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?

When I was young, I was able to get out of hte house in 15 minutes (if I needed to).

In my 30s, I always gave myself an hour between waking and leaving for work. That might include a hair wash, make up etc. and feeding cats, definitely at least one cuppa.

Now, at 60, it takes me about 2 hours. Not normal but I do have ms and that makes things a bit more difficult.

So boss wants you in earlier?

What have you said to that?

Exactly the same OP.

DP can bounce our of bed and have teeth brush, pits washed, dressed and out the door by the time I've even managed to fumble around with my phone to turn the alarm off Ive snoozed for the 7th time

I have to shower to wake up, and still feel zombied while brushing teeth / make up. Usually wake up on the walk to bus stop then fall asleep again on the bus

It is worth getting your thyroid levels checked. I had several months were I was so tired in the morning I could hardly function.

After a check up and a course of medication I am ok but it is running in my family and my sister has to take medications daily for the rest of her life,

I am def not a morning person, working thyroid or not but the zombie stage is not normal.

Takes me 30 seconds!

I too take ages to getting going but know that it is only habit.

I need plenty of time in the morning too, so it’s not just you.

I don’t function at all until I ave a cup of tea and a hot shower, and it takes me a good 1 hour-90 mins to get myself ready to leave the house. I hate rushing, I’m not very talkative and I can’t really make decision in the morning. I’ve got used to it now- it’s jyst the way I am.

One of my dds is like this and has discovered she is much less grumpy if she gets up at half six and comes downstairs when she is fully awake an hour later. Much more harmonious family breakfast.

Matthew Walker in ‘Why We Sleep’ (which is a great book btw) thinks the night owls are much maligned as ‘lazy’ when actually they just have a naturally different circadian rythm that the world is not organised around.

I’m totally a morning person. Alarm goes off at 5.30, I’m at the bus stop 5 mins walk away by 6am and at work, at my desk and working by 7.15am.

My last project I was at my desk and working by 6am. I would get a good 90mins work done by the time my colleagues got in, it was my most productive time of day.

At the time my friend worked in finance didn’t start until 10am but was usually still in the office at 8, 9pm.. it was the culture, I just could never do that..

I allow an hour between second alarm and out the door, the first 10 minutes of which is usually spent yawning, bumping into things and trying to persuade my eyes to open. Night owl all the way!

Yep, another night owl here. I hope that there are some larks reading this who will stop being rude and judgemental towards that night owl in their life who they perceive as being lazy and unsociable because they don't want to join them in lights out at 21.30 nor for breakfast at 6am!
Once I get moving I'm a 15 minutes shower/dress/out of door kind of gal, it's the getting moving I need an age for unless I'm getting up sometime around 10.30 or later. (And no, even on the rare occasion I have managed to get to sleep early it didn't help)

This drives me crazy about my husband. He takes forever to get going in the morning. I wake up and am fully functional within minutes, if not seconds. He can easily stay in bed half an hour before getting up and moving.

It’s not a night owl thing, we go to bed at the same time and I consistently sleep less than he does.

I am usually awake by 5.30, but prefer not to get up until about 7.

If it took you an hour just to wake up and start getting ready, you'd have a problem. But an hour between waking up and leaving the house?! Sounds normal to me. You mention that during that time you're sorting the cats and showering, and presumably you're also eating breakfast and/or drinking coffee, getting dressed and possibly drying/styling hair, maybe doing make up if you wear it, etc etc. Unless I've misunderstood, I really don't see the issue. You sound normal, night owl or not. Then again, I'm not the fastest at getting ready for anything lol

There’s an hour between me getting up and leaving the house. I could do it much more quickly, but I like a leisurely start, coffee, bit of telly. I admire those who leap up and are put the door so quickly.

I don’t think it’s a night owl vs lark thing either.

My ex used to go to bed early and get up early as he didn’t like rushing in the morning. Took him several cups of tea to fully wake up he would potter round the garden and wouldn’t ever have managed to leave the house within 15 mins. I used to be the opposite and would rather stay in bed till as long as I could get away with in the morning and rush out the door in 15 mins. I was instantly bright & awake once I was out of bed though. YANBU it is just how you are.

I'm a night owl (and still up, obviously)
My alarm goes off at 6.30 and I doze for 15 mins and then get up. Coffee. breakfast, empty the dishwasher and put washing on/hang it out in silence.
I shower before bed, but usually have to straighten my hair. I need two cups of coffee to get my bowels working , so rushing is not happening!

I don't need loads of sleep but my natural pattern is 2am-8.30, which sadly is a little late for a job that starts bat 8.30 , so I am zombied for the first half an hour!

I hate the mornings. Apparently I was even grumpy as a child getting up. Years ago when I smoked I would get up earlier than everyone else and my morning tea and smoke was just the best part of my day. I couldn't smoke now if you paid me, but I still miss that one. I'm really a better person if I don't speak to anyone for the first 30min. Difficult with 4dc! I have to get up before them and sit with a cup of tea in silence. My old job was on the ward by 7.30am, I had to get up at 5.45 to be a normal person. I just really feel so grumpy and pissed off in the mornings. My dh has asked me for years why I act the way I do in the mornings and I really have no idea why!

I'm not a morning person and I hate getting up. But I don't have time to spend 'getting with it'. I have a toddler who is full of energy so I'm up and straight to it

I'm the same, my first alarm goes off an hour before i get out of bed, then it normally takes at least an hour to get ready. Most of that hour is spend wandering aimlessly around forgetting whatever it was I was supposed to be doing

I'm a night owl, and rubbish in the mornings. It takes me ages to wake up properly and I don't speak for at least an hour or so after I've woken up. Fortunately, my DS is exactly the same. I could not have coped with a lark for a child!

For years I worked nights as it suited with childcare, but it turned me into a night owl.

I need to be up an hour and ten minutes before leaving for work these days and always set the alarm to allow for a snooze of ten minutes.

It frustrates my Dh as the minute the alarm goes off he is up and away. My idea job would be 1200 to 2100.

I see your 1 hour to get going and raise you by 90 minutes. My morning routine now takes me two and a half hours.

I start at 5AM with coffee and papers and overnight emails. By 6AM am about ready to walk the dog which takes 45 minutes. Then the watering takes 20 minutes or so, then shower and dressed in 20 mins.

If I could keep my own time, I'd sleep 12.30pm to 8.30am, get up at around 9am and leave for work between 9 30am and 10am.

Before DS I did this as I always managed to get jobs where I could work from around 10.30am or even later to around 7pm.Perfect for me as I rarely get much useful stuff done at work before 11am . After DS though, school runs and childcare difficulties made this impractical so for the last 10,years I have started work at 8.30am and finish at 4.30pm. I hate it. I am often just getting into something at work when it seems like it is time to go home.

I'm also a night owl and wake up feeling dreadful in the morning. It takes me ages to get going. Even if there's a plane to catch I can't just snap out of it, although obviously I will hurry if needs be.

Fortunately DH is a lark so he gets me a cup of tea and currently he goes to bed earlier and gets up with the baby every morning so I can get my shit together.