A circadian, solstice-centric sleep schedule, Part II

To figure out your particular location’s sunrise and sunset, just search on the internet. I’d recommend starting with just the summer and winter solstices, June 21 and December 21. From there, you’ll be able calculate the “solar noon” and more importantly “solar midnight”, around which you’ll figure out your own custom sleep schedule. Later you can fill in the days between the solstices.

Obviously, times will vary based on your geographic latitude. Here’s some figures for New York City:

ANALYSIS OF OPTIMAL SLEEP BASED ON THE SOLSTICE
June 21: Sunrise at 5:24am, sunset at 20:30. Thus, solar midnight is 0:58.
December 21: Sunrise at 7:16am, sunset at 16:31. Thus, solar midnight is 23:58.

Data From:
http://www.geocities.com/dtmcbride/science/astronomy/sunrise_sunset.html

The data above show that, in the summer, I’d need to go to bed around 9pm and get up around 5am, which in the winter I should go to bed around 8pm and rise at 4am. For most people, these times seem quote earlier than typical. It seems that modern society has us off kilter by an hour or two, and often far more. Consider that this schedule maximizes the percent of amount of darkness you’ll experience while sleeping, and the amount of light you’ll experience while awake. There are massive environmental and cost saving benefits as well, but they are beyond this article’s scope.

I have been using the schedule (roughly) for nearly a year, and having improved my sleep quality, decreased the amount of sleep I need, and experienced higher mental acuity during the day. Lastly, I feel a more regular connection to nature that provides solace in a world increasingly ignorant of nature’s wisdom.