To ask how you get out of bed everyday?

[raindropsfallingonmyhead]

How do you drag yourself out of bed on these cold winters mornings?

I snooze my alarms at least 6 times and always get up as late as possible without making DC late for school but obviously it's then a mad rush to get everything done and i'd quite like to spend some time with them in the mornings. I'm extremely tired and am having blood tests to see if there may be a cause but in the meantime id really like to try and help myself.

Any top tips to not make getting out of bed such a chore?

[punicorn]

I have a lamp on a timer that comes on about 10 mins before my alarm goes off - like a sunrise lamp but DIY version! Works a treat as it wakes you in a gentler fashion than a screeching alarm clock in your ear. Also I lay everything out the night before and try and go to bed at least half an hour earlier in winter than in summer (tip from a Scandinavian friend). Depending on the strength of your bladder a big glass of water before you go to bed gets you up in the morning (although this can obviously go disastrously wrong if you end up getting up at 3am for a wee.....or worse )

[UsernameInvalid66]

I don't think about it for too long. Hear the alarm, switch it off, straight out of bed. At the moment the first thing I have to do before my shower is switch the heating on as we seem to have cocked up the timer so it isn't coming on automatically 15-12 minutes before I get up, as I'd prefer. I usually switch the computer on at the same time so I can look at Facebook/Flickr etc over breakfast later without having to wait for it to "warm up". By the time I've done those two things I'm definitely wide awake and crawling back into bed isn't an option.

[BertieBotts]

I'm sooo crap at getting up but I've perfected the formula now. Combination of routine and a phone app. (Sleep As Android - but there are lots of free QR code alarm apps.)

1. Go to bed at a sensible time - my downfall but I've got better at this. I've actually got a little bedtime routine for myself which helps me to wind down. Shower at night so no need in morning.
   

1. Alarm goes off at 6.35 with a soothing but cheerful guitar tone which doesn't jolt me angrily out of sleep.
   

1. I'm allowed to snooze twice. Each snooze is 10 minutes. In theory, the first snooze allows me to go back into a light sleep and the second snooze allows me to grab my phone and start browsing FB etc to wake up slowly.
   

1. At 3rd alarm, the app no longer lets me snooze + will simply get progressively louder every minute that I don't get up. (After 15 mins if I'm seriously ignoring it, it will turn into a horrible bell sound.)
   

1. Get out of bed and immediately put on fluffy socks and fluffy warm dressing gown that I keep on a hook within arms reach of the bed - this makes up for the awful lack of duvet. We also keep the heating on overnight or when we lived somewhere with a timer it came on an hour before getting up so the house isn't too icy.
   

1. Alarm will only turn off when I walk to the bathroom and scan a barcode I've designated in there. Then, I'm in the bathroom, so I do a wee, wash my hands and brush my teeth.
   

Now, I'm awake enough that my lizard-brain neeeeeeed sleeeeeep chip is not quite as active so I check DS is actually getting dressed and go and make myself a coffee.

1. Sit with DS, drink coffee while he eats cereal, no phones allowed, chat.
   

1. While DS does shoes/bag/teeth I can get dressed if I need to (I'm lucky and most days don't yet.)
   

1. Used to walk DS to school/in future may at this point walk dog/currently no dog or school run, so sit in front of MN with coffee! Stick radio on. If I am massively tired and have nothing urgent to do I will go back to bed for an hour to let the caffeine kick in.
   

Iron/vitamin D tablets help me when I feel tired.

[ragged]

OP said cold not dark was problem...
Does the heating come on at a good time for you? Can you have a warm dressing gown near the bed? Or a big jumper to pull on. Fleecy hat and or neck buff you can pull on? I sleep with a hat on, too.

That said, I just don't sleep very well so once I'm awake I just get up, too gumpy to lie awake in bed for long.

Listening to politics on early morning radio is often good for giving my blood pressure a kickstart.

[museumum]

www.lumie.com/collections/wake-up-lights/products/bodyclock-starter-30

[museumum]

I have a “lumie” branded sunrise click which I think is the original. I suspect some really cheap but he’s aren’t really daylight bulbs. The important bit is the bulb is the same wavelengths as natural light, not just any bulb.
Lumie clicks come from simple to fancy. Mine is simplest / cheapest.

[CheapSausagesAndSpam]

What time do you go to bed OP? I was like you and it was because I wasn't going to bed until gone midnight. Way too late.

