phenomena, listen to Armor For Sleep's first album "Dream to Make Believe". I'm somewhat torn, in that dreaming and the comfort of sleep are easily some of the best things in life, and yet many times I simply cannot make myself hit the hay.
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On February 24 2012 04:30 farvacola wrote:
For an interesting take on an opposite sort of phenomena, listen to Armor For Sleep's first album "Dream to Make Believe". I'm somewhat torn, in that dreaming and the comfort of sleep are easily some of the best things in life, and yet many times I simply cannot make myself hit the hay.
That's because you've conditioned your mind to ignore the signals your body gives you. If you are trying to sleep and your brain is still racing sleep is virtually impossible. The best way to solve this is to shock your body into sleeping and then fixing your schedule. If your a student you do this every time you come back from a long break where you stay up until 6 AM, then you basically go to school with an hour of sleep. By the time it's 9:00 PM you are dead tired and can sleep fairly easily, fixing your schedule permanently is simply up to you at this point.
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On February 24 2012 03:30 Horrde wrote:Show nested quote +On February 24 2012 02:54 FortuneSyn wrote:This is so true for me. I procrastinate sleeping, imagine that. On February 24 2012 02:09 micronesia wrote:
It's particularly tough to get to sleep when you have 6 waves of catapults coming into each of four of your cities in about 45 minutes. What game is this? I think he's talking about Travian?
I used to play a game similar to that called ebony. (evony maybe?)
Oh the grind and hours spent just waiting....
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United Kingdom16710 Posts
You just have to say no to naps and have an active day. Then sleep will come naturally at night. I used to have very screwed up sleeping pattern because I took naps in the afternoon & didn't move around much when I was awake. Now I take time to exercise everyday and resist the urge to lie down for a quick slumber. I fall asleep pretty quickly at around 11 and wake up fresh at 6ish. Also, avoid consuming too much sugar/caffein especially around evening.
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I am having a huge issue with sleep. I keep going to bed at 3-4 am. I just cant fall asleep if i am not tired. My body got so used to going to bed this late that going to bed early is like studying a match test :/ .
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i sometimes take pills to sleep early, i feel tired but my body just wont fall asleep, i try to not to do it too often though (about once every 2-3 weeks). Exercising yourself is a good way to sleep earlier as well, unless you start exercising at 11 pm or midnight-ish
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On February 24 2012 02:09 micronesia wrote:
It's particularly tough to get to sleep when you have 6 waves of catapults coming into each of four of your cities in about 45 minutes.
evony?
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I don't sleep because I hate getting up.
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Wow you summed up exactly how I feel about sleep....this habit is just terrible and I can't break it at all.
My wife is very understanding that I don't go to bed when she does but I worry that someday she won't be as such....
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You know, I've actually been thinking about this recently. I've been getting worse and worse with sleeping late.. Just last night, I stayed up till 7am with 10 class -.-;; I've gotten to the point where I'll look at the clock and think
"Psh, it's not even 4am, I'm not going to sleep.. Gotta find something to do to keep me up"
And then every 3-4 days, I totally crash and miss all my classes and sleep like 15-16 hours and feel awful when I wake up.
Whats wrong with meeeee
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It's not easier for women. There's a hella lotta makeup products to mask the ill-effects, so if all you care about it appearance, it's not likely to persuade you to sleep more.
Personally I have struggled with severe insomnia for years. Knowing just how shitty it makes me feel, I make great efforts to go to bed. As far as sleeping, sometimes I lie in bed and don't sleep for the entire night. :/ It still feels bad in the morning, but it's not quite as bad as no rest at all.
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On February 24 2012 08:56 Xenocide_Knight wrote:
You know, I've actually been thinking about this recently. I've been getting worse and worse with sleeping late.. Just last night, I stayed up till 7am with 10 class -.-;; I've gotten to the point where I'll look at the clock and think
"Psh, it's not even 4am, I'm not going to sleep.. Gotta find something to do to keep me up"
And then every 3-4 days, I totally crash and miss all my classes and sleep like 15-16 hours and feel awful when I wake up.
