Do you think it's more virtuous to go to bed early and get up early?

[Kristen]

More virtuous than being a night owl, and sleeping in, that is.

My mom always said that going to be early and getting up early requires self-control twice...you have to be disciplined to go to bed early, and disciplined to get out of bed when you'd rather stay under the covers. What do you think about that?

Also, do you think it's healthier to go to bed early? I've heard it said that every hour of sleep before midnight is as valuable as two hours of sleep after midnight, but I don't believe I've heard of any evidence to back that up.

[Lori]

I feel lazy when I stay up late and wake up late, even on days when I'm not working. So I personally really do feel more productive and virtuous when I go to bed early and wake up early. My sort of ideal schedule is to go to bed at 10, wake up around 6:15, and be done exercising by 7. If I manage that, I feel like I'm off to a pretty productive day.

But, I know that when I was in grad school, there were a lot of Asian families who were on a totally different schedule (they'd stay up until 1 or 2 am--and often the kids would be up until midnight--and then wake up around 10 or 11 am) and I'm guessing they were just as (to be honest, probably much more!) productive than I was.

So, I think getting enough sleep is very important, but it probably depends on the individual in terms of what hours are best.

[Mary]

I don't think it's more virtuous. I don't think it requires self-control to get out of bed early if you've gone to bed early, either, because you shouldn't be tired if you've gotten 8 hours in. If you go to bed at 9 then it shouldn't be too much of an effort to get up at 6, for example, whereas if you've gone to bed at 12 or 1 it definitely would require some serious determination to get yourself up at 6.

I just don't see how what time you go to bed has to do with how virtuous/self-controlled you are. I don't stay up late because I have a personality defect or because I just can't control myself. I stay up late because I like it. I function better later in the day. I could change my schedule but, honestly, I loathe being awake at 5 or 6 a.m. I wish there wasn't such a stigma against sleeping late. It may have mattered back in the days when everyone had a farm to run, or in the 50s when women were expected to be Donna Reed and had to do it all from scratch or by hand but I don't think the argument against "burning daylight" holds as much water nowadays. I can do just as much getting up at 10 on Saturdays as someone else does getting up at 7. I just do it at a different time of day. While the early-risers are snoozing away at 11 p.m. I might be doing laundry or some other chore.

[gr8mommy]

It isn't virtue. It's biology.

[MathSpeak]

Virtue? Hardly... you train your body - no matter what schedule you put it on. It's not like the entire world is on one time-zone. If I moved to LA, I could maintain the schedule my body is on now... it would take no more discipline, but I would technically be rising earlier and going to bed earlier. I get 8 hours a night... whatever time slot it takes place in is hardly an issue of virtue.

[SabrinaJL]

I don't stay up late because I have a personality defect or because I just can't control myself. I stay up late because I like it. I function better later in the day. I could change my schedule but, honestly, I loathe being awake at 5 or 6 a.m.

All that. I enjoy the night.

[Jejune]

I'm an insomniac. I usually get 6 hours max, but often it's less. It's definitely not about virtue for me. It's about my ability to fall asleep. LOL

[Beka]

I think virtue comes from what you manage to get done in your working hours, not when those hours are. A person who is entirely living up to their responsibilities within "odd" waking hours can be entirely as "virtuous" as one keeping conventional hours. I think your mothers theory made sense in the era when 95% of jobs were conducted 8-5, when anyone out after a past hour was up to no good and when we were a much more day-night society, now the majority of jobs entail someone being on staff 24 hours a day, many businesses trade 24 hours a day and socially there are entirely acceptable things to be doing after 7pm so now it's not really as relevant.

I think adapting to any schedule takes self control, not just a conventional one. My cousin works weird shifts because he's a single father of 3 who can only afford to use family as childcare, he keeps the strangest schedule I know and his kids often do too but to me he is the most self controlled man i know and extremely virtuous because everything he does is based around making sacrifices to hold his family together.

[Kristi]

i like to sray up late. It is the only time that I get to have any quiet in the house. LOL. It's my time. I like being up late after everyone else is in bed. I am a night owl and always have been. Mom thinks it is because of when my dad worked late when I was a baby and he would wake me up to play when he got home.

I don't see how what time someone goes to bed makes them more virtous. It is habit and biology.

I can not force myself to go to sleep at 8pm if I am not tierd. I will toss and turn for hrs and hrs and then what is the point of even going to bed early?

