To take an hour or more to get going in a morning

[Mitzimaybe]

I'm a night owl, not a lark. I'm better some days than others but, most days, when I first get up I kind of stagger around like a zombie for a while. It takes me quite a while (and usually some caffeine) to turn into a human. Consequently I always allow at least an hour between when I get up and when I have to leave the house, usually more.

My husband, on the other hand, takes about 15 minutes from getting up to leaving the house. To be fair, he has his shower before bed and I prefer to shower in a morning, also I see to the cats which he doesn't have to do, so obviously that takes me longer.

My boss at work has told me it's not normal to take more than 5-10 minutes to become fully functional in a morning and that I should talk to my doctor about it. I think that's ridiculous. AIBU or is he?

That's me too! I am happily awake late into the evening but I don't really feel human till my after-school-run coffee!

I could of wrote this!

I am also not a morning person. Never have been, from around my teen years. I leave myself 2 hours in the morning. If I need to be somewhere at 9 then I need to be up at 7 to be ready. Less if no makeup and a ponytail etc.

I usually have a cup of coffee, then a cup of tea & breakfast before I feel fully awake.

I tell you what I miss. Being twenty one and sitting around on cheap sofas drinking mug after mug of coffee, smoking fags, and chatting with housemates. I know it's bad. But that'd be my perfect way to wake up if I could still sit around all morning/drink that much coffee/ smoke.

It also depends what you do between getting up and leaving the house. Why does all the cat sorting fall down to you?

Those men people who are leaving the house in under 15 minutes are generally showering, getting dressed, grabbing a coffee or breakfast and leaving, whereas women other people are feeding pets, sorting washing out, preparing breakfast and packed lunch, showering, washing hair and putting make up on, emptying and stacking the dishwasher, finding X, Y and Z and all manner of other tasks. So of course it takes longer.

I'm up & about really quickly at this time of year because it's so light but come the winter it's a real struggle. That said, once I'm up I'm going. But I'm a morning person. Come the back end of the evening & I'm thinking about my bed. So I'd not be surprised that a night owl struggled first thing.

I'm a night owl and don't function well in the morning until breakfast and tea inside. I sometimes have to have 'breakfast meetings'. For these I have to get up an hour earlier and have my first breakfast, or the breakfast meetings would mainly consist of me grunting at people.

I take 15mins from getting up to leaving the house. But I walk and get the train to work. If I had to drive I would need an hour - maybe longer. I would still feel too tired to get behind the wheel after 15mins.

Normal for me too

I'm not sure I believe in night owls and larks, surely it just depends what time you get to bed?

I am a morning person but need a slow, leisurely start with a cup of tea first.

I need about an hour and 15 mins but everything is included in that like showering, hair, breakfast etc, not just wandering around the house arms out stretched like tin man.

If you jump into the shower first thing would it help? That wakes me up more quickly than coffee, (especially if you have a quick blast of cold water at the end of the shower.)

But I agree with you. It's normal for lots of people.

Do people who take 15mins not shower in the morning? I'd feel filthy all day.

I a morning person but even I used to give myself at least an hour between waking up and leaving for work. Most of that hour was spent lazing about in bed, only half awake. The actual getting ready used to take about 20 mins.

Now I have a dog I give myself an hour and a half. I am out of the bed and walking the dog within 5 mins of the alarm going off. We walk for about an hour so I still only get 20mins to get ready and all my past experience rushing this bit has come into play.

Your boss sounds like an idiot who struggles to comprehend that anything other experience than his = not normal.

No. I wake up at the same time regardless unless ill or desperately tired or need the loo in the middle of the night. Can go on about 3.5 - 4 hrs sleep if it's the right sleep. Poor quality sleep won't do.
There's a sort of waking up part of the morning that's just made for it. It's delicious.

I don't envy you. I'm thankfully not a night owl, as I think a lot of things like work revolve around times unsuitable for night owls. I often wonder if companies should allow some people to work e.g. 10am - 6pm rather than the usual 9-5.

My dad was horrific in the morning, I really used to think there actually was something wrong with him. Took me sometimes up to an hour to get him out of bed. I'd pull his duvet off, click the lights on and off, put a coffee by the bed, shake him etc and I'd constantly get "5 more minutes". Then when he did get up he'd not move from the kitchen table until he had about 3 more cups of coffee and just as many fags. Once or twice I had to just leave him in bed or I'd have missed the school bus!
My sister was quite bad in the mornings as well, but usually I'd just slap her bare arse until she'd get up in a huff (she used to wear nighties with no knickers, and if she'd pulled her duvet off you'd quite often get an eyeful when you walked in her room!)

Do people who take 15mins not shower in the morning?

My 20 mins includes a shower - unless I had one before going to bed (I never do!).

5 mins in shower,
5 mins drying hair (a bit) and self,
5 mins doing makeup and getting dressed,
5 mins trying to find my purse, keys etc etc

If you can take an hour or so, why shouldn't you. It's also a habit, if you suddenly had to get going within 10 minutes you would struggle for the first few days then you would get used to it.

Without kids around, some folks prefer to wake up at the very last minute and sleep as much as possible, others like to chill and faff around for an hour. Neither is wrong!

It's like a weekend lie-in but not as long. I can't do the reading in bed before I go to sleep. I just do the same at the week-end.

Do people who take 15mins not shower in the morning?
I never go to bed without a shower and always wash my hair in the evening, my morning shower takes a maximum of 2 minutes. My staff is ready in the evening, I buy my coffee at the station and another one once in London.

With kids around, I need a couple of hours but to get them ready, do the laundry, empty dishwasher, clean the house...

Well it depends really. If you go to bed late, watching tv late etc and basically sabotage any decent nights sleep then that’s your fault really....

How much sleep do you get?

If you’re getting to work on time, I can’t see what it’s got to do with your boss.

But are you getting enough sleep, generally?

I feel shit in the morning as its when my low blood pressure is at its dodgiest.

So there can be a grain of truth in what your boss is saying too! Not that a doctor might actually do much if you have the same thing, as there are not a whole lot of options.

An hour between getting up and leaving the house sounds completely normal for an adult. That's assuming you don't have to get DCs ready too, which easily takes longer. Mentally and physically coming round and warming up gradually, during that time, sounds completely normal too.

How does your boss know how long to takes you to wake up and get ready? How does it affect him - unless you're late for work, or not functioning when you get there? It all sounds weirdly intimate, as if he's in / visualising himself in your bedroom with you.