Help me become a morning person!

[Youngatheart00]

Start of a new year and back to work with 6:15 alarms regularly snoozed for 45 mins, making me rush / rely on trains which are frequently late / stress. I am ALWAYS in a foul mood in the morning and find it so hard to get up. It doesn’t matter what time I go to bed. Over the holidays I rarely needed to set an alarm and would wake up naturally between half 8 and 9.

Any tips on how to make this easier??!

No advice but shamelessly jumping on your thread. This very thought was in my head as I stumbled up the road to the bus stop half an hour ago.
I don’t sleep well and am so tired in the mornings but even after a good night 9-9.30 am is my natural time to wake up

My father was a nightbird and could sleep through any alarm while my mother started work at 5.40-6am every day.
My daughter has inherited her morning ways while I could stay in bed all day!

You can't. I get up a solid 4 hours or so before I naturally wake and every day it's hard. And I do this by choice as well!

My routine, fwiw:
1st alarm: quiet and gentle
2nd alarm (2 mins later): bit louder
3rd alarm, down the hallway next to bathroom (2mins later): obnoxious enough I have to get up to turn it off.

I then get directly in the shower/do makeup/get dressed/feed the cats/leave the house - I put out my entire outfit the night before and everything I need to take is already packed and in one place by my keys. All in, about 20mins.

The key for me is absolutely no fannying about, no sitting down for anything. I get a cup of tea when I get to work.

The pay off for me is a lovely commute on very quiet motorway, vs a horrible one taking twice as long, full of shit drivers wandering all over the place (both ways).

That is what motivates me to get up at stupid o'clock (been at work 2hrs already!). What is your motivation?

Ha haaaa you need to download an alarm called Alarmy.

I just used it this morning. You set it to have to take a photo (pre-determined) in order to switch it off).

Well and truly awake after that.

There are others...solving complicated maths puzzles etc.

I don’t think you can become a morning person . I’ve tried every trick in the book, I still hate mornings. Just like you OP, I can go to bed really early or really late, makes no difference, I still hate mornings. However, I’ve learnt that snoozing my alarm actually makes things worse. Also, I’ve discovered that it’s slightly less painful if I manage to get up, shower and have my coffee before I need to get the DC up for school. If we all get up at the same time, it’s just hellish and I end up grumpy for the rest of the day. If I manage to regain consciousness before the mayhem, I feel slightly better.

Reading with interest. So far I've just cultivated a persona around lateness and lack of preparedness instead!

I’ve always managed to get up early if needed but never found a way of being a naturally bright and cheerful morning person.
I sleep on early trains. I try to streamline for minimal time up before leaving of a morning. I groan.

So far I've just cultivated a persona around lateness and lack of preparedness instead!

In case you weren't aware, nobody who knows you thinks this is in any way charming or acceptable, even if they pretend to tell you its fine.

We have a lumie clock and waking up to fake sunshine does help. Having it go down at night is also a really soothing way to go to sleep. If you drink coffee in a morning then perhaps a machine with a timer so you wake up to the smell of freshly brewed coffee (that will be cold if you snozzw too long!)

I am not a morning person but have had to pull my socks up since having DS.

I need something to look forward to to get up and feel less like death.
Days off work I shoot out of bed
Days at work I feel dreadful and can hardly muster a sentence as I drag myself downstairs.
What helps is standing out in the garden and a few deep breaths. Makes me feel more a part of the world outside.
Maybe stand at your door if no garden?

I manage by doing it in stages - I snooze my alarm once then the second time I pick up my phone and go on MN or play Candy Crush or anything brainless for 10 minutes so I feel human enough to get up. Then make a couple of tea and potter around getting the kids’ clothes & breakfast before I get them up. I get up earlier than I’d need to if I was efficient in the mornings but much prefer not to have to cope with DC first thing. This way is more gentle!

I hate to admit it but getting up at the same time each day had made it easier. But I have to have a reason to get up or I won't at the weekend. So parkrun on a Saturday, junior parkrun volunteering on a Sunday it is.

I struggle badly to get up no matter what time I go to bed.
Up at 6 for work but not everyday, well after 9 if left to my own devices.
Strangely when I do manage to get up and out I quite like it.
If I'm off work I always sleep in the afternoon, but then I'm awake at three

It doesn’t matter what time I go to bed

Of course it does! You need to get more sleep. What time do you turn the light off & how long does it take you to fall asleep?

I've never been a morning person and the time I go to bed doesn't make much difference but having a good bedtime routine helps a lot. No screens an hour before bedtime, keeping the bedroom cool, and a cup of night time herbal tea before bed all help me. Avoiding alcohol entirely helps too, even one glass of wine will ruin my sleep.
I'm still grumpy in the mornings but feel a lot better than I used to.

Some useful advice here, thank you!

I know the real answer is to set an alarm I have to get out of bed to turn off, but that just feels so brutal!

I actually have a lumea sunlight lamp but haven’t used it in a couple of years, maybe I’ll dust it off.

And to those who say go to bed earlier, it genuinely makes no difference! I can be in bed for 9 and asleep by 9:30, giving me almost 9 hours sleep and it’s as bad (if not worse!) than going to sleep at midnight

The real key is in consistency of wake time. So waking at the same time regardless of whether it is weekend, holiday or work.

It’s probably not what you wanted to hear though.

Up at 6am.
Set the alarm & get out of bed as soon as it goes off.
Go downstairs, make tea, eat breakfast, feed the cat.
Take tea back upstairs & get back into bed with radio on for 10-15 mins until 2nd alarm goes off at 6.30
Get up, shower, dress & leave for work by 7am.

Works for me

I am a morning person (but that could just be years of waking up early with dcs!). I was also going to suggest a lumie clock. Waking up to light is so much better than to noise. Consistency of waking up at the same time is also helpful, as your body just learns it's time to get up, as is going to bed. I get up early, before anyone else, and sit quietly with a coffee, which I look forward to, so that's an incentive for me. It might not make you a morning person, but it might make your mornings a bit calmer.

Totally recommend a lumie clock for the winter. That really helped me when I worked full time and had to leave the house at 7:15. Also their super bright daylight lamps are great; I use one when I'm working from home positioned above me like daylight.

Sunrise lamps are pointless with cosleeping baby / child though so I had to find other ways. I still love the clocks for eve sunsets though and treated myself to a newer model two years ago for all the white noise sounds, digital radio etc. (Get factory refurbs, cheaper.)

It is possible apparently; we all eventually adapt to jet lag and also to clock changes . I think v early shift work is different, waking around 6-6:30 fits with our natural circadian rhythm whereas 3/4 am is breaking into that in a different way.

I got a book on sleep recently "tired but wired" as mine was fucked due to hypothyroidism and a non sleeping baby; an article is read by the author talked about eating within 30 mins of waking to help reset sleep and even help night owls. You could probably google articles by her; I just got a second hand copy. I found it all really helpful.

Daylight is a big factor; our circadian rhythm is not an exact 24 hours without it. Fully blind people can have issues with insomnia due to this.

I set a telephone alarm in another room - leave the doors open so I'll hear it - so I have to be up on my feet to turn it off.
Then I set alarm clock for 10 mins earlier. The aim is to get up in time to cancel the alarm call before it goes off, thus saving 50p or whatever the charge is.
Mostly, this works. It does not make me a cheery morning person, unfortunately. I need a long soak in the bath and a proper breakfast before I grope my way out of the house.

Re Lumie clock.

I simply put a 40w lamp on a timer switch and that comes on a few minutes before my alarm. (I did try a Lumie-style thing but its no better or worse than the lamp, just a LOT more expensive!)