Gen Z are “giving themselves jetlag” by going to sleep early, according to a leading journalist.
It comes as a study by The Wall Street Journal found that most people in their early 20s go to bed at 9pm and sleep an average of nine and a half hours a night.
On Moncrieff today, Guardian columnist Tim Dowling said he spent a week going to bed at 9pm to see what all the fuss was about.
Mr Dowling said he usually went to sleep closer to midnight and “resented” his early bedtime experiment almost instantly.
“I normally go to bed after my wife but now I’m going to bed a good hour and a bit before my wife,” he said.
“I just feel ridiculous sitting up in bed and listening to her watching TV.
“Are [Gen Z] living at all?
“They have no evening; they go to work and have to eat at some point – what’s left?”
Sleep influences
Mr Dowling said genes are one of the major factors that influence a person’s sleep.
“We are divided into larks and owls, depending on what time of the day you’re most productive,” he said.
“You will naturally gravitate to a bedtime that allows you to either wake up late or wake up early – depending on which you prefer.
“The other factors are the amount of light you get, habits, and, to a lesser extent, the time of year.”
'Exhausted'
Mr Dowling said he spent over 11 hours in bed a day during the experiment, which left him feeling “exhausted”.
“I also felt my circadian rhythm had been blown apart and I was waking up in the middle of the night because of it,” he said.
“Someone said to me going to sleep is a passive process, it’s like growing a beard – there’s nothing you can do about it.
“If you think a lot about growing a beard it won’t stop you from growing a beard but if you think too much about going to sleep that will keep you awake.”
Learned nothing
Mr Dowling said he was told by one Gen Z youngster that “nothing good happens after 9pm”.
“I just thought ‘everything good happens after 9pm,’” he said.
“The next time I go to bed at nine it will be someone making me.”
He added that he learned “not one single thing” from his sleep experiment and recommended it to nobody.
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Main image: A woman awake in bed in March 2021. Picture by: Andriy Popov / Alamy Stock Photo
