My most recent trial of shutting down screens was good overall but had some missteps along the way. Successful days were on and off. One I would close us and be in bed well before 11 PM, while others were spent up past midnight. I believe part of what made this so difficult is that I feel more energized as the night passes on. What I need to do now is find better ways to spend that energy in some form of outlet.

Time to Turn In

Throughout the trial, I’ve had to stop gaming with friends early or cut off videos in the middle of watching in order to start winding down at 10 PM. While I definitely was disciplined most nights, some were a struggle. I just needed to fill my brain with the last 5 minutes of that video, or I would use the excuse that it  was a weekend so I could stay up until 1 AM playing games.

Many days, I struggled to fall asleep as early as planned, and so I tried to replace time that was often spent watching videos with a variety of other tasks. I tried puzzles which seemed to only keep me up later. Reading seemed to help, but I often would try to get one last chapter in.

Optimal Working Time

I’ve always felt I’ve been more of a night owl than a morning bird. My peak times to get work done has seemed to be late in the evening.

My hypothesis for my increased energy comes from a second wind after decompressing after a long day. In my high school and college years, this was winding down after class, cross country/track practice, and homework. While my activities have been consolidated into one eight hour block of work I think the results still apply.

Conclusion

Though I struggled to make 10 PM work, I think trying this out, with a range of successful nights, has helped me to realize a better solution long term. I’m going to play around with the no screens after X o’clock format a bit more and see if I can find something that works. Maybe it’s 11, maybe it’s midnight. 10 just seemed too early. By the time I was supposed to be winding down, I’d finished decompressing from work and my brain was ready for more.

With loosened expectations on time, I do think having a stricter daily habit will be the most beneficial. In other words, no more weekend binges. Consistent sleep is more critical than hours slept.

I may not have enjoyed this trial, but it did force me to recognize a few issues with habits I’ve formed. I believe playing with the formula for my sleep habits will help and this was a good launch point.

For the next four weeks, I’ll be trying a tip I learned in the memoir of Felicia Day, a weekly accountability group to focus on actually accomplishing goals. Details to be worked out, but I’ll probably follow the same framework Felicia’s group was, a gathering over brunch. Why fix what isn’t broken?