The Student Room Group

The Benefits of a 3 AM Start

Next Saturday, on the 4th of June, it will be exactly four months since I started a new intense sleep regime - a guarantee of eight hours a day, from 7pm to 3am (or 3.30am).

Let me be clear about this: I'm the kind of hard-working GCSE student who probably puts far more importance on school than it's worth, and frequently takes an overload of work on top of said schoolwork. I regularly volunteer in extracurricular clubs, chair the local youth parliament and I readily take up the challenge of a few extra exams here and there.

I can usually bear this amount of workload: I take pride in never having had too much of a social life and not having crazy, overblown addictions to time-consuming activities like gaming and foruming. Before February, however, when the homework load began to increase as we steadily approached the exam season, I was finding it more and more challenging to sleep a good number of hours each night. I typically went to bed at midnight to wake up at 6 AM the subsequent morning - with stuff still to do for school before I could let myself leave the house at 7.40am. I couldn't survive a schoolday without four cups of tea, which also partially nibbled into the mere six hours of sleep which I could afford each night. Being lethargic from a whole day at school, I found myself more and more frequently doing homework more and more slowly, and leaving it more and more to the last-minute or to the next morning.

I eventually fell behind homework in many subjects, and found myself with more, and more, and more to do every morning. 6am starts became 5.30am starts; 5.30am starts then became 5am starts. Exhausted, I returned home one night, on the 4th of February, and fell to my pillow the moment I came home. That would be the first night of sleeping from early in the evening to early in the morning. I have continued this sleep regime ever since.

What are the benefits, then, of my 7pm to 3am sleeping times? Asides from the fact that I'm able to guarantee myself eight hours each night, there are a lot further hidden benefits I've found.

After a long school day, I used to come home without any will to work - so I tended to do more homework more slowly, meaning that a 30-min homework could take anything between 45 mins and two hours. Now, though, by leaving most of my homework until 3am in the morning, when I'm freshly-awake and not exhausted after a whole day at school, I'm doing homeworks quicker and also better. The time constraint of knowing I have to be out of the door in just four hours' time also helps this.

Additionally, the sleep schedule means I have a set amount of time I know I can allow myself to dedicate to playfulness and idleness - from when I get home to 7pm. By compartmentalising my time in this way, it's become much easier to ensure that I don't waste time: I simply allow myself to waste those precious few hours in which I know I'm too tired from the school day to do anything else, and thanks to my sleep regime, it's easier to separate the idle time in the afternoon from the active time in the early morning and to avoid crossovers between the two.

The final benefit - which I think is crucial - is found in the first few lessons of the morning. The usual victim of my old sleeping regime used to be any lesson that fell between 8.30 and 11.00; after all, it's a well-known fact that the schoolboy's brain is not wholly-awake until 10am in the morning. By having an earlier start, my brain changed these times and I can now concentrate just as well during a 13.00 lesson as I can in a 09.30 lesson - meaning more focus in school and less dozing, whilst at the same time using those extra hours in the morning to do the homeworks that I can afford not to concentrate on as much as a school lesson necessitates.

Quite importantly, I also don't feel any more tired at the end of the day than I used to, which would offset this benefit. This is because the change in sleeping times has meant that I'm now eating more which keeps me more sustained during the day: whereas I used to eat at breakfast, midday and dinner, now I need an additional 'early-lunch' at 7am after my 3.30am breakfast because I'm hungry from my first few hours awake. As a result, I'm eating more (which is good, considering I'm clinically-underweight) and so there have been no adverse impacts at the end of the schoolday to offset this benefit of heightened first-lesson concentration.

And of course, it is needless to say that the truly spectacular rousing music of birdsong at 4am in the morning, coupled with the awesome thrill of watching Dawn slowly ascend from her throne at 5.15am, has given me a refreshed reconciliation and closeness with nature that - having lived in London all my life - I had never before been able to experience.

With it being four months since I started my sleep regime, my grades have gone up considerably in school, and I'm finding myself better prepared and more rested for the exam season which we're now in the swing of. There have been no more homework detentions and no more abrupt 'Southwesten, wake up!' calls since February.

The only downsides, as far as I can see, are that I can no longer permit myself to have my habitual afternoon tea for the fear of staying awake, and that I have to watch my favourite TV shows on iPlayer post-broadcast. True, the late-night parties have had to stop of late and it's annoying to be woken up by a call at 7.30pm from a friend who needs homework help or who wants to invite me round for dinner - but the calmness and serenity of the early start work so well with the frantic business of the school day to provide a truly balanced equilibrium of noise and commitments in my life. The early start makes my day begin in a relaxing, natural and precious peace that preps me for whatever may come later in the day.

