Target Wake-Up Time: 7:00 AM
Coming off of winter break, I struggled to reset my sleep schedule. I chose to track this habit for CS247B to build new behaviors and investigate the causes behind my current sleep patterns.
Weekly Breakdown (since class on Thursday 1/08):
Friday (Jan 9) and Saturday (Jan 10)
Wake-up: 9:00 AM
Despite attempting to wind down earlier, I stayed on my devices doing work until around 11:00 PM. I didn’t actually fall asleep until around midnight. Given my baseline of 8.5 hours of sleep, I naturally slept past 8:30am.
Sunday (Jan 11)
Wake-up: 8:00 AM
My roommate moved in at 7:00 AM. I stirred briefly but chose to fall back asleep. After stirring a second time at 8:00AM, I made a conscious decision to wake up and get out of bed — a one-hour improvement from the previous two days.
Monday (Jan 12)
Wake-up: 8:00 AM
Although I maintained my 8 AM wake-up, I once again stayed up late working on assignment on Sunday night. This confirmed that my sleep delay was consistently caused by pushing past my planned “wind down” window.
Tuesday (Jan 13)
Wake-up: 7:00 AM
Success! On Monday night, I put all of my devices away at 8:45 PM, as I knew that I had an 8:30 AM workout class booked — and it had a hefty cancellation fee. Having an external commitment made it significantly harder to bail on my early wake up. I woke up at 7 AM, still tired, but proud of myself and awake enough to make it to my workout class.
Reflections:
- My habit of delaying “wind down” time for work was the greatest obstacle in the way of my success.
- External accountability (workout class) created just enough friction in my environment to push me through the fatigue
- Social cues (e.g., my roommate moving around in the morning) gave me the opportunity to reframe waking up early as the norm rather than forcing productivity
