I could have copy-pasted this comment as an outro message as it's pretty much the exact same situation and experience I had one year ago when i decided to turn things around.

I wasn't even aware of how bad it was until after I had spent way too long trying to figure out why I was always experiencing constant fatigue. The number of hours is one thing, but the quality is just as important. And it gets ruined by bad habits such as looking at screens to late, having too much caffeine (even if one stops at 16:00), and of course: not having a set rhythm.

After taking a full 180 and designing my day from start to end around optimizing energy levels, I feel as if I have gained my life back and the motivation and mental clarity I had 10 years ago. (I summed up everything I now do in an article 2 weeks ago The complete step by step guide to better and deeper sleep).

Another fun thing I noticed is that while I had always believed that I was a night own myself, I also understood that I had never actually tried to get up early consistently and thus never tried to have a morning rythm. (Surprisingly, it takes as much as 5 weeks for our minds to fully adjust to a new rhythm). So considering that I hadn't been doing a steady rhythm for decades, I would have never been able to really tell!

Very grateful for the change I've made. And can't promote them enough. I find that doing a blog post weekly on the best life-style change and hacks I've found helps reinforcing my own beliefs and persistency with them as well.