Whats wrong with meeeee
lack of care imo. school is one long, tiring grind. i think everybody needs something in life that motivates you, evokes ones passion, something to live for so to speak. if theres nothing in life you feel passion or urgent need for, why care? and if you dont care, you will also not care much about your health as long as your not dying or something.
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college student averaging 8 hours of sleep a night. Latest I ever sleep is 1am with rare exceptions. Screw societal expectations and the norm, I like my sleep. What really baffles me though is when my friends make a competition out of who gets the least sleep. What's next? Who can go the longest without food and water?
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I totally agree with this. I've been trying with varying success to institute a 'no SC2-related activities after 11pm' rule. I'm definitely feeling a lot better and more productive as a result, and my play has improved too. Unfortunately, society still this view that those who give in to sleep are somehow weak or less productive. With the average American now only sleeping 6 hours a night, it's beyond the point of ridiculous.
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thedeadhaji
39489 Posts
On February 24 2012 02:09 micronesia wrote:
It's particularly tough to get to sleep when you have 6 waves of catapults coming into each of four of your cities in about 45 minutes.
FFFFFFFFUUUUUUu
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thedeadhaji
39489 Posts
On February 24 2012 02:36 SCJethro wrote:
This is a very interesting topic indeed. I suffer quite severely from the notion of refusing sleep. Its quite remarkable now that I think about it... even to the point where, at the beginning of this semester of school I had a decent sleep schedule, going to bed and getting up early and it felt great. I was alert and awake for morning classes. Despite the fact that I am aware of this feeling, now that I am mid-way through the semester, my sleep schedule is horrible. In fact, I had a 9am class this morning and didn't get to bed until about 3:30am. And subsequently, today, I am quite tired.
Perhaps this will allow me to realize the value of not combating sleep... But more than likely, it won't.
yup, basically what I had during college 
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thedeadhaji
39489 Posts
On February 24 2012 02:21 AnachronisticAnarchy wrote:
I'm glad to be an exception to this rule. When my body says "sleep", I say "yessir!" and get right on that.
I typically go to bed around 10 pm and occasionally have a few naps during the day.
Count me as being jealous!
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thedeadhaji
39489 Posts
On February 24 2012 02:57 Marou wrote:Interesting point, as somebody who has hudge trouble going to sleep early i find that intersting. I remember reading a developer's blog where he explained that he is more productive at night when there is nothing to bother him (no client calls for an example) and that even if you are tired and not as efficient than during the day, being tired actually helps you because you only focus on the task you are doing and you are not frantically checking twitter/reddit/facebook/whatever is your favorite internet drug. Wheras during the day with your full capacity and coffeine in your body you tend to be all over the place and not really focusing on what you are doing, but trying to multitask to much. I don't really agree with the point he made in his blog, i know that at night i just like to enjoy some relaxing time, it can be playing games or watching movies/TV Shows. Show nested quote +"But for those of us who enjoy the act of sleeping and enjoy being active in the morning, such a change in routine can be life-changing." Procrastinating this change in my life since 6 years now, i'll try...tomorow.
I remember reading something similar a few months ago on HackerNews.
There's merit to it I guess but those "distraction" factors are controllable as well if you organize your environment as such.
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thedeadhaji
39489 Posts
On February 24 2012 08:30 WaveofShadow wrote:
Wow you summed up exactly how I feel about sleep....this habit is just terrible and I can't break it at all.
My wife is very understanding that I don't go to bed when she does but I worry that someday she won't be as such....
Recruit her and make a joint effort to remedy it!
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thedeadhaji
39489 Posts
On February 24 2012 09:05 RedJustice wrote:
It's not easier for women. There's a hella lotta makeup products to mask the ill-effects, so if all you care about it appearance, it's not likely to persuade you to sleep more.
