Stevie Nicks Shared the ‘Top Priority’ That Fixed Her 5 P.M. Wake-Up Time
Stevie Nicks has worked as a musician for decades, and the years of late nights have permanently altered her sleep schedule. She holds nocturnal hours, partly because of insomnia and partly because she likes the quiet, relaxing time at the end of the day. Because Nicks was going to bed so late, her sleeping hours stretched into the late afternoon. Eventually, though, she discovered something that helped her fix her 5 p.m. wake-up time.
Stevie Nicks’ years as a musician have altered her sleep schedule
As a musician, Nicks spends long hours recording and performing surrounded by other people. By the time her working day is over, it’s often late at night. She uses this time to decompress.
“When I have a little bit of time to myself, my Zen time at night after a show, I slice a plate of apples and I sit on my bed with as many favorite fashion magazines as I can find,” she told The New Yorker. “I’m just a fashion-magazine hag, and I used to just have thousands of tear sheets, but now that I have my little iPhone I’m taking pictures. So my camera is filled with what would’ve been my tear-out sheets.”
She added that she knows this private time is cutting into her sleep, but she doesn’t care. The alone time is her favorite part of the day.
“It can be, like, four in the morning and I’ll be, like, ‘Let’s see, you have to wake up at eleven-thirty,'” she explained. “And then I kind of go, ‘Why would I want to be asleep right now? This is the best time of my entire day.'”
She shared something that could get her out of bed earlier in the day
Nicks shared that her nocturnal sleep schedule eventually reached a point where she would wake up at 5 p.m. Waking up so late in the day would keep her up all night, and the cycle continued. Eventually, though, she discovered something that pulled her out of bed much earlier.
“In the old days I used to get up at 5,” Nicks told Nylon Magazine in 2001, per The Nicks Fix. “Now I’m up by 11 to watch my soaps: All My Children, One Life to Live, and General Hospital. For years this has been my top priority.”
Nicks also favored Miami Vice, which she watched as she worked out on the treadmill. Her attraction to soap operas makes sense, though. She’s spent decades in Fleetwood Mac, a band with some of the soapiest drama in music history.
Stevie Nicks said the pandemic has worsened her sleep schedule more than being a musician
Nicks used to get out of bed to watch her soap operas. The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic threw this all for a loop.
“It used to be I could sleep from 5 a.m. to 1 p.m.,” she told British Vogue in 2020. “Now I don’t go to sleep until 8 a.m. I need therapy, or I need someone to hit me on the head with a hammer.”
Unfortunately, like many other people, she did not find much creative inspiration during the pandemic, even during her favorite late-night hours.
“I didn’t find it to be terribly creative,” she explained. “All the creative people I know said the same thing. I was just sitting around watching TV.”
