Early riser


bytor2112
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I wish I was an early riser......but I am not. I wake up early, but drift back to sleep and am usually forcing myself up at 7:30.

 

I want to be a 5:30 AM sort of fellow....but I am greatly lacking in will power where sleep is concerned.

 

Any other late sleepers who desire change or any great advice on how to change?

 

I usually will not accept appointments before 10:00 unless it is just unavoidable.

 

Help!!!

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I've been on both ends of the spectrum. For me it largely depends on what my job requirement is. If work starts at 6:00 am then I'll be up at 4:30 am to be ready for the day. If work starts at 9:00 am then I tend to wake up at 7:30 - 7:45 am. Interestingly after having needed to be up for work early several times over several years, I find that I always drift back to a later wake-up time when early rising isn't required.

 

My solution to early rising is to make it required. Set up an early morning walk with some other early risers to keep you accountable and you'll likely be getting up to meet them, at least it works for me.

 

Another option that supposedly works is to back into early rising 15 minutes at a time over a few weeks to take the edge off the time change so you're not in zombie mode. Unfortunately for me I find I just need to jump in and work through the tired spell.

Edited by SpiritDragon
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I have the same experience as Spirit Dragon.  If I have an early morning job, then I am able to go to bed early at night and get my needed 7 to 8 hours of sleep.  If I have an evening shift, I of course sleep in late.  But, I do need my sleep, so I have to set up bed time hours accordingly.  If I want to get up early, I have to go to bed early.

 

I am not an early riser by nature.  I tend to be a night owl.  For some reason, I drag during the morning hours up through the afternoon and have my most energy after 9 pm.

 

In order for me to sleep, I often need to use a sleep mask.  This seems to help my melatonin kick in.

Edited by classylady
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I was up and working at 4 a.m. this morning.  Just ask mirkwood.  I was questioning him as to why he wasn't out writing tickets instead of perusing lds.net.

Its easy when you work from your laptop even if it is al l l  l l  the way out in the kitchen

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I had a job where I had to start work at 8AM.  Had to be up by 6:45AM.  I was useless at work until 10AM.  I told my boss this and he changed my work time to 10AM.  I wake up at 8:55AM.  By the time I'm showered and changed, my brain is ready to function.  Church starts at 9AM.  The bishop gave me a calling once to be the ward chorister so that I will be incentivized show up on time for 9AM sacrament.  Good thing there are multiple wards in the building so we get to switch to late sacrament 2 years out of 3.

 

I developed Seasonal Anxiety since coming to America.  In the Philippines, sun rises between 5:30 and 6AM and sets between 5:30 and 6AM every single day of the year.  I wake up at 6:30AM everyday when I lived there and my brain is fully functioning.  I'm in bed by 10PM.  When I moved to the US, I am fatigued if I wake up before 9AM.  And I developed some kind of insomnia.  I'm lucky if I can get my brain to stop spinning so I can sleep before 4AM.

 

So, what worked for me was to just adjust my day to account for my biological clock's timetable.  Fighting it was making me less productive.  Oh, there's also this hypnotist comedian that was selling relaxation tapes so you can sleep a peaceful slumber.  I bought it and it works except it triggers my... I don't know what it's called - it's when your body is asleep but your brain stays awake so you can't breathe... it's some form of sleep apnea.  So I had to stop using it.  But it does get your brain to "empty out" so you can sleep even outside of your regular biological schedule.  I read a book about how the Navy Seals have trained their brains to "empty out" so they can sleep anywhere anytime and be fully rested with only an hour of sleep.

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A lot of people seem to skip the early to bed part of early to bed, early to rise.

 

I discovered, like 20 years back, not that I needed to make sleep a priority, but that sleep was going to be a priority whether I made it one or not. Knowing this, I worry much less about when I get up and focus on ensuring that I get to bed when I need to to get the needed sleep. Then getting up is not that big of a deal.

