Waking up early: How to???

[Jarvicious]

I've always been a night owl.  I don't really pay attention to what time it is, I just let my body rest whenever it deems fit.  Generally, if I lay down and try to go to sleep my mind is on total overdrive and it takes a good hour to stop tossing and turning.  Then again, there are nights when that screwdriver kicks in extra hard and I end up in the sack at 9 only to wake up, wide awake at 3:30.  I'm not generally a fan of turning in at 9, but being able to get up that early and get two loads of laundry done, a weekend of dishes, all Monday paperwork for work, as well as clean most of the house even before I have to go to work is awesome. 

The question is, how do you early risers go about getting up at the crack of dawn AND (now, this is key) making good use of that time?  I can't work out in the mornings (toooo stiff, but that's a different issue) and most of the time I'm too tired/lazy to make a cup of coffee, not to mention it takes a while to kick in so I just go back to bed anyway.  How do you do it?  I'd really like to become a morning person, I just like sleep so much

[Goat_Herder]

Jarvicious, I completely feel you on this one.  I am a complete night owl, too, and love to sleep in.  Many years ago, I worked the 2nd shift in a loan processing center (2:30PM to 11PM).  I totally loved the schedule - stayed up as late as I wanted and slept in (at least till 1:30 pm). 

Fast forward to present.  I recently took on a new job, supporting the East coast operations while staying on the West coast.  That means starting work at 6am and 5am on Mondays (today) for an early meeting.  I struggled mightly adjusting to the new schedule.  Couldn't go to bed early enough and getting up was painful.

Anyway, I treated this like jetlagging.  To "switch over", I just continue to get up at the time I need to get up in the morning.  After a week or so, you will natrually feel tired at a certain time at night becuase your brain simply needs to catch up on sleep.  It will be exhausting for a little bit but you will just get used to it.

Now I wake up at 7am on the weekend when I used to sleep in till 10 or 11.  I hate it.  I like sleeping too much to get up at the crack of dawn on my day of rest.

[MendoDave]

I have two dogs that know its time to go for the walk when the sky starts to get light. They come over to the bed and I can feel them looking at me. During the winter it means I sleep in until just past 7 sometimes. But around July it's more like 5:30 or 6:00.

So get two dogs.

[yamifixer]

Get a bulldogge. my male gets me up like clockwork at 6:05.

as for being productive. I've always got something to putter at if I don't have to work

[Triple J]

Have a kid. They'll quickly break you of your sleep-in habits! 

No other avice though. Getting up earlier than when you naturally wake up sucks. I'm used to it, but it still sucks. I've heard the alarm clocks that slowly turn on a light with the alarm help...but no FHE.

[Drjones]

Alarm clock positioned across the room, so you have to get out of bed to turn it off.

Set schedule.

Parents who were coffee nuts to the point that you're sure your blood contains a percentage of natural caffeine.

[SacDuc]

My day starts like this:

5:30am - Alarm goes off. Hit snooze.
5:40am - Hit snooze.
5:50am - Hit snooze.
6:00am - Curse the cold and darkness and pry my ass out of bed. Piss. Start coffee.
6:10am - Get dressed. Putter about.
6:30am - Brush my teeth while standing at my front door watching the sunrise over the Pacific. Marvel at the wonders of nature.
6:33am - Curse the sunrise and long for the day I never have to see one again.
6:35am - Pack up the laptop and put on shoes.
6:45am - Let the chickens out and get on the road.

I hate getting up this early and have absolutely no advice to give on how to make it productive. My advice would be to avoid it all costs. It leads to getting up at the crack of dawn even on your off days. And that sucks.


sac


/oddly my dogs don't usually start begging to go out when I get up. They are more than happy to take my nice warm spot on the bed and snuggle up to the wife for another hour or two.

[akmnstr]

I've always been a morning person.  It is not that it is easy for me to get up in the morning, I've always thought that the fun things were daytime activities.  I like riding in the cool of the morning.  Fishing is usually best in the morning or evening.  If your going to climb, hike, kayak, ski, hang-glide, etc. your going to have to get up early on your days off.  If your going to do something fun, it makes it easier to get up early.  

[Jaman]

I live on the west coast, and work east coast hours, not a morning person by choice, but I have a pretty good "body clock" so this may or may not help you - when I have to get up earlier than normal (alarm is normally set for 4:20 am), or am going to bed "late", i look at my clock after laying down and then "think/visualize" what time I need to get up/alarm go off in the a.m.

[JEFF_H]

Doesnt help if you sleep in on weekends.
try to keep the same schedule.

drink a big glass of water before bed and when you get up to pee...just get up.

[RAT900]

I have no clock anymore...my job has "globalized" me

work, play and sleep are pretty much interwoven in a mix of 4 to 8 hour increments....

you do what you can in the hours they make the best sense

[akmnstr]

Doesnt help if you sleep in on weekends.
try to keep the same schedule.

drink a big glass of water before bed and when you get up to pee...just get up.

+1 except for the glass of water.  If I do that I'll be up at 1:30!

[MendoDave]

5/oddly my dogs don't usually start begging to go out when I get up. They are more than happy to take my nice warm spot on the bed and snuggle up to the wife for another hour or two.

If they knew there might be a Rabbit, or a Deer, or Marmut, or a Skunk or something, they would want to go out.

[He Man]

I have ADHD, i sleep maybe 4-5 hours a night even if dead tired. When i hit the sack it takes me about 2-3 hours to go to sleep cause my mind is on crack.i can wake up at a snap casue i hate sleeping.

i tried drugs but nothing is better than sleeping on ritalin or alcohol. Alcohol is cheaper.

this post isnt helpful. lol

motivation is key though. if you have nop reason to wake  up  and ur tired. there is no reason for you to wake up and u stay in bed.

[cokey]

I'm always tired but can neber get more then 6hrs of sleep.. anymore and I'm even more tired.. I wake up pretty easy most times, it helps me when the baby wakes up at 330 n 530-630 everyday..  I love to sleep thgh but can't and hate to on weekends.. id rather get up early,  which I always am the first one up in the house no matter wat time I fall to sleep..  some times you just gotta suck it up to get things done..