WORK OUT THE PERFECT BEDTIME FOR YOU

You should be going to bed and waking up at the same time every day — yes, including weekends. of course, there will always be exceptions, but generally you want to orchestrate your sleep cycles and circadian rhythm for the most efficient, quality sleep.

A sleep cycle is about 90 minutes long, cycling through five stages: stage one — the transition from wakefulness to light sleep; stage two — slightly deeper, but you can still awaken easily; stages three and four — sleep becomes much deeper; stage five — REM (rapid eye movement) when deepest sleep happens and restoration (from your nervous system to how you process information to how you store memories) takes place.

For restorative sleep most people require four or five complete cycles, but generally, owls and Super owls feel better with four sleep cycles, while Hummingbirds, Larks and Super Larks feel better with five.

To find your best bedtime, multiply the time of one cycle (90 minutes) by your desired number of cycles. Add on how long it takes you to fall asleep (owls and Super owls usually take around 40 minutes, while Hummingbirds, Larks and Super Larks are closer to 20 minutes) and then work backwards from the time you need to wake up.

The goal is to wake up naturally a few minutes before your alarm. When you can do that, you’ve found your bedtime.

Here’s a guideline for when each type of bird should set their bedtime:

Super Owls take about 40 minutes to fall asleep but usually need only four sleep cycles. So, to wake up at 8am, subtract 400 minutes, (4 x 90-minute cycles + 40 minutes to fall asleep), which gives a bedtime of 1am.

Owls also take about 40 minutes to fall asleep and need only four sleep cycles. But owls wake a little earlier than Super owls. So, to wake at 7am, subtract 400 minutes (4 x 90-minute cycles + 40 minutes to fall asleep) which gives a bedtime of 12am.

Hummingbirds take about 20 minutes to fall asleep and need five sleep cycles. So, to wake up at 7am, Hummingbirds should subtract the 470 minutes (5 x 90-minute cycles plus 20 minutes to fall asleep) which gives a bedtime of 11.10pm

Larks take about 20 minutes to fall asleep and need five sleep cycles. So, since a lark naturally wakes early, say 6am, subtract 470 minutes (5 x 90-minute cycles plus 20 minutes to fall asleep) which gives a bedtime of 10.10pm.