 

In other words, the issue isn't really about being an early riser. The issue is about staying up too late. Our body clocks will adjust to different schedules. But if we don't get enough sleep, particularly consistently, then we'll always struggle getting up.

Edited by The Folk Prophet
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A lot of people seem to skip the early to bed part of early to bed, early to rise.

 

I discovered, like 20 years back, not that I needed to make sleep a priority, but that sleep was going to be a priority whether I made it one or not. Knowing this, I worry much less about when I get up and focus on ensuring that I get to bed when I need to to get the needed sleep. Then getting up is not that big of a deal.

 

In other words, the issue isn't really about being an early riser. The issue is about staying up too late. Our body clocks will adjust to different schedules. But if we don't get enough sleep, particularly consistently, then we'll always struggle getting up.

 

This hasn't been my experience, unfortunately.  I can sleep at 10PM, wake up at 6AM and still be non-functioning until 10AM.  My brain's best productive time is 2AM which would have been great with my job because I can just swift out to graveyard but - if I don't get enough sunlight, I get fatigued too.  So, it's a balance.  There's something about body clocks that gets whacked up by whatever reason - mine started when I moved to a 12-hour-different time zone.  But, I'm not sure if it's really the timezone more than the different lengths of daylight.

 

I have lots of cousins who are nurses... they work 12-hour shifts usually - and they swap from day to night shift a lot.  Some of them can swap day/nights with no problem.  Some of them cannot function on certain shifts. 

 

There's something more to this than just early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.

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When I became self-employed and started working at home I got into a terrible rut of waking up at 8:30am or even later.  I felt like a totally lazy slob.  I did some random experiments with my lifestyle and discovered that it's much, much easier for me to haul my carcass out of bed if I'm hungry.  I moved dinner time to 5:30pm and go to bed slightly hungry.  It's not the most pleasant thing in the world, but I got used to it, and now when the alarm goes off at 6:00am I spring from my bed like toast from a toaster.  YMMV, of course.

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The important thing is to have a consistent sleep schedule...unfortunately we humans operate on 25 hours rather than 24 hours, which can cause some problems.

A little bit of caffeine in the morning may help, changing sleep schedules, it generally has a half life of 5-16 hours (depending on person, I go with 6 hours) It boosts alertness by blocking adenosine which causes fatigue. However as a side effect when the caffeine wears off there can be a build up of adenosine, which means more tiredness.
Dosing is person specific considering most people have bulit a tolerance to caffeine. If you generally don't consume caffeine a soda may do the trick (30mg to 60mg generally) all the way up to coffee and energy drinks (200mg+ per cup generally)

 

So in summary Caffeine has two good usages with changing your sleep cycle, #1 It keeps you awake #2 If you time it right it helps you go to sleep earlier.

 

Melatonin may also help with falling to sleep earlier, which may help waking up earlier.

Don't use electronics and strong lighting during the evening...and talking to a doctor could be of help (rather than some random internet person.)

Also expect it to take a week when changing your circadian rhythms related to sleep. Slowly reduce caffeine usage throughout the week until the new schedule has become a habit.

(If there are reservations about using caffeine then don't use it...)

Edited by Crypto
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I wish I was an early riser......but I am not. I wake up early, but drift back to sleep and am usually forcing myself up at 7:30.

 

 
I find that it helps a lot if the first thing I do is hop out of bed and take a shower as soon as the alarm goes off. If I try to do the snooze thing, or if I just tell myself that I'll wait a minute or two before getting out from under the covers I'm likely to reconsider my decision to get up if I'm at all able. Showering first thing gives me both an immediate goal and helps wake me up.
 

I like going to sleep at 5:30 a.m....

 

There was a time in my life that I was going to bed at 10 and getting up at 6. That would be 10 am and 6 pm, maybe it's just growing up in a large family but my enjoyment of the stillness of the night has stuck with me. Baring responsibility driven reasons I think I'm always going to tend towards being a night owl (though not that extreme). I don't struggle too much (though that might change with age) in forcing myself to get up so when I need to adjust my schedule I just get up early and let being tired adjust when I'm going to bed. If I try and force my wake-up time by going to bed early I just end up laying awake in bed until my customary time.

