Sleep science: how lockdowns taught us to go to bed earlier

Love staying up late and sleeping in as often as possible? You might want to flip the switch on your schedule to avoid significant future damage to your overall health. There are many benefits to going to sleeping earlier each night—and making a sleep routine that includes waking early.

“Provided you don’t have problems with insomnia, the benefits of getting a little more sleep are many,” says Shelby Harris, a psychologist and sleep specialist in private practice in White Plains, New York, and director of the Behavioral Sleep Medicine Program at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City. “Getting a full night of sleep can greatly help with your memory, mood, cardiovascular health, weight loss and maintenance, motor function, work performance and athletic performance.”

What do American Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, female reality TV show Kim Kardashian and political commentator Arianna Huffington have in common, except that all three are strong and independent women, famous all over the world? They, like many stars, techno titans and business tycoons, go to bed early in the strictest way.

I tried long and hard to start going to bed before midnight. As sleepy as I was by late evening, the thoughts in my head gathered and decided it was time to dance the Kong dance. Not to mention chamomile tea, a warm bath and soothing music - my brain stubbornly ignores these paltry pleas to curl up and laughs in the face of essential oils and meditation. I confess that I prefer to stay awake late largely because I write my best lyrics in the early hours (or deeply late, depending on how you look at it) and not without the help of Dire Straits hits. The neighbors hate me, it is absolutely impossible to have breakfast with me, but you cannot please everyone at once. At least the convenience store on the corner is always happy for me.

However, since lockdowns became part of our reality, I have noticed a strange, almost imperceptible shift: I am not against the idea of going to bed early in the style of Kim Kardashian. In fact, it is quite tempting. Last week, I had two bright moments: on the first night, I jumped into bed as soon as I got home. The next night I fiddled around in my apartment, half working, half watching Friends for a good two hours, and naturally, when I woke up in the morning, I found myself feeling much better the previous morning. So I had a suspicion that I might even start enjoying this new routine.

Culturally, there is a strong belief that the early birds always prevail over the night owls, no matter how hard the latter work, while the former happily doze off. The general refrain is that early risers are more successful. And I’ve always argued that this claim is based on no more than a few morning workouts of obsessed celebrities living in Los Angeles, where the climate makes it impossible to do anything in the afternoon.

This week, however, I happily sacrificed my principles to enjoy the sense of superiority that comes with getting up at 7 a.m., as opposed to the lingering guilt about staying in my pajamas until lunchtime.

For years, I have quietly ignored the people advocating sunrise yoga and green tea. However, it's getting harder to turn a blind eye to the supremely seductive ruffled pillowcases, silky pajamas and hefty scented candles I've come across in stores everywhere, from Liberty to Next. It's either a sign of imminent maturity, or just winter, which tends me more towards cozy household items than clothes I can't afford. In any case, I prefer to succumb to this temptation. After all, if something puts me to bed (please don't giggle), it will already be a victory.