Now, while my current work and lifestyle allows for this, I would rather shift myself such that I'm in work sometime between 7:00AM and 9:00AM. That way my workday ends around sometime between 1:00PM and 3:00PM. I have always loved sleeping late, but at the same time I have also always romanticize the idea of waking up at the crack of dawn. Plus, with that extra daylight time I could experience the day in new and exciting ways. Maybe I could take up kite flying.
Of course, I also have a particular affinity for the hours between 11:00PM and 1:00AM. I don't want to be an old fogy, after all. Maybe there is room for compromise.
To wean myself into waking up earlier, I started an experiment this week. My alarm is set for both 6:00AM and 7:30AM. That way I can initially wake up at 6:00AM and be half-asleep until 7:30AM. I tend to naturally wake up in two phrases like that anyway, so I thought I might be able to recreate my normal refreshed state of being if I tricked my body into thinking that it was still in charge.
The results have been less than awesome. I've found on some days, I would in a half-awake stupor just turn off the alarm at 6:00AM and not wake up until my normal start time. Curses! Regardless of whether I turn the alarm off or not, I find myself much more sleepy and cranky throughout the day. This is probably because my room has 5 windows with inadequate shades, so my room is flooded with light by 6:00AM, so any subsequent sleep is not sufficiently restful.
Maybe I need to give the experiment a bit more time to allow my body to shift a bit. Or maybe I need to change the parameters a bit. Hm.