Edited by Dravin
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I wish I was an early riser......but I am not. I wake up early, but drift back to sleep and am usually forcing myself up at 7:30.

 

I want to be a 5:30 AM sort of fellow....but I am greatly lacking in will power where sleep is concerned.

 

Any other late sleepers who desire change or any great advice on how to change?

 

I usually will not accept appointments before 10:00 unless it is just unavoidable.

 

Help!!!

get an alarm clock that doesnt shut up and put it on the other side of the room. get to bed earlier. exercise.

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I work graveyards.

No wonder you prefer Zombie things, and wear dark glasses during the day. 

 

Back when I worked I got up about 30 minutes before I had to leave the house. When I worked at the bank as a teller, I got up 1.5 hours early so I could put on the makeup, curl & style the hair and eat breakfast. When I owned my own Tavern (back when I was really inactive) I got up at 6:00 AM so I could clean the bar (mop, vacuum and then sanitize the bathrooms) before opening at 7 AM.

 

Eight years later the Tavern is sold and I am now working at the local hardware store. I get up 45 minutes before work starts. Brush and pick my hair (it is short and permed), toss on the flannel men's shirt with the sleeves cut off and hemmed above the elbows, pull on the jeans, knee hi's and sturdy work shoes, grab a frozen 'entree' out of the freezer for lunch and get to the store at 7:50 AM. This is one of the dirtiest and physically challenging jobs I have ever had.  

 

I went to bed when I was so tired I could barely drag myself to the bedroom. Often I fell asleep on the sofa and woke to the dog barking because of my alarm clock going off. I set my alarm after we ate dinner to make sure it was set for morning. NOT as I got into bed. 

 

Now as a retired person, I go to bed when I am so tired I can barely drag myself to bed. OR when my feet, shins, fingers, hands, wrists quit spiking in pain AND I am tired. Often that is around 4 or 6 in the morning. Doesn't matter when I take the pill for the neuropathy - that, 3 Aleve and 10-20 minutes of massaging lotion into my feet and ankles is what will eventually stop the spiking long enough for me to get to sleep for about 3 hours. Then the intense heat in my feet and wrists wakes me up. So it is back to massaging my feet again. 

 

When we have to be at an appointment before noon - I give in and go to bed at 4 or 5 in the evening. That is when I really droop and fight it to stay awake UNLESS the sun has set already. We have an appointment next tuesday at 10 AM. Have to leave the house at 7:30 AM to get there on time. Won't eat until after the appointment! Bleh - am NOT looking forward to that one. At least traffic going there won't be so bad. The coming home will be bad, but we won't be on any got-to-be-there by a certain time schedule. 

 

I have always been more alert after the sun has gone down. I loved taking naps during the afternoon. Especially with the sun drenching me. Still do that on Sundays. Yet when I have had to get up around 6 or 7 AM, I have thoroughly enjoyed being outside before the neighbors have risen and disturbed everything with starting up the cars. 

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get an alarm clock that doesnt shut up and put it on the other side of the room. get to bed earlier. exercise.

 

Problem is that my wife is up at 4:45 and alarm in on her side of the bed....I hit the gym at night. I think my main problem is I struggle to fall asleep at night and then I awake with her alarm and between her getting ready and the dogs I can't go back to sleep until she leaves at 6:00. Then I drift back off till 7:30 or 7:45....

 

Today I did rise at 6:30.....my new goal for next week is 6:00....we shall see

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Problem is that my wife is up at 4:45 and alarm in on her side of the bed....I hit the gym at night. I think my main problem is I struggle to fall asleep at night and then I awake with her alarm and between her getting ready and the dogs I can't go back to sleep until she leaves at 6:00. Then I drift back off till 7:30 or 7:45....

 

Today I did rise at 6:30.....my new goal for next week is 6:00....we shall see

 

Or, you can go for broke and make 4:45 the start of your day?

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