Personally I have struggled with severe insomnia for years. Knowing just how shitty it makes me feel, I make great efforts to go to bed. As far as sleeping, sometimes I lie in bed and don't sleep for the entire night. :/ It still feels bad in the morning, but it's not quite as bad as no rest at all.
Ah very good point about the cosmetics.
As for your insomnia issues, have you tried the usual tricks of
1. exercise
2. pitch black room
3. room with nothing in it but your bed
4. cool ambience
5. no noise / white noise
6. note eating 2 hours before sleeping
etc?
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man my sleeping schedule is so frickin messed up. go to bed anywhere between midnight and 3 and get up at 6 every morning. I randomly procrastinated a paper and literally did my first all nighter earlier this week. Then as soon as I got home from school at 4, I slept till 9, then studied till 5 and then slept till 6. The next day I sleep from 3-6 and now everyday I'm wide awake late at night and tired all day, I "wake up" around 10 PM. I don't know how to fix this.
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thedeadhaji
39489 Posts
On February 24 2012 10:51 whatthefat wrote:
I totally agree with this. I've been trying with varying success to institute a 'no SC2-related activities after 11pm' rule. I'm definitely feeling a lot better and more productive as a result, and my play has improved too. Unfortunately, society still this view that those who give in to sleep are somehow weak or less productive. With the average American now only sleeping 6 hours a night, it's beyond the point of ridiculous.
High five~ I'm going to sleep around 11pm these days
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thedeadhaji
39489 Posts
On February 24 2012 10:32 KazeHydra wrote:
college student averaging 8 hours of sleep a night. Latest I ever sleep is 1am with rare exceptions. Screw societal expectations and the norm, I like my sleep. What really baffles me though is when my friends make a competition out of who gets the least sleep. What's next? Who can go the longest without food and water?
Reminds me of Asian societies bragging about who has to do the most unpaid overtime...
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thedeadhaji
39489 Posts
On February 24 2012 14:43 Luepert wrote:
man my sleeping schedule is so frickin messed up. go to bed anywhere between midnight and 3 and get up at 6 every morning. I randomly procrastinated a paper and literally did my first all nighter earlier this week. Then as soon as I got home from school at 4, I slept till 9, then studied till 5 and then slept till 6. The next day I sleep from 3-6 and now everyday I'm wide awake late at night and tired all day, I "wake up" around 10 PM. I don't know how to fix this.
I've definitely been there
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thedeadhaji
39489 Posts
On February 24 2012 02:15 needcomputer wrote:
if you sleep before midnight, you will never get a job. So keep studying and no sleep.
BS imo.
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Why have you made a ton of separate posts? :DD
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On February 24 2012 14:43 Luepert wrote:
man my sleeping schedule is so frickin messed up. go to bed anywhere between midnight and 3 and get up at 6 every morning. I randomly procrastinated a paper and literally did my first all nighter earlier this week. Then as soon as I got home from school at 4, I slept till 9, then studied till 5 and then slept till 6. The next day I sleep from 3-6 and now everyday I'm wide awake late at night and tired all day, I "wake up" around 10 PM. I don't know how to fix this.
You know what you do?
You pull another all-nighter to try and reset your sleep cycle.
Hahahhaa FIGHT FIRE WITH FIRE
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Totally agreed. I really like your blogs haji, keep them coming!
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thedeadhaji
39489 Posts
On February 25 2012 00:38 Tipany wrote:Show nested quote +On February 24 2012 14:43 Luepert wrote:
man my sleeping schedule is so frickin messed up. go to bed anywhere between midnight and 3 and get up at 6 every morning. I randomly procrastinated a paper and literally did my first all nighter earlier this week. Then as soon as I got home from school at 4, I slept till 9, then studied till 5 and then slept till 6. The next day I sleep from 3-6 and now everyday I'm wide awake late at night and tired all day, I "wake up" around 10 PM. I don't know how to fix this. You know what you do? You pull another all-nighter to try and reset your sleep cycle. Hahahhaa FIGHT FIRE WITH FIRE
OR you sleep for 16 hours I guess? 
