Humans evolved to be hunter/gatherers. Observe the patterns of other animals that hunt and gather and follow their patterns.
For example: Start your day slowly. No animal wakes up and immediately starts running or eating. I did use an alarm to start aligning my wake time with sunrise, but I don’t rush to do anything. This is a waking but inactive period. A cup of coffee, conversation with my wife, observing nature and reading make up the first hour or two of my mornings. No social media, news or other influences that might alter your brain chemistry during this time.
The next thing I observed is that nature offers us breakfast, but we have to go find it. Pre-industrial humans didn’t have refrigeration or canned goods. Increase physical activity, a lot! Let’s say that sunrise is at 6:30. By about 8:00 you should be highly active. It doesn’t matter if it’s work or play, get your pulse up to at least 50%-60% of your maximum heart rate and maintain it for three or four hours. I eat a large meal at the end of this activity period, like a natural hunter would. However, I also think it would be appropriate to graze on lite snacks during the activity period as well, like a gatherer.
Next I observed that animals are less active or rest in the afternoon. This is a good time for me to get office work accomplished. Awake and thinking, but less physically active. This activity period continues to slow through the afternoon. I observed a lot of animals either taking a nap or nearly motionless during the late afternoon, the hottest part of the day.
As the afternoon temperature starts to drop the activity level increases and it’s basically a repetition of the morning cycle. Work up to a high level of activity, maintain activeness, followed by a meal around sunset, followed by inactivity, followed by rest. NO SCREENS AT ALL after the evening meal.
The waking cycle in the middle of the night is another inactive but thinking period. I use this time for meditation/focused thinking, planning the next day and petting my dog 😁
Adjustments need to be made for seasonal daylight changes. I definitely sleep more and have more inactive time when the days are shorter. I don’t feel guilty, I’m following the natural rhythms that are healthy for me.
I recognize that people with regular jobs can’t adhere to a natural rhythm. This is the problem. Post industrial society ignores nature and natural tendency. It makes us stupid, weak and unhealthy. I know because I participated in it for a long time.
The good news is, that you don’t need to participate. Live the life you chose, on your own terms. Set expectations for yourself instead of trying to meet the expectations of others. If you can’t even sleep the way nature intended you to, how many other parts of your life are unhealthy?