My recommendation, therefore, to the sleepyhead students worried about the long-term impacts of their late-night, caffeine-induced insomnia and their dozing off in lessons is this: consider this proposition seriously. It's not for everyone and many take comfort in knowing that life around them happens only when they're awake and never when they're sleeping, but it could be worth a week's trial.

For me, the net benefits of a 3am start have been conclusively proven to outweigh the net disadvantages of a later 7am start.
Reply 1
Wow, I admire your dedication. I have considered doing this for a while now, but since I'm in the midst of exam period, I feel I've left it rather late and it would probably have detrimental consequences. I assume you have outstanding predictions and this rigorous approach will pay off in bucket loads on results day. Honestly, I think I lack the strength of will to drag myself to my desk at 3 o'clock in the morning.
Original post by etata
Wow, I admire your dedication. I have considered doing this for a while now, but since I'm in the midst of exam period, I feel I've left it rather late and it would probably have detrimental consequences. I assume you have outstanding predictions and this rigorous approach will pay off in bucket loads on results day. Honestly, I think I lack the strength of will to drag myself to my desk at 3 o'clock in the morning.


Hopefully :smile: My litmus test for the sleeping schedule was the mocks, in which I did far better than I'd have expected to do (especially considering how little revision I did). Hopefully August 25th will go okay in this light :smile:

Don't worry about changing over if ever you do decide to go for it: you get into a steady rhythm of it eventually, and the will to work comes naturally :smile:
Reply 3
Thank you for the advice :smile:
Well from looking at your profile it looks like you've done quite well already, I'm sure it will. How have your exams been so far? I'm dreading results day really, I should be more stressed out than I am.
Original post by etata
Thank you for the advice :smile:
Well from looking at your profile it looks like you've done quite well already, I'm sure it will. How have your exams been so far? I'm dreading results day really, I should be more stressed out than I am.


Yeah, I think I'm stressed out far too little as well: my phone has a heart rate sensor that measures stress levels and it's surprisingly been recording the lowest levels of stress ever in the past two weeks, which is very worrying :s-smilie:

Inevitably, there have been a couple of upsets so far but mostly all well. I've done the projections chart (actually, this might be reassuring if you're worried about your grades?) and it looks like I should be able to get the grades I'd be happy with :smile: Anyway, Results Day is too far down the line for me to be worried about it - but don't start stressing now over it! There are exams still to go xD
Reply 5
Hahah, it's strange - I thought I'd be on the point of breakdown by now, but I think the fact that I'm doing exams that could determine my future hasn't really hit me yet.

What's the projections chart? I'm more worried as to whether or not I'll achieve my predictions. I'm happy with my predicted grades but there hasn't been one paper that I've finished and been positive it's an a*. But I generally overreact so it's hard to tell!
@Southwestern your post is of immaculate quality. There is an urgent need of more members like you on this forum who can contribute positively. Keep up the good work.
Reply 7
Since the day I began my IGCSE (which was an year ago) I wake up early. I go to sleep early at 7:30 pm sharp and wake up at 3:30am always making sure that I have had 8 hours of sleep. I am not one of those students that stay up late in the night to study or do homework cause my brain is exhausted after 7pm. When I was doing my IGCSE's I always finish my homework as soon as I get home from school so that by 7:30pm I am done. I wake up the next morning and study. Its much more peacefull and quite and it increases my concerntraion level. Now I am doing Alevel I still follow the same routine and it had turned out to be a great success.

I wish you the best of luck, and I admire people like you who are so committed!
Cheers
Original post by etata
Hahah, it's strange - I thought I'd be on the point of breakdown by now, but I think the fact that I'm doing exams that could determine my future hasn't really hit me yet.

What's the projections chart? I'm more worried as to whether or not I'll achieve my predictions. I'm happy with my predicted grades but there hasn't been one paper that I've finished and been positive it's an a*. But I generally overreact so it's hard to tell!


The 'projections chart' isn't all that: it's just a table breaking down each subject into exam units and courseworks and making a note of the predicted grade on each - which helps me to figure out what I can reasonably expect to get and what I need to get in the next exam unit to reach by target grade :smile: I made one in the space of five mins on Excel and I've found it helpful.

