The Street Where You Live
Has there ever been a line that has described me more? From the Washington Post: “Human beings are the only species that deliberately deprive themselves of sleep for no apparent gain.” I mean, yeah, the gain is a few extra pages read or another episode watched, but is my life appreciably better because I consumed that media then vs. later? No. But I will still stay up too late tonight doing the exact same thing.
Did you know that it matters which side of your time zone you live on? “People on the eastern side of a time zone, where the sun sets earlier, tend to go to bed earlier than those on the western side.” I live right in the middle of my time zone, though it’s a little on the earlier side. I should be going to bed earlier than people in West Virginia. I’m not.
It’s such a funny idea to think about how where you fall in your time zone could affect your whole life. We thought about where our jobs were and how much house we could afford based on how we wanted to save and where our family was located, but we didn’t think about how we’d get more sleep if we lived in place X vs. place Y.
How much thought did you put into where you live?
6 comments
Where we live was really decided on by financial reasons. That was our number one. We moved where we could afford the size house we needed for our family and still have a decent yard and some privacy (vs newer neighborhoods where house are stacked on top of each other and you can shake hands from each other’s driveways), distance to work came second. Moving out of state wasn’t really ever an option due to 1) family and 2) logistics. So how much thought we used was really not much, once we started looking at listings and easily narrowed things down. It helped I worked with an amazing realtor who quickly got us point in the best direction.
I don’t know anyone who used sleep as a factor in where they moved, ever.
That is so interesting… I am in the eastern third of my time zone, but I am terrible at going to bed early. AWFUL. I am further west than I used to live, but I don’t see it making a huge difference in my sleep activity. Moving time zones though, is interesting too — my dad moved to California decades ago, and he sucked at getting to bed early and getting up early when he lived in New York, but he said “it’s like my body was meant for Pacific Time.” Which is interesting to think on, that you could be wired for a particular area. Hmmmm.
That is so interesting… I am in the eastern third of my time zone, but I am terrible at going to bed early. AWFUL. I am further west than I used to live, but I don’t see it making a huge difference in my sleep activity. Moving time zones though, is interesting too — my dad moved to California decades ago, and he sucked at getting to bed early and getting up early when he lived in New York, but he said “it’s like my body was meant for Pacific Time.” Which is interesting to think on, that you could be wired for a particular area. Hmmmm.
This is interesting. I live west in my time zone but I still go to bed early. I can’t help it, I always have. My husband stays up very late though. Hm….
I put a lot of thought in to where I live as I had a lot of issues with our precious address. I considered proximity to work places, as well as quality of schools. I also wanted a place where I could walk around – both for leisure and to get places like parks and restaurant. I wanted sidewalks.
And – my husband laughed at me for this –
I wanted a town that has parades. To me, parades and festivals signify community. And boy does my town love a parade! So naturally I love it here.
@Jess: we live in California and my youngest woke up early (5ish) until she was about 3. We used to joke she was on mountain time bc she was frozen in Colorado (as an embryo) for 2+ years before being transferred.
We’re on the western edge of the middle of PST. I grew up here too. My body’s clock is somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, between PST and Hawaii time. My body wants to go to bed at 1130 pm and wake at 0730 am.
Because my previous career was one where I could live pretty much anywhere in the US I wanted (registered nurse), my choice to live in my city was a very considered and deliberate one. I made a list of my preferred criteria for a place to live, and it is one of only a handful of cities that meets them all.
I had never heard of, or given consideration to, my location within my time zone. Interesting.