What is the best time to eat, nap, exercise and take caffeine when I have to stay up until 2:30 AM?
July 31, 2009 5:14 PM Subscribe
What is the best time to eat, nap, exercise and take caffeine when I have to stay up until 2:30 AM and want to be as alert and productive as possible during the evening? My alarm goes off at 9AM so napping is almost a must.
I love love love my baby girl (now six weeks old) but her eating schedule is seriously messing with my biological clock and work schedule! I'm a freelancer so it would be great if I could get some work done in the evening/very early morning, in the hours that my daughter is asleep and I'm watching her. How can I best schedule my eating, napping, exercising (which I can do at home) and intake of caffeine to make sure I'm at my best during those hours while still making it easy to fall asleep between 2:30 and 3:00 AM?
I love love love my baby girl (now six weeks old) but her eating schedule is seriously messing with my biological clock and work schedule! I'm a freelancer so it would be great if I could get some work done in the evening/very early morning, in the hours that my daughter is asleep and I'm watching her. How can I best schedule my eating, napping, exercising (which I can do at home) and intake of caffeine to make sure I'm at my best during those hours while still making it easy to fall asleep between 2:30 and 3:00 AM?
If you take an afternoon nap, consider consuming your caffiene immediately before you nap. Here is a link about how that works.
posted by jabberjaw at 5:21 PM on July 31, 2009
posted by jabberjaw at 5:21 PM on July 31, 2009
Having been trying to balance out work, home, self and a rambunctious baby for the past year I can tell you that you are taking on a very difficult task. Unless you have a miracle baby that sleeps you will not be able to maintain such a regular schedule. Also you need to be prepared to change quickly as babies change their sleep schedules too. You are on her feeding and sleeping schedule and you need to be flexible enough in yours to accommodate that.
So what will work this week might not work next week. And everything will change when your little girl becomes mobile.
The biggest issue I have found is that interruptions are the most destructive to work flow and concentration more than being a bit fuzzy from lack of sleep. And you may not have realized it but even if your baby is asleep your mind is still tuned into Channel Mummy.
What you really need is a couple of work sessions a week in which someone else is watching her. My best focus time is when my boy is taken over to his grandmothers once week for some playtime and too many sugary snacks. That's when Channel Mummy is briefly turned off.
Also you need to think about how this affects your family life in regards to your partner and family and friends to be maintaining these hours. People will make demands of your time and to see you and your girl - which is well meaning but they won't understand your situation. (Sorry I don't know your personal home situation so I apologize for making any assumptions).
Mums don't have biological clocks, we are 24 hour convenience stores.
posted by gomichild at 5:57 PM on July 31, 2009 [1 favorite]
So what will work this week might not work next week. And everything will change when your little girl becomes mobile.
The biggest issue I have found is that interruptions are the most destructive to work flow and concentration more than being a bit fuzzy from lack of sleep. And you may not have realized it but even if your baby is asleep your mind is still tuned into Channel Mummy.
What you really need is a couple of work sessions a week in which someone else is watching her. My best focus time is when my boy is taken over to his grandmothers once week for some playtime and too many sugary snacks. That's when Channel Mummy is briefly turned off.
Also you need to think about how this affects your family life in regards to your partner and family and friends to be maintaining these hours. People will make demands of your time and to see you and your girl - which is well meaning but they won't understand your situation. (Sorry I don't know your personal home situation so I apologize for making any assumptions).
Mums don't have biological clocks, we are 24 hour convenience stores.
posted by gomichild at 5:57 PM on July 31, 2009 [1 favorite]
Your baby isn't going to sleep so much VERY soon, so getting into some sort of pattern is futile.
Why are you staying up til 230? This make NO sense. Sleep when baby sleeps, especially at night. Do some work in the morning, but have low expectation. In a few weeks, baby's sleeping most of the day will end anyway.
If you want to freelance with a baby, hire a sitter.
posted by k8t at 8:18 PM on July 31, 2009
Why are you staying up til 230? This make NO sense. Sleep when baby sleeps, especially at night. Do some work in the morning, but have low expectation. In a few weeks, baby's sleeping most of the day will end anyway.
If you want to freelance with a baby, hire a sitter.
posted by k8t at 8:18 PM on July 31, 2009
Wait, if you're the dad, consider not being involved in the nighttime activities once we were at the 1 diaper all night plan. My baby daddy has nothing to do with our baby 8pm-7am due to lack of boobs. YMMV.
posted by k8t at 8:23 PM on July 31, 2009
posted by k8t at 8:23 PM on July 31, 2009
Oh I didn't think to check your profile either and assumed you were the Mum from this comment I love love love my baby girl (now six weeks old) but her eating schedule is seriously messing with my biological clock and work schedule!
Some of my answer still applies if you are the primary carer however. It's very hard to watch baby and work at the same time - you aren't going to be able to do both at your best.
posted by gomichild at 8:55 PM on July 31, 2009
Some of my answer still applies if you are the primary carer however. It's very hard to watch baby and work at the same time - you aren't going to be able to do both at your best.
posted by gomichild at 8:55 PM on July 31, 2009
FWIW, I had a very similar sleep pattern in college for a year due to a combination of the closing shift at work, early classes, and trying to have a life. I found the key was to power nap (45 minutes for me, though varies) at around 1pm and try to eat lunch beforehand.
However, I'm also very much a night person. With that pattern, I was usually getting up around 8-9am, so a 1pm nap worked well enough to get me through the evening. If I were a morning person, I'd probably shift the nap closer to the evening, like a little before dinner.
posted by jmd82 at 10:12 PM on July 31, 2009
However, I'm also very much a night person. With that pattern, I was usually getting up around 8-9am, so a 1pm nap worked well enough to get me through the evening. If I were a morning person, I'd probably shift the nap closer to the evening, like a little before dinner.
posted by jmd82 at 10:12 PM on July 31, 2009
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A caffeine injection via coffee peaks about two hours after you drink it for most people, and then slowly declines, still working until six or seven have passed. Less if you drink other fluids.
So other advice aside, you probably need to do a caffeine cutoff at about 7pm. Maybe you should do a late-afternoon name, like 5-6pm. Then you can get up, have your "second morning" coffee or two, and then stop, letting it keep you going until two.
Again, though: all bodies and brains are different. You'll need to experiment. Keep a notebook.
posted by rokusan at 5:20 PM on July 31, 2009