Yeah, I have a tendency to overreact as well. I was expecting a B in AS French last year and got a theoretical A* instead, which is quite some hefty inaccuracy :smile: Still, I don't think these traits that we share are bad - at least it means plenty of good surprises in our lives and we can motivate ourselves easily to do better in the next paper xD
Original post by Audrey18
@Southwestern your post is of immaculate quality. There is an urgent need of more members like you on this forum who can contribute positively. Keep up the good work.

Awh, thanks! I'm very much new to TSR (having posted infrequently over the last few months) so there's still loads to learn, but thanks so much! you've made me smile :smile:
Original post by Sunethra
Since the day I began my IGCSE (which was an year ago) I wake up early. I go to sleep early at 7:30 pm sharp and wake up at 3:30am always making sure that I have had 8 hours of sleep. I am not one of those students that stay up late in the night to study or do homework cause my brain is exhausted after 7pm. When I was doing my IGCSE's I always finish my homework as soon as I get home from school so that by 7:30pm I am done. I wake up the next morning and study. Its much more peacefull and quite and it increases my concerntraion level. Now I am doing Alevel I still follow the same routine and it had turned out to be a great success.I wish you the best of luck, and I admire people like you who are so committed!Cheers

It's great to see there are other nocturnal wanderers like me out there - and so encouraging to hear it's worked well for you in the long-term too! :smile: thanks so much! :biggrin:

Do you tend to switch back to normal and more sociable timings over the holidays or stick to the 7.30-3.30 schedule?
Reply 9
Original post by Southwestern
The 'projections chart' isn't all that: it's just a table breaking down each subject into exam units and courseworks and making a note of the predicted grade on each - which helps me to figure out what I can reasonably expect to get and what I need to get in the next exam unit to reach by target grade :smile: I made one in the space of five mins on Excel and I've found it helpful.

Yeah, I have a tendency to overreact as well. I was expecting a B in AS French last year and got a theoretical A* instead, which is quite some hefty inaccuracy :smile: Still, I don't think these traits that we share are bad - at least it means plenty of good surprises in our lives and we can motivate ourselves easily to do better in the next paper xD

Awh, thanks! I'm very much new to TSR (having posted infrequently over the last few months) so there's still loads to learn, but thanks so much! you've made me smile :smile:

It's great to see there are other nocturnal wanderers like me out there - and so encouraging to hear it's worked well for you in the long-term too! :smile: thanks so much! :biggrin:

Do you tend to switch back to normal and more sociable timings over the holidays or stick to the 7.30-3.30 schedule?


Yes, but you know what. its very difficult to go to sleep at 10 or 11 pm now that I am adjusted to my normal bed time of 7. When I was in Germnay during last summer when I was still doing my IGCSE I found it very diffiuclt to stay up watching movies with my friends (and because of the time difference). And no matter how late I try to sleep in the mornings during holidays, I always wake up earlier than everyone else.
Original post by Sunethra
Yes, but you know what. its very difficult to go to sleep at 10 or 11 pm now that I am adjusted to my normal bed time of 7. When I was in Germnay during last summer when I was still doing my IGCSE I found it very diffiuclt to stay up watching movies with my friends (and because of the time difference). And no matter how late I try to sleep in the mornings during holidays, I always wake up earlier than everyone else.


Mm, that makes sense :smile: Anyway, with the beauty of nature as early as 4am, I don't suppose there's any big motivation to sleep late even during the holidays xD
Original post by Kk1999
I tried following this even before I read this.But you seem to be positive about this schedule.Can you send me your daily timetable so that I might get an idea?


Awesome :smile: Here's a typical day:

3.00-3.30: Wake up/doze around/check phone/reply to late-night messages/etc.
3.30-4.00: Breakfast + shower + last night's Eastenders.
4.00-7.00: Homework + revision
7.00-7.30: Early lunch (usually one tray of lasagne) + getting ready to leave house
7.30-4.00: Out of the house for school
4.00-5.00: Homework + revision
5.00-7.00: Free time + dinner

Of course, there are day-to-day changes depending on how much homework I have, how I feel and at what time I get home from school (usually I take about one hour off free time if I arrive home at 5.00). The above timetable, though, gives four hours of homework per night - equivalent to working from 16.00 to 20.00 - but because I'm more awake so early, then as explained in the post, I get more than four hours' worth done in the three early-morning hours :smile:

Hope that helps :smile:
Reply 11
Original post by Southwestern
The 'projections chart' isn't all that: it's just a table breaking down each subject into exam units and courseworks and making a note of the predicted grade on each - which helps me to figure out what I can reasonably expect to get and what I need to get in the next exam unit to reach by target grade :smile: I made one in the space of five mins on Excel and I've found it helpful.

