Writing at Night: debunking a myth
Having made quick work of depression-exclusive inspiration, the time has come to tackle another hot subject: writing at night.
A Difficult Customer
You see, this topic is quite a difficult customer for the simple reason that there’s some truth to it. At night, our “mental defences” are low to the point that we are almost in a child-like (or drunk-like) state, and that means less filters, perhaps a more spontaneous flow, and a more quiet environment that favors focus.
After all, there must be a reason if Hemingway’s advice was to write drunk.
However, all of this sounds too good to be true because, you know — it’s becoming some king of mantra, I guess — everything comes with a catch.
The Catch
In this case, the issue is quite an important one. Let me put it this way: would you keep an habit that could harm you in the long haul?
The answer should be yes, but just like it happens with smoking, drinking or other things, it’s usually now — and yet, we can’t run away from the fact that sacrificing sleep on the altar of writing is something that will eventually harm both your health and your ability to keep writing good stuff.
The Importance of Sleep.
If you write at night, it is quite likely that you made a habit out of it.
You do it often, you stay awake late every late and, when inspiration really kicks in, you pull an all-nighter every once in a while… but what if you’re hurting yourself? What if you’re not doing any good to your writing, either?
“Humans are the species to deliberately deprive themselves of sleep for no sound reason” — Matthew Walker, PhD
Matthew Walker is an interesting person who happens to have gathered a wealth of knowledge about sleep, and he put it all together in his book Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams.
In his work, Walker goes through decades of research and evidence that proves that an overtired brain and body make us vulnerable to cancer, Alzheimer’s, depression, anxiety, obesity, stroke, chronic pain, diabetes and heart attacks, among other medical conditions.
Shouldn’t that be enough to encourage you to stop listening to the pretty-sounding, idiotic things writers say about writing at night, just know that animals have it more figured out than our “superior brain” does: pretty much like your cat, a lion spends about fifteen hours a day sleeping, and dolphins can put half of the brain to sleep while the other hemisphere remains awake.
However, going back to humans, dr. Walker and his team managed to highlight how messing with sleep — something that is supposed to happen in a specific timeframe and always during the night — interferes with the body’s circadian rhythm and has dire consequences on every organ and on every process of our brains (and this includes creativity).
Other downsides
Shouldn’t science and health be enough of a reason, let’s dive into some specific data: if you spend at least some minutes on YouTube, by now you’ve been already bombarded with enough Grammarly ads to know what it is; for Martians reading this, just know that it is a free spelling and grammar checking tool, and as every useful thing does nowadays to improve itself, it collects data on its users.
After analysing over one billion writing mistakes and crossing this piece of information with when those mistakes were made, Grammarly found out that those who write early in the morning made significantly less grammar, spelling and punctuation mistakes than nighttime-writers — and if you’ve ever written anything, you know how critical this is when it comes to the editing process.
When to Write
I know it’s hard.
I’ve been there and still am, sometimes — even right now I am writing this article way later than I should have, but committing to three articles per week in three specific days requires some sacrifice.
However, remember that inspiration doesn’t just appear: you call it by sitting down and starting to work, so it’ll come to you even if you start writing in the morning. Having a healthy and regular sleep routine will help you keep your brain sharp and ready to go, and it will enhance both your health and your creativity in the long run.
If you don’t have any choice, write at night.
But if you do, avoid settling for something that will hurt you.
It’ll pay dividends, in the end.
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If you want to buy Dr. Matthew Walker’s book, heres the link to it.
However, if scientific literature isn’t your cup of tea or if you prefer some faster info, check his appearance on Episode #1109 of The Joe Rogan Experience.
Last thing: have a good night!
