AIBU to ask you for tips on how to get up early??

[Pariswhenitdrizzles]

Hi everyone.

This might sound a bit rubbish (or lazy), but I find it really hard to get up in the morning.

Please could you give me your tips on how to get up early in the morning (around 7ish, for example) but still feel well-rested and have a good night's sleep?

Thanks very much in advance :)

York - when I first wake, I'll often just snooze the alarm automatically without even thinking about it at least twice before any kind of brain power starts to happen

Then awake but v groggy morning me will pull any trick in the book to stay in bed a bit longer. Convincing myself I don't need to wash my hair, so that's an extra 10m I can stay in bed, doesn't matter if I get to work 10m later, another 10m, don't need to make lunch can just buy something there...it goes on and on..it's especially bad in the winter when it's cold and dark outside the Glorious Bed.

I don't generally struggle with willpower and self discipline EXCEPT when it comes to getting out of bed in the mornings. Of course ultimately I have to get to work, but not having a firm start time doesn't help things.

The only cure I've found is the Alarmy app.

I have got up early nearly all my life.
Anything from 4.30 to 7.

I can do it.
I just hate doing it.

I would like to know how to become a genuine early bird. Y'know, how to finally accept my lot and enjoy it.

Its not like I am a night owl anymore. Sadly

Go to bed by 10.30. Do not hit snooze. It soon becomes habit.

Sadly MrsDV you'll never permanently change your circadian rhythm. If you are an "owl" rather than a "lark" then all the advice on this thread will help you adjust to a 9-5 pattern but your body clock will always try to reset, regardless of how many years you rise early.

The medical name is DSPD (delayed sleep pattern disorder) and it would be good for the "disorder" to become better understood. Imagine if the standard school or workday started at 5pm and then ended at 1am, would it be fair to accuse those who are nodding off in the early hours of being lazy? I've seen the "lazy" word banded about several times here, including the OP, albeit as self depreciation.

Different sleep patterns are also present in animals. Most recently there was a study of DSPD symptoms in insects (can't remember which, you'd need to Google if interested). Basically, the thinking is that the differing circadian rhythms in same species is evolutionary, a necessity to survival from nocturnal predators.

Most "owls" adjust to daylight hours through necessity, though many work night-shifts. For empathy, all those "larks" who have worked night-shifts, think back to the jet-lagged feeling and sheer exhaustion of forcing your body to cope with unnatural hours, that's how "owls" feel day-to-day. So quit with the "lazy" jibes, the "7am is not early" (it's the middle of the night for some people), likewise the "1am is too late" (too late for you maybe.......or perhaps you're just lazy?).

A pint of water before bed, it gets you up nice and early as you have to wee, more effective than an alarm clock as you can press snooze on that,

Agree with previous posters - you have to force yourself to get up as soon as your alarm goes off and do that every single day. I used to run most days before work so got up at 5:15am, some days it was hard but you just have to drag yourself out of bed and start getting ready almost still half asleep.

I'm 36 weeks pregnant now so the running went out of the window last autumn, but I'm still an early riser and I use the time either to get lots of stuff done or to catch up on telly that DH doesn't like.

buy chickens.
Keep them in the back garden in a fox proof run and then forget to shut the little door that keeps them in the nest box bit.
Wait for summer, so daylight is 4:30 am.
get some nice weather so your window onto the garden is open.

You will get woken up nicely about 30 minutes after sunrise, by demented chickens (no cockerel in sight, these are the females) who need to come out into their run and declare morning has broken very very loudly to all who can hear.

It is very effective.

This is going to sound really stupid but it's always worked for me.

I hate being woken by the alarm clock - it's an awful way to start the day.

So when I lie in bed at night while I'm drifting off, I will hit my head against the pillow the number of times that I want to be awake at.

So if I want to be up at five, I hit my head against the pillow five times. This works even though five am is before my usual wake up time and regardless of what time I went to bed the night before.

Just an alternative approach ... I always thought I was "not a morning person" but really it is just that it takes a while to come around in the morning.

