It's 5 am. I'm awake.
And despite being a night owl who went to bed just four hours ago, I'm okay with it.
At least I will be once the caffeine kicks in and I get an afternoon nap.
Improving sleep hygiene has been an ongoing project of mine for years, as I've deprogrammed myself from Hustle Culture's mentality that sleep is for the weak.
And while you might think a 4-hour sleep might be counterproductive to that, I don't. Not anymore.
Because I've put the systems in place to make sure I can prioritize rest, regardless of when my body decides to wake up in the morning.
Here's what I've done:
Prioritized naps
I've accepted that between weird wake-up times and random health issues, I will often need naps. I've organized my work and home schedule around being able to rest in the late morning or afternoon. There's even an iOS Shortcut automation for it!
Embraced biphasic sleep
Biphasic sleep might be trendy with self-improvement YouTubers right now, but I've relied on it for years. Technically, the naps mentioned above count.
In addition to setting up my work to prioritize them, I also don't let myself feel guilty about it (much). I embrace biphasic sleep as an opportunity, instead of shaming myself for needing it.
Work ahead
Finally, I treat my to-do list as fluid on a daily level and fixed on a weekly one. In addition to writing this essay, I've already done half of tomorrow's to-do list since that's the work I had the energy for.