One of the things I’ve noticed as I transition into becoming an old fart is that it’s harder to stay awake later at night. It’s a miracle if I can stay awake past twenty-thirty (8:30PM). If anything I blame it on the fact I have to leave for work normally at five in the morning, so I set my alarm for four or four thirty respectively. Occasionally there are times when I can stay up ‘later’ without any penalties, but as soon as I hit the mattress to watch Netflix or what have you it’s game over.
I remember back in high school I survived on Mountain Dew and stayed up until four in the morning and went to school fully functional the next day. My body and I didn’t need sleep. We were an unstoppable force.
Admittedly I miss having that ability since I’m allocating that time to rest verses doing something productive or fun. In a nutshell it’s time wasted that can’t be recovered. One could argue that without rest productivity will sharply decline, but in the grand scheme of things if I could elimate those hours of sleep it just might mean I can get XYZ done even sooner.