It turns out they were right. The whole time. Assholes. I’ve been doing a pretty consistent midnight to 9-9:30 for a couple of months, no screens in my bedroom, just a nightly podcast. And I’m usually asleep inside half an hour. Sometimes well inside. I still sometimes wake up during the night but that’s mainly cos of painful crampy legs from working on my feet all day.
I regret to report that sleep hygiene is in fact a thing.
I could get more sleep, but like other people here said, it would make my life into a tight regime of wake up, work, go home, sleep, repeat.
I'd have approximately 90 minutes per day to myself if I even got 8 hours every night. So I don't really know what to do. Most of my lack of sleep comes from a place of frustration and I'm deliberately hurting myself in spite from the lack of time I have.