I have various ways of fixing my own sleep schedule when it gets out of whack, but none of them are particularly efficient. They're certainly not good enough to share here with confidence.
The best way to fight the illness (like most other things) is prevention for sure. Be in a healthy routine and don't let yourself deviate from it. I think one reason why college is so hard in this regard, is because we have different daily schedules for each day of the week. HS and working life is relatively easier because you typically have a similar routine 5 days of the week.
The real challenge is going to sleep early on Fri/Sat evenings, and waking up early on Sat/Sun. It really does feel awesome when you manage to wake up early on a Saturday and you start off the day with something decent like reading a book. By the time its 1pm, you realize how long you've been awake, how (relatively) productive you've been, and how much longer you have in the SAME DAY to do more awesome stuff
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I tend to destroy my sleep pattern every week - In fact I don't even have a sleep pattern
I'll stay awake until about 6am or 7am most weekends. Then on Sunday night i'll pull an all nighter and go to work on 0hours sleep. When Monday night comes, I'm so dead inside that I sleep from around 7pm to 7am. Nothing beats a 12hour sleep to bring you back to life xD
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I used to suck at sleep but now I've been pretty good about getting to sleep... at 2... to 3 am every night. Close enough. Though it's a bitch when I try to fall asleep after a sick losing stream in BW.
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What is this? A blog post for HTML parsers? Yes I was going to make a blog post about the same thing but it seems haji already has.
For most young adults, the status quo is to stay up into the wee hours of the night. Whether it hours be procrastinatory or productive in nature, makes no difference; we seem to be naturally inclined to stay awake, rather than go to sleep. It's a rather curious phenomenon, one that I feel has resulted in us requiring courage to go to sleep early in the night[1].
Suppose it's 10pm on a weekday, and you're browsing some sites online. You're not being particularly productive in the grand scheme of things, but you're being entertained and you're soaking up new (possibly superfluous) information. Worldly pleasures are at your fingertips. You feel a little bit of fatigue, but you're unlikely to let that convince you to go to sleep so early into the night. You subconsciously feel as if you'd waste a few hours by going to sleep so early. There's so much more you can do by continuing to browse and click away. Naturally, the notion of sleeping now is cast aside.
Suppose it's midnight on a weekday. You're a student. You're studying. You have dozens of pages that you have to read by the day after tomorrow, as well as a handful of assignments that are due in the next two to three days. You don't have any immediate deadlines tomorrow. You're feeling pretty tired, operating at maybe 60-70% efficiency. Do you go to sleep? Of course not! You're managing to output something, albeit at a reduced efficiency. The natural inclination is to keep on chugging. It's mental inertia, if you will[2].
It's not like we're likely to be productive at this hour of night, and yet we talk ourselves into staying awake. Staying awake is a known commodity. We know what to expect. If we sleep, who knows what will happen? Who knows how productive we will be in the morning? Who knows if we can even wake up earlier? Moreover, it feels good to keep hacking away at our task. We don't want to sleep in such a state, even if it's 2am. That is, unless we physically can't take it anymore.
We've been trained through our youth and young adulthood to defy our body's signals and continue toiling until the early hours of the night. If the body's nature is to go to sleep early, then it is the mind's nature to continue on course, even if it contradicts the body's desires. Productivity? Efficiency? Such "logic" doesn't enter the picture.
Having been molded into this behavior, it is no longer natural for most of us to go to sleep earlier than absolutely necessary, as demanded by our bodies or our schedules the next day. However, it is in most cases undeniable that going to sleep earlier would be a boon to our productivity and overall happiness (by virtue of our health), both short term and long term. In such a world, it takes strength and courage to defy convention and sleep early. But for those of us who enjoy the act of sleeping and enjoy being active in the morning, such a change in routine can be life-changing.
[1] I imagine it's slightly easier for women, who have the beauty sleep motivator.
[2] I am extremely guilty of both these examples. Things were particularly bad when I was a student.
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EPT