I can't jump straight out of bed.

I set my alarm for 30 mins before I actually need to get up, it vibrates every 5 mins or so while I doze and faff around. After 30 mins of that I am ready to get up.

Absolutely true about circadian rhythms, but I think what everyone is saying is that despite this internal biological 'clock' we all have to work at adjusting it to fit the environmental context.

Left completely to my natural rhythm, I suspect I would ideally wake somewhere between 7 and 8. As I need to leave for work at 7.15, that's clearly impractical.

If the working day changed to 5pm - 1am, then of course people would adjust... it might not be their natural individual rhythm and they wouldn't adjust overnight but by training their body (and the single most important factor here is maintaining a regular bed and wake up time) then they would adjust.

The world can't accommodate each individual's natural wake-sleep cycle. I don't think people are being harsh to the OP, just a little surprised that anyone can think there's a 'magic formula'

Water.

When I drink plenty, I have much more every and find getting up in the morning much easier.

I down a 500ml bottle of water just before bed...which means I often wake once in the night for a wee but that's 2 minutes and I have no problem dropping off.

I keep the (re-filled) bottle by the bed and down another 500ml water as soon as I wake, before getting out of bed.

Works wonders for me.

Got to bed earlier and put alarm clock on other side of room if you can. You can't not get up then as it'll soon drive you crazy

Enthusiasm! Sieze the day!

I don't buy the whole staying up late is cool thing either.

Staying up till dawn ( fabulous time of day) on the other hand...

I am lucky - I have an inbuilt alarm clock and always wake up at the time I have to. OH is up at silly times (no need) - today was 0415 - and I can't go back to sleep when he does that.

Have kids. Little shits never let you have a lie in

As soon as the alarm goes off, put your feet on the floor. I get up at 5.30am on work days. This advice that someone mentioned on here has helped me no end.

Get to bed b4 11pm. Set ur alarm. Set a 2nd alarm for 5 mins later. Thats ur final warning. Get up. Hit the shower. Get on with ur day. I set mine at 6am. Im up by 6:10. Any later and everything's messed up.

Genuine question to those pp who say they have to sit round with a cup of tea or coffee for half an hour as soon as they get up...

What are you doing during this time?
Surely cosily sitting round quietly nursing a warm drink is completely contrary to getting yourself up and at 'em for the day? Wouldn't getting showered/dressed/active be a quicker route to alertness?

When in the name of all that is holy is 7am early!?

I've recently become my mums career, as such I need to be up at 7am each day where as I used to go to bed between 4-6am due to old habits and my anxiety, it started out with me getting 1-2 hours sleep and an hour or so nap in the afternoon and I've recently got to sleeping at 2:30am sometimes without naps, yesterday would have been 1am but I had an anxiety attack so couldn't sleep. It's a gradual process I've found

Hi again everyone :)

Just to say thank you so much for your advice so far! It's been really helpful.

(Sorry as well for suggesting that 7am is early, it isn't really )

OP you have my sympathy. I hate getting up in the morning, and I too find 7 am early (yes I know it isn't really, yes I do manage it every day and yes I've been through the Baby and toddler stage with the very early morning waking - although some years ago now). I think for some people we will always struggle with early mornings. I fully get the go to bed early message but 10 pm (when I should be off to bed) is my favourite time of the day. I've normally sent DS and the dog up to his room, DH is either in bed or at work (shifts) so this is my peaceful time and it seems a shame to spoil it by going to bed!!

'shotsfired' I have to sit quietly in the morning with a cup of tea and stare into space. It takes me at least an hour after getting up to be ready to go out. I feel Ill if I rush about in the morning.

Hmm I think I will actually take myself off to bed now!

Never got this 7 is early, try 5, 5 is early, try 4 one-up-man-ship. Surely what's early or late is quite personal. We live really close to work and school, school starts at 9, job at 10. We get up at 8 and have an accordingly late bedtime (incl kids). For me, 7am is early. I typically go to bed at 2am.