In praise of early mornings

[crochetmonkey74]

I have a really busy and overwhelming job - and I am currently also halfway through a major personal project (recovering from trauma, weight loss and rebuilding my life) It's going well and I feel very positive.
I find I really need regenerating time, and evenings just weren't cutting it (my mind would still race from the day) I have gradually found myself getting up earlier and earlier and really enjoying it. I get up at 5am, slowly wander the house with a cuppa, maybe read a bit, put some laundry on etc. I try not to fill it with too many jobs like packing my lunch etc, I try to keep it as proper me time It's so nice. I leave the house to go to the gym for 6.30 and then off to work. It does mean I'm normally ready for bed by 9pm but I love it. If you are an early bird, what do you do and do you also love it?

I do - I genuinely feel ill!

Mon - Fri I am an early bird - up by 5 but often up at 4.30. I train every day at 6. Some days I go directly from the gym to work, so those days I'm up before 5 to do a few chores, make sure house set up for DC to get up and out to school. I would absolutely go to bed early - about 8.45 is my perfect time, if I could - but my DC do many sports / activities which don't finish by then so it's impossible and so I'm sleep-deprived (until my mid 40s I was a night owl, and couldn't imagine bed before 12 or 1, completely changed from that).

I am up reasonably early at weekends, especially Saturday e.g. Saturday morning I'll be up by 7.30 / 7.45 to get out to DC matches. Sunday we often don't have something early and I am so unproductive - get up later, faff around, am usually in a bad mood.

I would love to get up early at weekends too and use the time to relax but I think I do so much during the week, literally non-stop from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. that I'm not able.

I’m a natural early riser. Love those productive mornings when I can take things slowly but still get so much done by the time 8/9am comes around.

Unfortunately I chose a career where I don’t leave work before 10/11pm multiple nights a week. So by the time I get home, eat something and wind down for bed, I need to allow myself to sleep until 8am otherwise I feel like rubbish the next day. Add regular 10am starts on top…

I love being on holiday - early nights and early mornings!!!

Yes I am definitely a lark. I also need a lot of sleep so I usually sleep 9-6 but can do 10 to 6 at a push. Sometimes I get up much earlier though.

I potter about, read, talk to my animals, go for a walk, do some housework. By 7pm my brain is only fit for watching tv.

I love those quiet hours of the early morning too, especially on holiday in another time zone as @Delatron described.

Only if I wake up naturally though, having had enough sleep, which is disappointingly rare.

A good 8+ hours of sleep is SO important, for weight loss, building muscle after a workout, it's anti-aging and lowers inflammation in the body. I won't compromise sleep for extra time in the morning.

I'm an early bird. I have to be in work by 6:30am, so am usually up at 4:30am to get animals and myself sorted before work. It's been tough going in this miserable weather, I won't lie, it's a lot easier when the weather is nice. As I get older though I'm less early bird/lark and more permanently exhausted pigeon...

I get up early to run but my kids are older so I’m still chasing them to bed at 9/10pm so I’m permanently exhausted 😴

Ha this is me - perfect with Christmas tree lights in the winter!

Whilst not getting up as early as you, I do value not being in a mad rush first thing, and a consistent bed time since catch up tv came along has been a great help.

I also hate getting up in the dark - feels like that also goes against circadian rhythms! In Summer I’m slightly more perky in the morning than the winter. But still wouldn’t be happy getting up an earlier than 7.

Sleep is too important and I take a long time to drift off at night. Then my sleep is quite fitful until the early hours.

I’m the same 5.30 up tea dressed walk / run the dogs their required 3 mile and home for 730 more tea computer on start work for just before 8.

I love the morning. Once I'm actually up I really enjoy the peace before the rest of the house wakes up. There's something very cosy about getting up when it's still dark and having a coffee in the quiet. I like walking in the morning too but rarely do it these days.

My issue is that no matter how much I like mornings, I like sleeping better. Consequently I usually don't get up until the last possible minute and end up rushing about getting stressed. Also value my evenings when dc are in bed and dh and I just get to chill. But they're grown up and I'm a little old lady I picture myself becoming an early bird, maybe.

Well my father in law comes round every morning at 7am so I'm always awake and downstairs by 6.30.

I get up about 6am-ish and enjoy the quiet of the house to myself (I seem to be everyone's alarm clock too). I get up and do yoga/workout, have coffee and do Headspace.

I started during perimenopause to clear the brain fog. I think I've always been a lark. If I am late to bed, I still get up early and just nap in the afternoon. I actually don't like sleeping in much, I feel weird and out of sorts all day.

Been up at 6am every day for years. Don't know any different. Small children have that affect on you. On the plus side, I get a lot done but like yourself always in bed super sharp. Settling in 8pm, asleep usually 9.30pm.

Also as soon as I am up so is everyone else (except teens) and so I don't get to "enjoy" peace before they wake.

I’m the same. If I’m up before 6am for an early flight or something I actually feel nauseous.

I love early mornings. I wake about 5 and get up about 5.30am. I just sit and ‘have a minute’ as it’s known in our house and just have some quiet. I check out the news, do some washing, out stuff away and then go for a walk.

I’ve been on leave this week and had several lies ins - by which I mean I’ve got up at 6.30! People think I’m mad but i love it. My DDad is the same.

Similar to Garlictwist, I get up at 5am and enjoy the peace, in winter with the fairy lights, in summer in the garden on my egg chair listening to the birds. I have a particular morning mug because it's massive 😬

My meds give me insomnia so I have been up early for the last few weeks and I have loved it. The day is simpler when I have those jobs done and I can journal for the day and maybe hit the gym or have a long morning walk to watch the sunrise before the busyness of the day begins.

I get up at 6 on weekdays and exercise before work. 2x run and yoga, 2x weights and yoga and 1 long yoga. I love that I’ve already achieved something before I start work. At weekends I get up some time between 7 and 8. Asleep on the sofa before 9:30 most nights.

Yes, 5am every day .. cup of coffee, sort the dogs then bit of Pilates with yoga thrown in before cracking on with speed of the day - love it

A friend of mine retired recently and has started to get up at 6 am (after a few months of getting up later than usual at 9 am) - she said she realised that by doing that she'd have 21 more hours per week of her retirement. I don't know whether to be convinced of that or not!

I do the same. LOVE my early mornings after 50+ years of not being able to get up early. It’s time that is just for me

I think the most peaceful Ive felt over the years was with a spate of early mornings, wrapped up in a blanket and meditating by candle light.