Does anyone go to bed really early (8pm) out of choice?

[FightingTheFoo]

I'm trapped in a terrible cycle atm where I spend all evening snacking, go to bed far too late, get woken up very early by my toddler meaning I have no energy to exercise and just want to snack all day (and night). Rinse and repeat.

I've tried going to bed earlier but it's not working. I "check something" on Twitter or watch "1 episode" of Friends on Netflix and before I know it it's 11pm and I'm not even in my pyjamas. I'm on my knees with tiredness atm.

I'm thinking the only way to fix it is: as soon as DH & I have put the toddler to bed & cleaned the kitchen I'll get ready for bed myself - so no TV or internet in the evenings and in bed by 8pm.

Does anyone go to bed this early? Are there any drawbacks?

I just wonder if it'll be sustainable once evenings get lighter and lockdown eases.

Absolutely.

My second child was a very early riser for years- 4/5am.
Going to bed at 8pm was the only way to cope.
I actually learned to love early mornings.
My toddler is now a 20 year old young woman, and I still go to bed at 9pm. I get up at 6am and do a yoga session every day, potter, and love having the house to myself before anyone else rises.
It's my favourite time of day and I am happy to go to bed at 9pm to make sure I enjoy the pleasures of an early morning.

I go to bed early most nights. In bed by 8ish, I'll then watch TV or listen to an audiobook til about 9, sometimes longer. It's a hangover from when DD was a newborn. I can't blame her later sleep because she always slept like a log, but those early months made me appreciate my sleep like never before.

I like to get up quite early, around 6am, walk the dog, do some exercise and so on, before I have to start work. And I always have a lie in of about 40mins and drink 2 cups of coffee. Then I'm ready to face the day.

Yes to reverse lie-in! Except people don't think of it as lazy, so it's a double win. I go to bed before 9 at least three times a week. I've always been a lark.

Here my youngest goes to bed at 6.30 - 7. Oldest is in bed at 7.30.

3 Nights a week when DP works away from home I hop into bed any time after DC are in bed (7.45 onwards) - pyjamas on, lights off, will scroll through my phone until I am completely tired. Never able to stay awake past 9.

Then next morning (same as every day) were up at 6, start work at half 6. I get the most work done in that time even with DC here.

Lie ins for me are a very rare occurence so this is my way of catching up.

Stop snacking. Try intermittent fasting, which means eating only in an 8 hour window. It helps stops you from feeling the urge to snack and really does give you more energy.

It’s very difficult to get yourself in o bed early when having young kids bc you want a bit of me time. Or at least I do. I have 3 dc. Youngest is 14 months. Eldest is 8. So I get no break really bc my eldest goes to bed 10pm now!! Baby sleeps 6pm until 6:30pm. But at least my eldest will just read in bed next to me while I faf about online. I never snack even if I want and am hungry in evenings bc then my dd would want snacks. Sets a bad example to her. So I just have big meals and never snack. Helps keep weight off and energy up.

I hear you OP, I am the same. Kids guaranteed to wake early / come into my room etc etc. But every night I say I'll go to bed earlier - but find myself getting into bed at 11pm,and sometimes look at my phone until midnight.

My problem is that I am definitely an owl, around 8-9pm I feel like my brain really comes alive and the absolutely last thing I do is want to sleep.

I absolutely hate getting up in the morning and always have done. My whole family are late risers and so I'm really really looking forward to 10 years in the future when the kids are teenagers!

I do once or twice a week normally.

I'm interested in why you are fighting with yourself. You know you are tired but stay up late anyway?

What about a bath, PJs and some reading?

I go to bed at 10pm and always watch something on my iPad but I take my glasses off and then can't see so I tend to close my eyes and fall asleep whilst listening watching Netflix.
I also watch old friends or OFAH episodes.

What's best is to get into a routine. The actual hours that's starts and finishes is irrelevant. I know plenty of people who go to bed at 8/9pm.

You may find it's the sugars in the carbs keeping you awake because you're digesting? (I will admit I'm just speculating as I have no science background or knowledge!)

Go for it! Try it a couple of nights and probably you won't need to go to bed always at 8. One of mine was/is an early riser and it really is the only way to cope. I also had to stop buying the food I snacked on after they were in bed. I'll have a cup of tea now and that's it.

I could have written your exact post a few weeks ago OP. I’m in the process of changing now. I’m trying to schedule in “me time” in the day when I can by going for a walk around the block after dinner or first thing in the morning. Shifting me time to another part of the day and getting exercise in the process. It’s not been easy but I feel so different. Good luck finding something that works for you.

DH gets up for work at 3:30am so he goes to bed early and I go with him out of habit and it's amazing! We tend to go up about 7pm, settle the kids and watch some TV, then lights out by 9/9:30pm. It means by the time the baby is up for a feed I feel like I've had some sleep, plus it means when it's one of them times when you feel you've been asleep hours and look at the clock and it's only midnight you feel like a millionaire knowing you have loads more time to sleep 😂

I will add I still go to bed at 10 when I'm up at 5am to take ds swimming.
But a) we are t home until 9.30pm night before from those training sessions and b) I don't have a toddler who is up with the larks so lay in at weekends (but I'm still up before teen ds!)

