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Wake up by 3:00 to 4:00 a.m. All that makes us sleepy. I've just finished with another day of medical school. Currently, I'm on general practice, or Americans call it family medicine, and we finished a lot later than usual. When I'm on this rotation, it's currently 1620, and I'm waiting for my train back up. Exor Central, Exor St. My journey, including the train ride and walk back home, takes half an hour. It's enough time to listen to a few Medical School voice notes or catch up on a podcast.
Interestingly, during my commute, I feel a strong sense of responsibility to spend my time wisely. Maybe it's because I know I'm already disadvantaged against people who don't need to travel daily to work or school. So I make an effort to do something beneficial for myself, and when I get to rest at home, it feels so much better. It's already so dark outside.
How was your day? Uh, good. It's actually quite nice, sometimes a bit slow, but we had some recognized teaching. We swabbed ourselves and put it on an AAR plate, and we're going to see what grows. So that's kind of fun. Wow, you're in microbiology? Are you a little bit cold outside? But actually, it's really cold. I was freezing on the way back from the hospital. It was so cold. Okay, I think I'm ready. See you later.
I'm usually starving by the time I get home. I grab a snack to have enough energy to get my dinner ready, which is quite quick usually because of my meal prep on the weekend to save time.
Honestly, my first instinct when I come to my room is to lie on my bed, but I've been trying to turn that instinct into a reminder to quickly unpack and clean out any rubbish in my bag or pockets. When I skip unhelpful habits and do something good as soon as I get into my room, it sets a positive momentum and makes it easier for me to tackle the rest of my evening tasks.
Hello. Hi. I usually eat dinner right after I get home, which is around 4:00 to 5:00 p.m., and I aim to eat at least 3 hours before bed. Since my flatmates have their meals later, I don't see them much in the evenings as I'm already asleep by then. And you know, this can be one of the disadvantages of going to sleep early, but all of my flatmates are medical students, and we all have 8:00 a.m. placements the next morning, so we don't really have time to hang out much in the evenings on weekdays.
Anyway, it's nice and home. I get very sleepy a lot earlier in the evening than most people do, so I sleep by 8:00 p.m. and wake up by 3:00 to 4:00 a.m. I'm not sure which one started the cycle for me first—whether waking up early caused me to feel sleepy earlier in the evening or vice versa—but I know this has been my routine my whole life. I'm aware that my natural circadian rhythm, or my body's internal clock, sits on the earlier side of the spectrum, but everyone is unique, and what really matters is how we spend our time, not when we sleep and wake up. I am a lot more patient in the morning, so I do the majority of my work then. In the evenings, I just prioritize resting. But realistically, there are still some days where I study in the evenings, like if it's exam season, but I find keeping evening work very minimal and doing it as soon as I can works best, because the more I push it further, the more sleepy and less productive I get.
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I aim to do my skincare at least an hour before bedtime, so it gives the product enough time to absorb properly, so I don't wipe it all off on my pillow. But I try to still time it close enough to sleep for lower cortisol levels, because research suggests low cortisol helps with effective nighttime skin repair. By the way, cortisol is a stress hormone in our body that naturally goes down as we prepare for sleep.
Hello. It's funny, my mom had some reservations towards me sitting in a red room and just getting on with my evening, because, you know, historically red is associated with evil and negative things. The reason I switch my LED lights to warmer colors, like yellow and red, is because they are less disruptive on our circadian rhythm compared to blue lights, so it helps with melatonin production in our body, the hormone that makes us sleepy.