[Kristen]

Beka, you basically said what I think...that what matters is how hard you work when you are awake. If you go to bed at 9:00 and get up at 5:00, but still sit on your butt all day, then I don't think that's very virtuous. :p

For me, it takes more self-control to stay up late...I really hate staying up late(like after 11:00) and getting up late(like after 8:00). I'd rather get a run on my day in the morning. So, if Steve wants me to stay out late or stay up late doing something with him, it takes an enormous amount of self-control and unselfishness for me to have a cheerful attitude about that.

As far as health goes, I think that what is important is to get enough sleep and to do what works for your body. I personally feel better if I get more of my sleep earlier in the night, but that may not be true for everyone.

In that vein, if a good night's sleep is within your grasp, and you function poorly without sleep, I think it's possible that it could show a lack of virtue if you don't go to bed. For instance, Steve is a night owl, but he's had work schedules that have required him to get up at 5:00(or 4:00 or 3:00!), and so he's had to adjust his sleep schedule accordingly. If he were to stay up until all hours of the night playing video games, when he knew he'd have to get up for work, I think that would be dumb and possibly irresponsible and selfish(he's cranky and awful to live with when he doesn't sleep well enough, plus he's prone to seizures without enough rest).

Anyhow, I think that any virtue or lack thereof has little to do with when the hours of sleep occur, and more to do with the unique requirements of each situation and each person's body.

[Sam]

I go to bed late and get up as late as I can. Tonight I am child free and will go to bed around 4.am and wake up at around 3pm and I LOVE it.

[Lori]

While the early-risers are snoozing away at 11 p.m. I might be doing laundry or some other chore.

See, I think that's why I feel lazy when I go to bed really late and wake up late. I am NOT productive at all at night. I'm pretty much done doing anything productive around 8 pm.

And I LOVE to sleep, and I would honestly probably spend all day in bed if there was nothing to stop me from doing so. So I generally feel pretty virtuous just by virtue of getting out of bed. ;)

[Mary]

I don't even really perk up until about 5 p.m. LOL It's 10:45 right now and I've got a load of laundry in the wash, one in the dryer and I'm going to fold the few loads that are on the chair before I go to bed.

I used to be unable to sleep past 8 a.m. but that's when my body was trained to get up every day for school all week and then work on the weekends. As soon as I graduated I started working from 3 p.m. till 11 p.m. and I've been a night owl ever since. I always hated getting up early even when my body was used to it. The late schedule suits me much better, even though I have to get up pretty early now that the kids are in school. I do wish I could get about another 90 minutes in the mornings but, really, with Eliza being such a poor sleeper it doesn't matter what I do; I'm going to be dog-tired no matter what. I've been napping when she naps lately and it helps more than going to bed early.

[Jo]

Like Beka, I think what you do with your time is more important than when you do it as long as it all fits together right.

I wish I could go to sleep earlier but I simply cannot. I have to be sick to be in bed before 11pm but it is usually midnight. As long as I can sleep until 7, I am good to go.

Mary-I am the same way. Even if is a 20 minute power nap, it does so much more for me than getting more sleep at night.

[Maleah]

I don't stay up late because I have a personality defect or because I just can't control myself. I stay up late because I like it. I function better later in the day. I could change my schedule but, honestly, I loathe being awake at 5 or 6 a.m. I wish there wasn't such a stigma against sleeping late.

I am the same way. No matter how hard I try my natural bedtime is usually around 2. :(

My MIL doesn't believe that anything can be accomplished afternoon I guess. She hates it when I sleep in (10 am) at their house and DH gets up with the kids even though I get up with the baby. She has even guilted me about not spending enough time with the kids.

I am not sure how I could spend anymore time with the kids. They're with me all day, every day!

[amandajo]

My DH stays up until 2 or 3 every night. He has insomnia and is just an energetic thing! He is a musician and likes to stay up writing and playing, etc.
He gets up at 10 or 11. He works afternoons and evenings, so it works out for him.

[Christine]

I don't think that JUST the act of going to bed early and rising early is virtuous. But there are other circumstances that I think could make it more so. For example, if you'd rather stay up late and sleep in, but you choose to get up early and spend time with your husband or do something for your children, I think that's more virtuous.

Someone like me is just built to enjoy the night hours more than the morning hours and it was very hard for me to adjust to getting up early. When I was doing it grudgingly, it wasn't a blessing to anyone. When I chose to do it to help and strengthen our family then it was much better. I still don't know if I'd call it virtuous though.

Dave's buddies from church give him a hard time because I get up with him and make his lunch and coffee. They think he's spoiled but they don't see what I get out of it - no money spent on eating out, time to myself at the computer with MY coffee, and peace and quiet before I start my day. So it may seem outwardly virtuous, but it's not entirely unselfish either. ;)