the rum soaked fist: internal martial arts forum

The opposite of https://rumsoakedfist.org/viewtopic.php ... 836b937e2c

The Taoist schedule involves something like yin and yang energy before dawn and around 11 p.m. - are you training upon waking and meditating or something before going to sleep?

Honestly, my sleep schedule is pretty much not a schedule at this point.
My wife and I have been getting much more active in some local communities and so have been having guests over and going out almost constantly, and staying up till 1 or 2 most nights.
Then getting up at 6 each morning.
For the most part I still have enough energy, and more to spare, even.
But, generally, before bed I'll do Taijiquan. Some stretching and loosening, some standing, some form, some free movement. Just enough to get everything nice and straightened out and a little bit tired and relaxed. Then I pile into the bed with the wife and 3 dogs and my kitty and pretty much go to sleep right away.
If I'm not tired, I don't sleep, I'll do something else. Usually in the dead of night I make that something else Taijiquan until I feel like sleeping.

Nothing wrong with what you are doing before sleep
I don’t know your age but feel these sleep patterns might become a problem later on
As a worker of very erratic shift work I know what problems it can give
There is a lot of study been done on this

I am skeptical of “norms” regarding sleep.

In an agricultural society, the early to bed - early to rise idea makes sense; and in the past when daylight hours were being optimized, behaviors could be different than for many modern lifestyles.

But I am an introvert, and modern studies indicate that introverts tend to go to bed later (and awake later) than do extroverts. Since societal “norms” are more likely to be set by extroverts (those freely expressing their views to others…), I tend to dismiss many of them.

When I was working I would go to bed around 11 PM, and now that I am retired I tend to go to bed around 1 AM. I wake up late, but have always been well rested and can get up and going without any sluggishness, no need for coffee or other stimulants to “wake me up,” and feeling fresh.

I think that you can do what works for you without concern about whether or not you are following some behavioral norm. Listen to your own body.

Another note, it seems that late to sleep introverts tend to live longer than early to bed extroverts (correlation, not necessarily causation).

Oops, answered on the wake up thread. Interesting about the introversion. More thinking about Taoist "energy cycles" than societal norms. Trying to work toward morning and night "good quality" of practice.

Don’t ignore the 24 hour clock

wayne hansen wrote:Don’t ignore the 24 hour clock