Early risers - how do you do it?

[nancyclancy123]

My New Years resolution is to get up earlier in the mornings. Week days (term time) I have to for work/school runs but I feel I waste the weekends/school holidays by sleeping in.
I’d love to be a naturally early riser and on the occasions I do get up early I’m happier for doing do. I love the idea of being up and ready before the kids and having some time for myself. Any suggestions gratefully received

I stopped lying in late when I realised it made me feel depressed all day. So even though I wake up and desperately want to stay in bed, I just make myself get up as I know it is for the greater good.

Go to bed early! I'm usually a sleep by 9:30 on an evening, but then I'm up at 5:45 to have my breakfast and get out for a run by 6:30 during the week. On a weekend I get up at a similar time and enjoy my breakfast and a coffee in peace before the kids get up.

The trick is to go to bed early.

It took me decades to figure this out.

Definitely go to bed early! 10pm latest

Go to bed and get up at the same time every Day, don’t go on your phone in the evening and leave it charging in another room, read books or do something else to wind down in the evenings, make sure you get out in the daylight each morning once it’s bright as this keeps your body clock expecting daytime to be bright and evening dimmer/sleep time.

We have one of those sunrise alarm clocks, half hour before its due to go off it starts gently glowing like a sun rise. It's a great, gentle way to get up earlier.

Buy an alarm clock?

I go to bed at 9.30. I get up at 7. Sometimes 6.30. I've always don't that except when I was a teen. I feel lazy and hate that I'm wasting the day if I lie in.

I have always been an early bird. Even when I was in my twenties, I would wake early no matter what time I went to bed or how drunk I was! I don't think you can change that, it's just the way you are. But going to bed early and not having lie-ins (which mess up your body clock for days) are probably the only way to achieve it if your not a natural early riser.

I took a job a few years ago which meant I needed to get up at 0500. I started to get to bed by 0930, cut out tv an hour before bed , no caffeine after 1800 and a daylight clock. I found after about 6 months my body clock reset and even though I no longer have this job I am seldom in bed after 0600 even during the holidays. I get more done and sometimes it's lovely to have an hour that is totally mine with nobody else about.

I will never ever be an early riser, I’m a natural night owl and cannot settle until midnight. No amount of training will ever change this. However, I have to get up at 5am for work so I have the sunrise alarm mentioned previously and it really helps

I started always getting up the second my alarm goes off. No snoozing it, no 5 more minutes. The second I hear it my feet go on the floor, its not the nicest way to wake up but it works!

Get up when you wake up. No lying in bed looking at your phone.

That said, I'm a naturally early riser and like mornings. I feel awake as soon as I wake up - I really struggle to go back to sleep. My partner, on the other hand, would sleep until midday if he could and days he feels drugged when he wakes up and getting himself fully awake is very hard - it must be much harder for people who feel like that to get up early.

Go to bed early enough to get the sleep you need, every night even weekends otherwise you just stay in a cycle of early in the week and lie ins on the weekend. I make it a priority now to stay to a routine give or take an hour or so and I feel so much better for it, I'm not fighting tiredness on an afternoon at work and I have so much more energy. Some friends think I'm sad going to sleep at 9.30 for a 5.30 start but it works for me!

I've always been an early riser, I set the alarm for 6am on weekdays for work and I'm up as soon as it goes off, weekends I generally am up by 8 but I go to bed around 1030 (if I can stay awake that long)

Hubby is a night owl so goes to bed around 2 but he WFH so doesn't need to be up until 830

Thanks for your suggestions. After staying up late last night, my dd decided to wake up exceptionally early this morning, so I’m tired and hoping to go to bed earlier tonight.
I do feel low when I first wake up but then feel worse for wasting the day and it’s so much harder this time of year. But I need to stop this cycle!!
I’ve ordered a sunrise alarm clock too!!

Stagger it and give yourself a month to adjust. You have to retrain body and brain for this and be realistic it might not work at all.

Set yourself up with an excellent bedtime routine first. Same pattern no matter how daft. Eg brush teeth then PJs on, then into bed. Same time every night give your brain and body the ‘it’s time to sleep’ cues just like you do with babies.

Then start on the wake up wake up earlier. Do it 5minutes earlier at time. Coupled with into bed a bit earlier too.

You may have to do this a few times at 10:15 bedtime before going to a 10:10 or 10:05 bedtime.

You have to stick To it. No sleep ins at weekend. Actually I love weekends as DC doesn’t get up earlier and I have glorious Saturday so to read and do other stuff.

For decent sleep. Reduce caffeine before bed, right bedroom temperature, right ‘weight’ to bedding. (I need something with weight to it to sleep well. I have a heavy cotton blanket that works a treat) cut screen time down/off a while before bed and the hardest is switching off that you must fond before bed. Etc. Priorities what you can do today and what can wait.

I’ve been an earlier riser for years now but I only sleep about 6 hrs atm. It’s not ideal and I’m working on that.

I do it by having an overactive bladder. I am up every couple of hours. Even when not working, when it gets to 6am I might a well be up rather than lie in and still have to keep getting up.

I never enjoyed lying in anyway, I used to get a headache.

Nerves and smoking.
Not necessarily to be recommended but I do enjoy my quiet hour before everyone’s up.

I'm usually in bed for 9.30 and then wake up by about 6.30, but 2 weeks off has knocked me off schedule and Monday morning is going to be tough!

I don't do it my body does. I'm wide awake at 5am and the bed has turned into lava. I'd love to be able to lie in.

Thanks for this thread.
I also lie in and feel horrid for it. I used to be an early rider till I moved to Sweden in 2006 and then the UK in a 2007. I had the sunrise alarm too but got rid of it after a while.
I hope I do better this year.

Deffo routine !! I used to lay in quiet late at weekends but like another poster said it makes u down !!
So I go bed every night at 10pm or earlier ! I get up at 7am everyday ! And I love the peace I have and a whole day to do stuff
Goodluck I hate laying in bed now xx

For me the important thing is having a reason to get out of bed at a specific time. I used to get the 6.31am train to work and was fine doing that but once I started working from home I struggled to get out of bed before 8.30 because there was no need. Having a plan of what I want to use the time for in the morning and knowing how long it will all take really helped me get back on track e.g. I want to put some washing on and unload the dishwasher and those two things will take half an hour so I need to get up at least by 8, etc.
Going to bed early obviously makes it easier, but it can be difficult to start going to bed early if you’re not tired by then so do it incrementally, half an hour every few days.
I also like having a radio alarm clock because it means you’re less likely to switch it straight off like a horrible alarm sound!

I’m in bed at 9.30 at the latest and up at 5.45 ready to leave for work at 6.20.
Even on weekends. I’ve found this has reset my internal alarm and I’m up before 6 even on days off and holidays.
I love reading in bed at night but as soon as I am awake in the morning I have to get up