Anyone else not insomniac, but much clearer thinking at night?

[hatrickpatrick]

I am by no means an insomniac, but I have a different problem... It seems that my mind is just waking up when everyone else is going to sleep. For example, I'm a musician, I play guitar and sing, in a band. I can go all day without a single idea, but then as soon as I'm getting into bed, my mind suddenly becomes a breeding ground for ideas which start flying out. I don't think I've ever written a song during the day. I find it easier to do my homework, to come up with new ideas for my website, to figure out a way around a problem I've been having, etc etc etc at night. Is that unusual? It's very annoying for me because it seems I'm just starting to get into my stride when everyone else starts telling me to go to bed... I just in general feel very comfortable at night. Like, during the day, I could come up with an idea for a song or something, and cringe with embarrassment. At night, though, it seems like every idea rocks. Then, when I wake up the next morning, I'll look at what I wrote and say "OMG, did I really write this?" Sometimes I read wjhat I've written and utterly hate it, other times it seems better. Even if I can't actually do anything, for some reason possibilities seem a lot more possible at night. Even if I haven't got that website up and running, it seems a lot more achievable...

Many nights I actually get into bed, but have to keep getting up again because solutions to all the things I couldn't get around during the day are suddenly hitting me, and I know I probably won't remember them in the morning...

What's going on? Is this in any way normal? Anyone else here who has this problem?

[Sugar Free Sweetie]

I'd say you don't have the right opportunity in time during your days for creative thinking and at night you are reflecting and having your own creative time. Nothing else to do but lay there and think, so it makes sense to me. I always said I need a voice recorder at night so I can just blurt some of my good ideas out and record them so I can remember and act upon them later (after a night's rest). I don't think you're too weird or anything. I bet a lot of us are night thinkers.

[elke]

I definitely have the same problem, and find the world at times unaccepting of my being a night owl and "A.M.-challenged", as I call it. One thing that can sometimes help when I absolutely have to go to sleep and have to get up early the next day is to write down all my ideas (or if I'm stressed, my worries -or just check lists of things I need to do). So, I keep a pen and paper handy by my bed to take advantage of when my mind is the sharpest. I wish I could be an a.m. whippersnapper, but that's not going to happen in this lifetime!

Glad to hear I'm not alone.

[Vince F]

there are probably many things that make people night owls, or function better at night. One thing for me since an injury that weakened me and affected my stamina, getting around when out is a Lot easier, not having to deal with crowds and traffic. Night time when the sun isn't out and it is quiet, there are less things to distract thinking, or making me feel like I should be doing other things, so my brain quiets down, and I can think more or about different things, since there isn't the thought of getting out and getting things done, since there isn't much that I can do late at night.

They say moon light increases activity of all creatures, making it easier to see, and the sun must do much more, and maybe that causes stress that there isn't on moonless nights, being cozier.

VF

[TimidArdent]

I am the exact same way. I really hate it though because I can always think great things at night when I'm laying in bed or I will be able to motivate myself to do something and just feel really pumped like "I'm going to do this tomorrow!" and then in the morning my mind won't be clear and I will have already forgotten my motivation. I honestly don't know if it is normal because I have been wondering that myself. I have asked people if they do the same thing and your the first person other then me that I have heard of that's like this.

[FESTER]

Make that one more no two to help conquer the world while the rest are all sleeping!

[Vince F]

maybe all the microwaves buzzing around during the day affect some of us, but the daytime is harder to function in, and I was always one who liked darkness or dimmer lighting, so I think the sun's light is a stressor for me. I usually needed less light to see than most friends, and had much better eyesight. When young, my mom was always worried the dim light I used to read by would hurt my eyes, and would always come turn up the 3way light, from low to high. Problem was the brighter light the glare made it impossible for me to read by, and I would turn it down. Now they say that bright lights Won't hurt vision.

Having all kinds of limitations from my injury, everything has to be optimum For Me to get things done in the daytime, and I have to be UP to just get started, and dealing with neighbors who are negative, is something that slows me down, and not want to have to deal with them, or having to explain why I am doing something, to neighbors who don't understand, or may not like what I am doing, or other things I want and try to do, that I am very slow doing, like repairs to my house, or things they don't like, that I have to be able to not think or worry about them. I have a retired neighbor who thinks doing Anything is TOO much work, while I always Loved to do things. He uses the excuse he is 75 now, but he always thought Others should do what he wanted done Though, he Always has a story or More about getting ripped off or screwed by them. Claiming to have been a machinist, his knowledge could help me do things on my cars, but if I ask him, he Claims he doesn't remember. Probably was a janitor in a machine shop.((

I am up in yrs now, and can't get done many things that I want and plan to now, but I Still want to and try, even though buying materials, items, and tools is as far as I often get, I still plan and buy things, and the only problem is I have my house Full of things, that makes getting around even harder than my limits would normally cause, but at least I don't wish I had bought something I wanted, to have to use. I have the front and rear seats from an 86' Mustang that I had wanted the car, and almost bought a mint one last year, but bought the seats, to put the front ones in an 07' Subaru, because they are SO much better. They were after market seats that Ford used, and new the cheapest are 1500$ea, and I got the fronts and rears on Ebay for 200$. Now I just have to figure how to install them and connect the air bag sensors that I want to keep some, not all of.

I can say I'm old, thought I don't consider I am, since I haven't given up dreams and desires, and keep hoping to get done what I want to.

[FoolsGold]

There are people who literally have their circadian rythms more set for night than for day. Usually its a result of or associated with poorly functioning kidneys.

Sometimes peoples 'biological clocks' get disentrained as we react to instant-on lighting rather than the gradual dawning of the day.

If you perform better at night... so be it. Feel free to adopt the hours of vampire if it really helps you. In cities such as Las Vegas so many people work Swing Shift that a Monday thru Friday 9to5 existence is unusual.