Question for morning people

[Hollyhocky]

For you larks, morning people, people who naturally have no problem getting up around sunrise and not 5 minutes before you really have to get up and can't get away with it any longer.:

When your alarm goes off, what goes through your mind? My automatic thought is snooze it. I wish I could just jump up and get on with my day and would like to make some changes to see if I can be more lark/like.

So how do you do it?

I have no problem getting up around sunrise

Which is why i am only just waking up and hour after my alarm went off

It’s normally “what time has the peri-menopause allowed me to sleep until today?”. Followed by getting into the shower or downstairs for coffee depending on the time.

I don't have an alarm. I'll wake up naturally around 5.30am and always feel full of energy. I will sometimes lie in bed for a few minutes planning my priorities for the day but really can't lie for long if I'm awake. I'm like this every day- whether I'm on holiday, weekends, summer, winter whatever. Think I've always been like this - even as a child. I like the idea of languishing in bed but in reality I'm itching to get up!

I'm very much a morning person.

Anxiety about what you have not done and what you urgently need to do the morning you wake up usually makes you into a lark person in my experience...

@Hollyhocky if you find something nice to wake up for, it makes it so much easier.
I wake naturally between 3am-5am (due to menopause) which is bloody annoying, but I realised I needed to use this time, so I do nice things or things that make me feel better: make x2 drinks (a tea & a coffee) to bring back to bed, I write in a lovely Seasalt wellbeing journal & plan my day, I listen to a 15 minute meditation according to the day ahead (looking for positivity, self confidence or clearing negative thoughts- The Braveway meditation course), I read 10 pages of a development book & then if time a bit of a novel too. These things make getting up early (whilst the house is asleep), so much nicer.

I'm a definite owl but a sunrise clock helps in the winter. I'm less soundly asleep if the room has been getting gradually brighter before my alarm goes off.

Alarm goes off at 7am (or I wake just before it), no snoozing, bedside light on and straight out of bed, wake kids up, into the shower and at my desk working by 7.30am.

If I didn't get straight up I would be late for work and the kids would be late for school/college with no packed lunch so I kind of have to really as I am a single parent (not that my ex ever did any of that stuff anyway).

When your alarm goes off, what goes through your mind?

Alarm clock? If I'm still in bed at 6 am it's a lie in.

I do like to have something nice to see first thing, in my case my bed faces my garden so I can usually see some trees.

No alarm, but this morning I got up to the thought "did it snow?"
"It did snow! Yay!"

I haven't had an alarm for years, only for ludicrously early flights or something. When I'm awake I'm just awake. I try to do lovely things in the morning, like watch the sunrise or do a jigsaw, because by the evening I'm good for nothing at all.

I usually get up immediately. Once I am on the move it is easier.

@Hollyhocky Put your alarm over the other side of the room so you have to get up.

Make sure the house is warm.

Have some clothes or dressing gown to put on straight away.

Make the bed straight away so you don't mess it up by getting back in it.

One thing that helps me day to day, and it sounds super cheesy, is to force a smile and say ‘thank you for my sleep’ either in my head or out loud, no matter how disturbed the night has been. It sets a positive tone for the day and reminds me there’s always someone worse off.

I am quite a morning person though, I love a sunrise, no matter the weather, or if I’m in or outdoors.

If I could guarantee no interruptions, I’d be up at 5, making a peppermint tea, breathing, jogging, meditating, journaling and doing all the ‘miracle morning’ stuff you’re supposed to do to make your day great. And the few times I’ve managed it, it really does work and is great.

However, I also know that if I get interrupted during this ‘me hour’ it will make my day significantly worse.
Therefore until my 6yo who really struggles to stay in bed once she’s awake (usually about 5:30) can sleep til 6am every day I won’t do it. There’s no way she can stay upstairs if she hears me downstairs & she just gets upset and wakes everyone if I send her back to bed.

I'm up at 6. Straight into shower, put my fluffy dressing gown on and head down for my morning coffee in peace. I dry my hair, do make up then I make the coffee for DH and prepare lunches for the DC before waking them up. I absolutely need this time to myself, it's the only time of the day I'm not getting asked questions or talked at lol

Saying that I hate the alarm going off and sometimes think "shall I skip my coffe for a lie in!" I wouldn't actually dare though- that time is precious to me

I'm a lark but not super energized in the morning. I usually wake before the alarm, go make coffee then take it back to bed for a bit. Scroll on my phone, drink my coffee then get up and on.

Key to me is going to bed early enough. Sometimes that means 9-9.30pm. I also get up around the same time every day. Don't do lie ins. If I need more sleep I go to bed earlier.

I need time to come round in the morning and can't cope with rushing/stressing about so for me id rather get up early.

I get up at 05:30;
First thought: I hate my life
Second thought: the only way out is through (Robert Frost, or EM Forster depending on your source)

Every day. It's my mantra and it serves me well.

oztripper.wordpress.com/2019/12/19/the-only-way-out-is-through/

If you love getting up early, it's not hard to get out of bed! I love it now but in my thirties I hated it, probably because I wasn't getting enough sleep.

Not had an alarm in many years. Always up around 6

Don't even think about it, if I did, I wouldn't get out of bed.

Alarm goes off, covers thrown off, a literal jump out of bed and a motivated 'right's, as in, let's do this. Radio straight on, make bed, shower, dressed, jobs a good en'.

Not today though, had a few vinos last night, so a bit meh 😕

What time do you morning larks go to bed?

I am naturally an owl and get things done when the house is quiet in the evening. I am not sleepy until midnight or so.

However I don't feel refreshed in the mornings. Can you become a lark just by having an earlier bedtime (tricky when you can't sleep though)?

I'm in bed by 10pm, I love an early night. I'm also a fan of a mid-afternoon nanna nap to boost for an evening out. About 20 minutes is best, then I can push on through to midnight.

If I left it until I woke naturally, I’d get up between 9:30 and 11:30, maybe 12:30.

The idea of waking naturally at 5am is so alien to me!

Not at morning person AT ALL. I have a sunlight alarm, which does not wake me up, so I have to use my mobile phone as a back up.
I am extremely productive around 9-10pm which means I get all the stuff done then I know I'll be too useless to deal with in the morning! So it's a vicious cycle as then I'm up late. I feel physically drained in the morning.
Would love more than anything to reset this!!

There is a theory that larks/night owls have body clocks that are shorter/longer than 24hrs. So larks are always wanting to go to bed earlier but can’t sleep for long enough, whereas owls can’t sleep until later but always want to sleep longer. So I don’t think it’s that easy to change.