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 :)

7am is early to me :o Yes of course you can do it if you have to but I will be grumpy when I first wake up.

For the 30 mins or so when I'm nursing a coffee I absolutely can't do anything which would cause me to drop off again, I'm very clumsy and I'm prone to feeling sick so showering is dangerous, plus getting cold is unbearable.

The best thing that wakes me up is conversation but DH and DS are much more efficient and don't always indulge me so it has to be coffee and fresh air. FB/MN sometimes fills the conversation need but it's better with a real person.

Sleep thanks for that explanation. I feel a bit less rubbish now

I come from a family where how early you get up is directly connected to how morally superior you are.

I have always managed to get up when I need to. I had a very sick child and I had to get up at all hours to get her to appointments etc. Never overslept.
If I don't have to get up e.g. on a Saturday I really struggle. I would love to be able to spring out of bed at 6am and get things done and out of the way.

I think 7 is early. My normal get up time for work is 6.30.

The problem is with kids is it's really hard to get everyone to bed, do whatever needs doing for the next day and then have at least a measly hour to relax before sleep and at the same time get to bed early.

I struggle to get even 7 hours sleep this way and it's not enough for me. I'm a person who needs more than that. And I can't go to sleep without at leasy a short wind down period.

So I sympathise!

It's a common state of affairs but let's sympathise with each other!

There's no point in saying 7 isn't (or is early). Early is earlier than you're used to, there no magic time.

My DH gets up at 6 each day so 7 would be a lie in for him, but to me, it's early!

No worries MrsDV. I suspect because their sleep patterns fit within society norms, effortlessly early risers do feel they are superior to those "lazy" people who struggle. Sadly, we don't choose our circadian rhythms and it's a common human trait to elevate your own inate qualities thereby discriminating against those who differ.

@ Shotsfired, if you were to be woken in the middle of your circadian cycle, let's say 3am, would you be bouncing to the shower like Tigger or would you be groggy and disorientated? Have you ever had to get up in the small hours for a baby or to catch a flight? On those occasions, did you skip merrily, whistling on your way, or did you perhaps need time to become alert before functioning normally? Essentially, that's what people are doing when they nurse a coffee for half an hour when they get up.

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

When you have an evening job, as I have at times, and don't get home until well after ten.

Not everyone has a work pattern or lifestyle which requires them to be out of bed at 5.30 am.

@SleepOhHowIMissYou if you were to be woken in the middle of your circadian cycle, let's say 3am, would you be bouncing to the shower like Tigger or would you be groggy and disorientated? Have you ever had to get up in the small hours for a baby or to catch a flight? On those occasions, did you skip merrily, whistling on your way, or did you perhaps need time to become alert before functioning normally? Essentially, that's what people are doing when they nurse a coffee for half an hour when they get up.

I not infrequently have to get up at ridiculously early/strange hours, just this week in fact. I do this for work trips and leisure (flights etc)

would you be bouncing to the shower like Tigger or would you be groggy and disorientated?
I am the latter, I hate getting out of bed!

On those occasions, did you skip merrily, whistling on your way, or did you perhaps need time to become alert before functioning normally?
I drag myself into the shower, and then I get dressed. In that time I wake up and become a normal, fully functioning human being. If I sat on the sofa/in bed with a hot drink, I'd probably just fall asleep again. (That's the bit I don't get - how does being all cosy and still and quiet help you wake up and not just drop off again?! I'm not having a go about it, I just don't understand!)

Wear special orange glasses to filter out the blue light if you really struggle getting to sleep.

I use a silk sleepmask to block out all the light. I need it pitch black to be able to sleep, but DP hates it too dark in the room. So I have to use a sleepmask to get any sleep.

I must admit, a lot of the early bird types I know see to think being up early is some sort of indicator of superiority. I'm more of a night owl type, but 30 years of getting up early for work means I'm fine at getting up at 6am now (although if off work for any length of time, my wake-up and sleep times start shifting later and later; going back to work can be hard those first couple of days).