I made myself start going at 10. I read in bed for a bit and then fall asleep by 10.30....much better!

[Dunkling]

I think routine is key.

I get up at 5am for week each day and when I first started I would stand at the sink barely able to open my eyes and wondering what the hell was I thinking doing the job.

2 years on it just doesn't affect me.

Det you alarm for the same time every day and get up on 1st ring. Snooze buttons just delay the inevitable and make you feel worse imo.

[BackBoiler]

I did wake a minute before the alarm, spring out of bed and go for a shower. Now I am off after surgery, it is dark in the mornings and I do not take the kids to school as I cannot drive I am a total lazy bones....NO IDEA how I am going to cope in the New Year when I am back at work.

[c3pu]

Hmmmm this reminded me to enable the "wake up" function on my Philips Hue lights!

[speakout]

I go to bed at 9pm.

Wake at 6am even on a Sunday.

I like to get my shopping done very early on a Sunday and back by 9am.

[Witchend]

I get up promising myself a ridiculously early night tonight. That night I look at the clock and realise I haven't managed it again.

[Laiste]

quite

Yeah it's either the bladder or the three year old which gets me going in the mornings. Weekend or not :)

[QuiteQuietly]

Sunrise clock: it woke me up nicely, but didn't eject me out of bed. It just left me awake and snug under the duvet...

[speakout]

What time do you go to bed OP?

If you are short of sleep you will be very tired in the morning.

My alarm goes off at 6am every day. I get up immediately, stick on the kettle and take a coffee back to bed.
I then spend 30 minutes checking emails, reading the news etc.
Up at 6.30, shower, then by 7am ready to tackle the day.
I then spend an hour usually working ( I work from home) or doing a little housework.
Leave at 8am for the school run.
I actually enjoy mornings.

[QuiteQuietly]

Sunlight lamp was a waste of money for me. Similarly those alarms where you have to run downstairs to scan a barcode before it goes mental. And alarms on the other side of the room.

I drink two pints of water before bed. Then I'm so desperate for the loo when I wake up that I couldn't linger in bed even if I wanted too. This is the only thing that works for me. Once I'm in the bathroom I shower, get dressed etc. and Do Not Go Back To Bed.

[Spookle]

For those asking for cheaper sunrise clock recommendations I bought this one for last winter when my old one died. It does a good job at a fraction of the price of others. This seller has low stock but you can search Google shopping for the same type at similar £15-20.

Sunrise clock

[dworky]

Resentfully

[Sludgecolours]

And if you feel this way at about the same time every year op, you could be suffering from SAD. It is a real 'thing' here. My bil suffers from it v badly.

[BakedBeeeen]

I'm with Ferrier
Think how much extra sleep you could be getting without all those snoozes! Snooze really is like torture. It is really horrible when it's dark.
When my alarm daughter goes off I throw the duvet off and stand up before I have a chance to think about it. And don't listen to your sleepy brain telling you "staaaaay in bed!"

[JacquelineChan]

borrow my 3 year old - he gets me up every day at 6.30 . ''mum ! it's half past six ! let's go down stairs ! ''

a gro-clock is a double edged sword !!

[ferrier]

Don't bother with more than one snooze. Set the alarm for the new later time. Over time you will gain back many hours in sleep from all those extra 5-10 minutes.

[astoundedgoat]

I'm a very slight sleeper, which is useful on weekday mornings when I wake up as soon as the children start moving around (they wake up first, and dress themselves, which is amazing), but less useful at weekends, when I... wake up as soon as the children start moving around.

The horror or mornings is mitigated by the fact that DH and I take turns making tea and bringing it back to bed (the kitchen door is opposite our bedroom door in our flat, so it's not a big palaver). Tea in bed before I get up is one of the most important features of my day. ANYTHING is possible after tea.

[nannybeach]

dont think many people enjoy getting up in the dark mornings, you do it because you have it. Perhaps the blood tests will throw up something, low iron,orHB, but, yes alarm clock the other side of the room, if you are feeling tired still, you need to get out of the bed natural light asap, which isnt till nearly 8 now I know, lot of folk are short of vit D, in this country in the winter month. Have everything ready for school,breakfast,clothes out the night before.

[ErnestTheBavarian]

Honestly, a cup of tea, a cuddle of my dd and the excitement of my lovely dog to see us first thing are more than enough incentive.Take away any of those and forget it.