How do we become...morning people?

[YesitsBess]

My son (14) and I are not natural morning people, given the option we would both snooze merrily until 11am. Getting up for work/school is not fun for either of us (one grumpy night owl trying to wake another grumpy night owl* *rarely ends well).

We have to get up early most weekends as of now for rugby, which requires us being in the arse end of nowhere at stupid O' clock in the freezing cold. Can anyone share how they have made this even vaguely agreeable please?

Just to head off the worst:

1. I don't resent my son doing sport at all. Nor the early starts, I just would like advice on how to make it easier for us.

1. If you're about to talk about swimming, I know it's even more mad than rugby! Share your secrets...

1. Screen time is timetabled (he can have an absolute marathon on a Friday from 7 until 10 30pm when he doesn't need to be up early.)

Lumie clocks, which simulate gradual daylight, can be helpful for winter dark mornings. We don’t have bedroom curtains so in summer always wake up as it becomes light outside.

Other than that it’s really about creating good sleep discipline: have a bedtime routine, go to bed at the same time each night (and do so earlier than you think) and get up at the same time each morning. Don’t snooze or lie in bed after you wake up.

Make a coffee, drink most of it, then get into the shower. Shower as hot as I can bear it, then final cold rinse. Ideally have someone else to hand you another coffee as you get out the shower.
I am very much not a morning person and this is the best chance for approximating human in the morning.

Don't force yourselves to do breakfast or chatting if neither of you are morning people. Music or talk radio and breakfast bars in the car/ greggs bacon roll on the way home from rugby is acceptable!

We can't sleep without blackout curtains or we'd be up at 3am in summer!

Lumie clocks sound interesting, we both have clock radios at the moment but they sound nicer!

I think you may be my tein removed at birth? This is mostly how I am handling it!

In other news, our town has just got a...double decker Greggs. TWO FLOORS MY FRIEND OF BAKED AMAZINGNESS.

What time do you go to bed and how well do you sleep?

One key is not to lie in on the weekends or holidays but to get up around the same time every day. Get out in daylight as soon as you can each day to reset your body clock.
Have a wind down routine in the evening that is fairly low key.
Also as you are better in the evenings get everything ready the night before to minimise thinking in the morning.
Don’t start your day with caffeine wait 60-90 mins as your cortisol levels are already high.

Same here but I need tips on how to get out of bed instead of staring at mumsnet for half an hour

Get a dog

You can try to do things to help, but ultimate we all either have the gebe for being a night owl or early bird.

I was going to say have a baby but you've already done this and it might not be what DS needs right now...

I guess you're left with really nice coffee and the light up alarm clocks.

5am get up to walk dog + do horse every day of the year however I am by nature a lark. I have always been an early riser..
DH and DD are night owls and struggle with getting up before 10am any day of the week.
Repeated alarms ie every 5 mins + a cool shower as soon as they get up helps.
If it is any consolation I am in bed 8.30pm every night so struggle if we ever go out for an evening.

The Lumie clock makes it much less painful but I'm not sure anything can really make you a morning person!

Go to bed early and change your routine is the only way. My daughter does a very early sport (figure skating) and we go to bed really early. The rule in our house is we ignore the clock and go to bed when we are tired. I used to be rubbish at it but now I’m an early person and exercise early myself too!

Another vote for a lumie clock. Genuinely feel it helps! I do not speak to my DH in the morning, we eat breakfast separately and it works for us both!

Prep as much as you possibly can the night before, pack bags, clothes out etc. I have a smart plug on my coffee machine so I can have a coffee ready for when I get downstairs, this really helps!

Don’t lie in - ever. I never want to any more and I find I look forward to getting up early at the weekend now, I really enjoy the peace and quiet first thing.
Go to bed at a reasonable time 10.30/11 , don’t drink alcohol so you get a quality sleep.

Just accept that you're not morning people and continue through your mornings in grumpy silence.

I'm a not morning person, currently forced to be a morning person by my small child and it's not habits or routines or anything you can change. I've been going to bed at 10 and waking up at 6-7 for three years and I can do it but the first chance I get, I stay up until 1am and sleep until 10 and feel all is right in the world again.

As a former 3am-11am sleeper naturally I can relate. Hate to say it as they're expensive but yes the Lumie clock has changed my life.

Also getting natural light, so not from the clock as soon as possible is important. I also sleep with blinds open in the summer but obviously harder in the winter but my routine would be the following:

Wake with lumie (turn the alarm sound off but leave the light on full)
Large glass of water
Shower
Caffeine outside - standing in my garden for 5 minutes in the morning sun has made world of difference.
If its still dark I will drink my caffeine in front of my lumie still on full brightness and get outside minute the sun is up.

I'm sure you've done all the planning to make everything run as smooth as possible like putting clothes out the night before so really it's just trying to have a good sleep routine and shift your circadian rhythm.

Consistency helps so even if you can't sleep at the same time, get up at the same time even when you don't have to. Will take about a week to really adjust and you'll probably feel like shit initially.

Generally 10.30 and reasonably? I'm never sure what anyone means by "good sleep". We usually don't wake up if that helps?

I have a dog. I have gradually adjusted him to my body clock so that now if I want to walk him before 7.30 I have to carry him down the stairs…

Minimise decision making in the morning. Put your clothes out the night before and put DS’s stuff by the door. Tell him that if he gets up he can be asleep again in the car in 10 minutes (doesn’t work for you, sorry).

Award yourself some kind of lovely treat later in the morning. And get a really really good coat so you don’t freeze to death.

I really appreciate your advice. The whiny part of me is going "BUT I DONT WANNA GIVE UP MY SATURDAY SLEEP TREAT!". 🙂

I will take this on board though.

This. I am not a morning person and if I have to be up by 8am I do all the above and also not speak to anyone!

Yes this is also an issue....😃

I think genetics is slightly more complicated than that?

Had dogs for two decades. They all became late risers bless them.