“Sleep is for the weak,” I would mutter to myself as I dragged my tired limbs out of bed at 5 a.m. I knew that if I let myself drift off again, I would risk missing my alarm altogether and waking up in a panic four hours later.
Summoning the willpower to wake up early has never been difficult for me. Getting enough sleep, though? Virtually impossible. Despite the carefully thought-out sleep schedules crafted for me by my lovely mother when I was a child and adult promises of going to bed on the weekends, none of it stuck. Don’t even get me started on university and my wildly irregular routine. If the work got done, I decided, none of the rest mattered.
Now that I’ve gotten older and my frontal lobe has fully matured, I realize this nocturnal pattern is something I need to fix—fast. Not getting enough sleep has been connected to enough health issues that they would fit on a CVS receipt (think diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and low immune function, to name a few).
Shortly after turning 25, I set myself a challenge: I would go to bed at 9 p.m. every day for a week to see if I could develop a healthy circadian rhythm that worked for rather than against me. All the while I’d track my wellness stats—like sleep quality and daily “readiness”—with an Oura ring.
Here’s how it went:
Days one to three
My experiment began on a Thursday. I cruised through the 9 to 5 and followed it up by attending a lovely work dinner, sensibly heading home straight after. I have a simple and consistent nighttime skincare routine, and by the time I’d finished, it was almost 9 p.m., so I dutifully hopped into bed.
While my mind had got the memo, my body was clearly confused. After much tossing, turning, sitting up and humming to Role Model, I eventually drifted off. Come the morning, my Oura ring told me I hadn’t begun to fall asleep until 11:37 p.m.—ack!—well after I’d gotten into bed. Fortunately, my sleep score was an impressive 96, which meant that once I was asleep, it was restful. Plus, I was out for seven hours. A win is a win.
Day two followed the same pattern, only ever so slightly less successful. It was midnight by the time I actually drifted off, and my sleep efficiency dipped to 91. It was clear that my chaotic circadian rhythm wanted to stay put.
On day three, I incorporated some deep breathing exercises into my nighttime routine after turning off all of the lights and setting my phone aside. According to Stanford University, focusing on long, controlled breathing exercises can have a calming effect and reduce anxiety, priming your mind to switch off. It worked like a charm: I fell asleep much earlier, and my sleep efficiency clambered its way back up to 94. Finally, something good.
Days four and five
By day four, I was getting into the swing of things. My sleep efficiency hovered at a healthy 94 and I began to fall asleep even earlier—only 90 minutes after putting on my pajamas and reaching for my emotional support water bottle.
I was realizing that 9 p.m. perhaps wasn’t my optimal bedtime—at least, not yet—and if I’d committed to winding down at 10 p.m. in the first instance, everything might have fallen into place faster.
By day five, I started to feel like I had more energy throughout the day. My Oura ring agreed: it indicated that my readiness score (which takes into account factors such as your resting heart rate, body temperature, sleep balance, and activity balance) increased from 68 to 81 over the course of the experiment.
One aspect I wasn’t a fan of: despite going to bed earlier, at the start of the week, I was waking up later, too. It was still all at a reasonable time—around 7 a.m—but I felt as though I was losing time, rather than maximizing it.
Days six and seven
By the end of the week, I felt like a sleep connoisseur. Not only was my sleep efficiency score firmly in the nineties, but I also found I was out like a light within the hour. According to my Oura ring, my sleep regularity moved from the “good” range into the “optimal” category. Wow, never been here before!
At work, my energy levels felt even and steady rather than sporadic and unpredictable. I had also begun waking up naturally just after 6 a.m. While my circadian rhythm likely still needs some work, I’m convinced the week-long experiment has changed it for the better. Who said early nights aren’t cool?
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