To wonder if you can 'become' a morning person?

[Marble179]

I figured out some years ago that I need around 9 hours sleep a night to feel OK, having had a baby since then I can survive on 4 Hours albeit only surviving!

If I was to go to sleep at 10.30 and rise at 7.30 I feel less alert than if I was to sleep at 1am and rise at 10.

I know some people are morning people and some aren't but is there anyway to become more of a morning person. It baflles me that I can still feel hazy for over an hour after waking when it's earlier but more alert of I wake later!

I don't think you totally can... OH and I are both owls and we have produced a child who is practically nocturnal if left to her own devices. As a toddler, up easily until 10/11pm no matter when I put her to bed, rising 8:30-9. That's only changed because of nursery and she still finds it hard to wake in time.

I used to get into work at 9.30+ and reckoned that 4pm - 7pm was the most productive period of my day. Now I've got kids I'm out the door at 5.30am so I can finish at 4pm to get home for nursery pickup. I think I have adjusted. I am just as productive in the early morning as I used to be in the afternoon. I drink a lot more coffee though!

I’m naturally an owl, so is my DH and for the moment it seems DS too. I don’t doubt that you can switch it around to some extent in the same way you can change timezones on holiday and we may have to when DS starts school but at the moment every time we try to start a routine of early bed early start it lasts a few days and slides again. DS was looking tired at dinner last night and had had a busy day so we put him to bed half an hour early, he just wriggled around in bed awake for half an hour longer!

I think you can too. I have always been a night owl, but I’ve reslused it was more of a choice than what my body really wanted, if that makes sense. I have gradually brought myself into an early morning/early night pattern - up at 6, in bed reading by 9, asleep by 10 - and feel a lot better for it. I have cut back significantly on alcohol too, which helped with the switch - I used to sit down with wine at 9pm, now I get into bed with my book!

I did. In my late teens/early 20s I worked as a bartender so late nights and late mornings were part of my routine. Obviously that went out the window when DS was born!

5 years of consistently early mornings and I'm a proper morning person now. Even at weekends and when DS isn't here I'm still usually up before 7am.

Don't know, but since being prescribed iron tablets I've gone from sloth to leaping out of bed at 7am.

Posted too soon - I also use a lumie sunrise clock, it’s flipping amazing. I used to head straight for the coffee in the morning, now I don’t drink it at all (have swapped to matcha, which is still caffeinated, but much more lightly!). I wouldn’t go back to late nights and feeling crap the next day - I actually dread it a bit if I know I have to have a late night! I probably sound really boring, but I’m full of beans all day, which I am really enjoying!

I think you can adjust to it. I'm not a natural morning person. Neither is my DS. When he was starting school I had carefully planned my contingency plan. Breakfast was to be premade the night before and be something edible on the go, like frozen summer porridge in a tube, sausage rolls, breakfast muffins, etc. Lunch made, bags packed, clothes laid out, damp washcloth in ziplock bag the night before. Then in the morning, I'd get up, get dressed and ready to go, if I had time I'd make coffee for my travel mug. Then I'd rouse DS, get him to the toilet, strap him in the car, wrap him in blanket, hand him his breakfast and go. It's a 20 minute drive, so he'd have time to wake properly and eat while we drove. Then I'd quickly wash and dress him in the car. I also anticipated even this being a massive last minute hassle with us always rushing and still being a bit late.

My plan lasted a week-ish. We both adapted far quicker than I'd have thought. And now our mornings involve me up early making omelette, fruit salad and lunch and DS joining me when his own body clock wakes him not long after I get up. Then we settle down at the table to watch an episode of whatever cartoon series we're binging while we eat breakfast. Then we have a chat about our day. DS gets dressed at leisure and we eventually head out to the car and get to school 10-15 minutes early.

I'm in shock as it's just not how I've ever lived but I feel really great. Sometimes I have to remind myself that I really, really do need to go to sleep at an earlier time as my mind and body had really been objecting to going to sleep before midnight/1am. But I recently started taking a high dose of Vitamin D3 and that's unexpectedly, seriously improved my sleep cycle to a massive degree.

I used to hate mornjngs but got over it a bit by getting really early nights (8 hours a night at least) and giving myself a bit of 'me' time in the morning for a sit down and a couple of coffees. I'm still filled with dread when my alarm goes off but once I get out of bed I'm fine now (whereas before I'd be grouchy and desperate to get back into bed until about 10!)