Sorry to be a bit pedantic, but circadian rhythm is "a natural, internal process that regulates the sleep-wake cycle and repeats roughly every 24 hours." I believe you meant REM cycles, in your first sentence (which matches up to your next sentence).

You’re right! I’m just some dude on the Internet... :)

That kind of fits my experience. I used to wake up around 7:15. Now with COVID work from home and no commute or need to go through a morning routine, it's naturally turned into about 8:45. Pop up, grab some food, do a few hours of work, then take a break to shower, change, etc. I'll have a tough time when I have to return to the office.

This has been my schedule since COVID, too, almost to the minute!

At first I felt really weird about working before showering, like it was out of order so it felt wrong. Now, I can’t imagine doing it any other way. Weird!

I’m usually done with breakfast and tea around 8:45, and then I work through until noon. Go for a run if the weather’s good, shower, quick bite for lunch, back to work till 6ish.

I used to get in to the office around 11 before, regardless of what time I woke up. I can’t help but feel the current (weird) schedule is at least 20% more productive for me.

Yea, the office readjustment will suck.

True, I started waking up much better with one of those apps that wakes you up when it senses movement. It has reduced a lot the urge to hit snooze.

I used to do this too. Then I realized this only works if you actually sleep 7.5 hours and it takes average human 14 minutes to fall asleep. I.e. I’d set an alarm 7:30 from when I go to bed but then still felt tired - doing 8 hours felt better with 7hrs45ish the sweet spot. Hence I can see why people just recommend 8 because normal people don’t try to optimize to the minute and better to slightly over estimate rather than definitely underestimate