The Shifting of Sleep Cycles by Emma

The Shifting of Sleep Cycles by Emma - January 2019 Scholarship Essay

For most of my life I was one of the first to rise. My mom and I would sip our respective hot drinks on weekend mornings and talk about our plans for our few days off. I would do my homework before the clock stuck 10, when my sister would emerge from her room, and I would spend the rest of the day as I saw fit. Running around outside, watching television, or playing pretend with my sister.
As time wore on, however, I started staying in bed later. Enjoying extra hours to myself as I slowly woke up. I have slowly shifted from a very happy morning person to a very active night owl, waking up later at night when I should be falling asleep. I don’t let myself stay up too late on school nights, often forcing myself to go to bed before 10, but on the weekends I allow myself to do the pointless productive activities during the evening and continuing them as the hours pass.
I color, I read, I watch a lot of Friends, and don’t make myself sleep until I actually feel tired. The evening is when I’m most likely to do laundry as well. I have passed the early hours of the late evenings working on essays and math projects during sleepovers, finishing my French homework before settling in for the night.
My productivity most likely comes from my circadian rhythm, which makes me tired every 1.5-2 hours. I am still in a deep sleep portion of the cycle when I wake up at 6 in the morning, but I am in my more awake state when 8:30-10:30 p.m. rolls around. As I learned during my psychology courses, it’s normal to have this sort of rhythm as a teenager, so I let myself stay in bed during the morning and I don’t force myself to go to sleep at night. There is something so serene about doing stuff late at night, and although it makes me more tired in the end, I love that I can be awake to experience the calmness that overcomes me.