When my DS was a baby every Sunday I would be asleep by 9pm! Now he is an adult I hate going to bed exhausted as i like to read. So I'm in bed by 9pm at the latest, read and sleep.

It would really depress me to go to bed straight away and have no chill time! I do go to bed at 8pm but my children go at 6pm so I have a couple hours to myself. Could you make sure you have the kitchen sorted before their bedtime, then have that time to chill and then be strict and go to bed after one episode?

I go to bed latest 8.30-9.00 wake up at 6 and have an hour to myself doing exercises before the rabble get up then it's sorting them out to be fed and off to school by 8.15. I'm a morning person though always have been, I'm happiest on spring when I can wake up early and have my coffee and breakfast outside listening to peace and quite before all hell kicks off 🤣 x

You want to make specific changes to benefit your health and wellbeing. So could focus on that when tempted to watch more TV, be online and/or eat more.

You don’t ‘end up’ going to bed at 11, you’re choosing to do so, and can choose differently whenever you decide to do so.

Exercise is likely to help, even if you don’t feel like it.

For a long time I have been asleep by 9pm and up for 5am. It's amazing - loads gets done in the wee hours before work and I feel properly rested.

I'm out of routine at the moment and I can feel it. Enough rest really does make a massive difference.

I've been going to bed earlier due to boredom.

I do this a lot tbh. I have 3 dc and thanks to covid and absolutely zero childcare I get up at 5am a few mornings to work.
But totally separate to that pre -kids I needed at least 7/9 hours sleep.
One of my dcs didn't sleep through until 4....when I say they didn't sleep I was woken every 45mins or so and would spend hours a night trying to settle them, another of my children also woke frequently until 3, one of my dcs was a great sleeper so nothing we did wrong.
As a result of this I developed severe insomnia.
Now all my dcs are sleeping through since just before the last lockdown and its taken months for me to get my body adjusted to sleeping again but now I finally can and its absolute bliss, I can't believe how little sleep I've survived on in the last 8 years.!! But I honestly believe im catching up now so often go to bed early. Apart from any of that if you are a parent of young dcs your day usually starts v early, I counted one day at the weekend and my dh were up and physically doing things for 15 hours and we're naturally exhausted at the end of the day. Our dcs have huge amounts of energy and are still pretty young so we need to sleep. Also I'm quite introverted so need time to completely switch off as the days are so full on especially now. From having years of 4 hours broken sleep the idea of going to bed early and knowing I have 8/9 and nobody wakes us is amazing. I feel a million times better and so this helps with exercise too which also boosts energy. I know it's tempting to stay up op but if your toddler sleeps all night take advantage of it and get the zzzzz's in even for 2/3 nights a week, you'll feel great.

I used to do it when my DC were babies. Because it was the only way I got a decent rest.

I've become like you, I sit up late because its the only time I get to be alone. Then I'm exhausted and cranky. I'm starting to get a bit anxious about going to bed and I need to tackle it.

I do on the days I feel tired early, otherwise I don't like just lying awake for ages. I would say if you find you are really tired and aren't happy with how you are spending your evenings at the moment, it's worth a try!

I’ve had to completely change my routine, I am naturally a night owl but my job now means I have to get up at 5.30 every morning so I had to readjust. I personally found that doing yoga in the evening (lots of ten minute evening stretch yoga exercises on YouTube) then straight to bed to listen to twenty minutes of guided mindfulness (again YouTube or if you have a Fitbit you get them in the app) is really helpful, I’m asleep by 9.30pm and my quality of sleep has really improved.
As a side note now I’m not tired I eat much a healthier diet, I’ve always eaten reasonably well but I don’t feel the need for that sugar pick me up.

Takes a while to get into the habit but it’s so worth it, going to sleep early. I’d definitely try it.

The game changer for me was to set up Do Not Disturb on my phone, for an hour earlier than I actually need to be asleep. Calls still come through, but no notification pings and when I go to unlock my phone, there’s a double screen I need to bypass so all of these constantly remind me it’s time to sleep. The screen is dark, I have wind down starting 30 mins before DND (so 90 mins before bedtime) and it puts me off using my phone. Oh - and I also activated night shift brightness which means between sunset and bedtime my screen progressively dims down to a yellowy colour that helps your eyes wind down too.

I have a non-sleeping toddler who hasn't slept since he was born. Normal bed time is 9.30 for me at the moment so that the 5.30am wake ups aren't too bad.

I actually get pretty annoyed with DH for going to bed so late and stating he 'can't help it'. He's not a teenager and neither are you.

I go to bed early many nights in the winter. Its mainly out of boredom. DH and kids watching every football match on Sky so if it on i to to the bedroom and end up going to sleep. In the summer ill go out walking for a Few hours.