I once had a conversation with my dad about getting up. Mum had recently retired, and dad had been medically retired a few years before. It was about 9am in the morning and I had popped in to drop something off. Dad was hoovering, and started chuntering at me about how mum wasn't getting up at the crack of dawn like him, and getting stuff done. She was getting up at about 9:30 am and going to bed around 1-2am.

So, I pointed out to dad that she wasn't really getting any more sleep than him, and often pottered about getting stuff done at midnight, long after he went to bed at 10ish. I actually said to him "Dad, you and mum are both retired, and mum can get up early if she needs to. So, what does she have to get up for?"

He has never raised this subject since. I think I punctured his balloon there.

7 is 'early morning' so of course it is early.

12 midnight is 'late' even if you routinely keep going until 2am.

When we are young we boast about how late we stay up but it seems as we age we start bragging about how early we can get up.

Its not really much of an achievement is it?

. 'I suspect because their sleep patterns fit within society norms, effortlessly early risers do feel they are superior to those "lazy" people who struggle'

Wow, some leap there!
I suspect few people's circadian rhythm naturally fits into society's norms; but when you have a job, caring responsibilities etc you get up when you need to.

A comparison with a one off occasion (e.g. Waking to catch a 3 am flight) isn't very relevant because the point is you can train your body to work to a different routine if you keep it regular - which is one of the consistent pieces of advice on here. I can understand the difficulty in getting up if you have work shifts which don't follow a particular pattern, but why getting up at 7am as a regular routine is too difficult is beyond me.

Nothing 'morally superior' about it- that's a plain weird idea

I don't know if my natural sleep patterns within societal norms or not, I've never had the opportunity to find out! I've had to be up at 7am all my life for school/work and then since having children have been up since 5.30am. I imagine my body has just fallen into that pattern because it's what is expected.

why getting up at 7am as a regular routine is too difficult is beyond me

Is it really? 7am is unpleasant and early for me, 5am perhaps early and unpleasant for you. I have adjusted my life accordingly, not everyone is lucky enough to be able to do that. Should my job or the kids require it, I would start whenever necessary, but I prefer not to.

I said upthread that i suspect my natural waking pattern is between 7 and 8 because on the occasions I've not had to work to a routine, that's when I tend to wake. But for a long while I've been waking at 6 because I leave for work at 7.15 am. I wouldn't describe 6 as unpleasant or difficult though!

Surely those of us who get up early despite finding it difficult are superior to you lot weirdos who find it easy?

Organise everything you need for the morning and lay it out the night before.

Set your alarm for 6.50 if you want up at 7. Snooze the alarm and get out of bed at 7.

Have a bath before bed and aim to be in bed for 10 or 10.30.

Yeah I started to wake up at around 5am about a year ago. I was 'wtf?'
I finally get the chance of a full night sleep and not getting up at 6 with babies and toddlers (5 kids spread out over 20 years) and now my brain is waking me up!

Nature is a cruel mistress.

When we are young we boast about how late we stay up but it seems as we age we start bragging about how early we can get up. Indeed .

Meh, I have a 2.5 year old. I still think seven am is early. She loves her sleep. She's usually up around eight if left to her own devices.

My SIL is up with my nephew at five am every morning and it is killing her.

You're one of us, erm, non-larks, SoreFeet1983. I'm old now and smallest "baby" is 9. I thought the same when he was 2.

We've made it to the Daily Fail.
[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-4621614/Is-secret-early-riser.html]

Just get straight up when alarm goes off and open curtain/blinds or turn on lights straight away. I also put the telly on straight away so the whole house feels "awake".
Have a shower or atleast wash face and brush teeth first thing. Once I've done these things I'm "properly" up!

Be healthy
Ensure you have enough exercise, iron and vit d. I go to bed at 11 and get up from 530-630
I think 7-8 hours sleep is ideal

*Meh, I have a 2.5 year old. I still think seven am is early. She loves her sleep. She's usually up around eight if left to her own devices.

My SIL is up with my nephew at five am every morning and it is killing her*

I certainly don't enjoy getting up with my toddler at 5am! I have tried everything in the book and she just won't sleep longer. I'd love a child who slept until 7am but it sadly isn't to be.