Yeah, I have a tendency to overreact as well. I was expecting a B in AS French last year and got a theoretical A* instead, which is quite some hefty inaccuracy :smile: Still, I don't think these traits that we share are bad - at least it means plenty of good surprises in our lives and we can motivate ourselves easily to do better in the next paper xD

Awh, thanks! I'm very much new to TSR (having posted infrequently over the last few months) so there's still loads to learn, but thanks so much! you've made me smile :smile:

It's great to see there are other nocturnal wanderers like me out there - and so encouraging to hear it's worked well for you in the long-term too! :smile: thanks so much! :biggrin:

Do you tend to switch back to normal and more sociable timings over the holidays or stick to the 7.30-3.30 schedule?


That's a nice idea actually, I never really thought about doing that. It might give me some (much needed) peace of mind!
Wow, polyglotism always impresses me - I'd love to speak French fluently one day, but you did an a-level last year ?! That's incredible, I wish I was as talented as you :smile:
And I agree, for these last exams I feel really motivated, I have this new-found urge to just revise as much as I can, which before I was thoroughly lacking. It's mostly because 1. I'm subliminally incredibly worried 2. I know it will pay off in the summer.. well, I hope it will haha.
Original post by etata
That's a nice idea actually, I never really thought about doing that. It might give me some (much needed) peace of mind!
Wow, polyglotism always impresses me - I'd love to speak French fluently one day, but you did an a-level last year ?! That's incredible, I wish I was as talented as you :smile:
And I agree, for these last exams I feel really motivated, I have this new-found urge to just revise as much as I can, which before I was thoroughly lacking. It's mostly because 1. I'm subliminally incredibly worried 2. I know it will pay off in the summer.. well, I hope it will haha.


Awh, don't worry: I'm sure it will all pay off :smile: Anyway, you seem like the kind of bright and enthusiastic person who wouldn't let it happen any other way :wink:

Yeah, I call myself a bit of a Francophile :smile: I love the French language, people, culture, history, etc. and France occupies a huge part of my heart. I've always been heavily self-motivated when it comes to French, and I suppose it helps to be able to speak Italian and Spanish too :smile:
Reply 13
Original post by Southwestern
Awh, don't worry: I'm sure it will all pay off :smile: Anyway, you seem like the kind of bright and enthusiastic person who wouldn't let it happen any other way :wink:

Yeah, I call myself a bit of a Francophile :smile: I love the French language, people, culture, history, etc. and France occupies a huge part of my heart. I've always been heavily self-motivated when it comes to French, and I suppose it helps to be able to speak Italian and Spanish too :smile:


Haha, thank you, that's nice of you to say. Fingers crossed. But whatever happens, GCSE's aren't the be-all and end-all so all is well, even though I'm sure you'll be more than fine on results day.

It is a lovely culture, I especially like French Poetry: Baudelaire, Eluard etc.. The country itself just feels very surreal, it's like a scene from a film almost. Probably the direct contrast to London, but I love both cities really.
i didn't care about my gcse's as they will mean nothing long term sorry to break it to you
what's meaningful is university, college (to an extent) and specialist courses relating to your profession of choice
I wish I could do this, but I'm rarely in the house by 7pm! Perhaps, though, if I followed this routine, I wouldn't have to chase the bus every morning ...

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Original post by etata
Haha, thank you, that's nice of you to say. Fingers crossed. But whatever happens, GCSE's aren't the be-all and end-all so all is well, even though I'm sure you'll be more than fine on results day.

It is a lovely culture, I especially like French Poetry: Baudelaire, Eluard etc.. The country itself just feels very surreal, it's like a scene from a film almost. Probably the direct contrast to London, but I love both cities really.


Mm. I'm more one for the vibrant Paris than the French countryside, but having been born and reared in suburban London, I suppose it's easier for me to appreciate city life than the country :smile: Oh, and not just poetry, but so much of the novel literature as well! It's just paradise for artists, fashionistas and writers :smile:
Reply 17
Oh of course, me too, although the suburbs of Paris are just replete with subtle French charm. Versailles especially, out of all of the places I've visited, none of them come close to the Palace of Versailles (although it isn't very subtle haha). And you're right its very artsy, I just find it so ironic that most French Romantic literature was opium-induced- but I guess that explains the entire movement, it's brilliant

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