The Author explores a socially charged minefield of complaints and efforts to understand the whats, whys, and hows so we may find more effective resolutions to chronic sleep deprivation in our 21st Century Earth

“Wha…? Hey! Don’t wake me up! Leave me alone. Please!!!” The Author awakes from a short afternoon nap at 17:06 from having to get up at 6:00 after 4.5 hours of sleep, Wednesday 24 February 2021.

Getting up early is an abomination. Abominable! Unless one is a morning lark or a lion chronotype, of course. I’m neither as I’m a night owl. My chronotype is the wolf. We creatures of the night represent about 15% of humanity. Apparently owls and wolves are more creative than larks and lions, hunt better in the evening, but are not as “healthy, wealthy, and wise” as the early birdies. Hey, who and what determines the rules here? See, waking up early for me feels horrid, even painful. Embarrassing as well as our work culture frowns, no, scowls down at people who don’t naturally jump out of bed early and quickly to joyfully pounce upon their jobs.

Societies the world over, especially those disrupted by constant violence including warfare and further perturbed by industrialization and electrification, have nearly destroyed our natural sleep cycles. Electrification and resulting technoeuphorias under capitalism, indeed, under all -isms, has led to fantastical material progress. They’ve also generated nonstop media agitation, addictions to social media and video gaming, and even more online distractions such as celebrity gossip and multiplatform video streaming. One may get obsessed with nonstop global news of faraway local events or constant sports events in play somewhere on this planet. These factors have disturbed all of the chronotypes from their natural Gaian order. This disruption seems to be intensifying as well, altho such perceptions may be skewed by repetitive interruptions of sleep.

Even so, nearly 55% of people are bears, the middle-middle folks, those who prefer to get up “at a reasonable hour” neither “too early” nor “too late.” Bears tend to go to bed at a “reasonable” hour as well. While one can force their sleep and wakening patterns to change per their work and family schedules, such changes do not alter the underlying chronotype. Me, ah, I’m a sleep-deprived wreck. You?

Grew up on a farm where we got up at 4:30 or 5 in the morning if not earlier to be at work by 6 o’clock. Every day. Still had to milk the cows and feed the livestock even on the most sacred holidays. Ditto as a kid when my sibbies and I woke up early to eat breakfast with my family, get ready for school, feed our pets, get on the school bus, and ride 30-45 minutes further to arrive at school before classes began at 8:00 AM. Those kids who got on the bus earlier often spent a full hour on the bus. The afternoon bus rides home, or perhaps team sports, school-based clubs, part-time jobs, and chores left little time for homework and studying before going to bed. There were times when I was in high school I would have football practice at school after class, drive home in a car as the busses have long since left, do homework, engage with my family, do house and yard chores, study, then go up to the barns and do chores. I used to climb up into the barn loft and shovel grain for cow feed over into a big chute at 1 in the morning so whoever feeds the cows about 6:15 or so will have enough grain ready to flow. Then come home and get ready for bed. To get up early the next morning. My siblings had their own responsibilities, too. We were chronically sleep deprived even back when we needed sleep the most. Continue reading →