Getting up early is actually good isn’t it?

[shizerhousen]

I love a lie in at the weekend. Im up early during the week and often have broken sleep thanks to my toddler waking in the night so it really refreshes me to have a lie in. However if I get up any later than 9am I really feel like the day has gotten away from me and I’m rushing to get all the things done that I need to. Which is silly really as it’s only 2 hours later than I’d usually be up for work!
Got up early with the little one this morning so Dh could have a Father’s Day lie in and actually it does feel really good to be up and on early. Already got some washing done and planning to get out with the dogs and get lots done.
Hard to decide what’s best between a lovely lie in and feeling productive and smug because im up with the lark. Which do you prefer?

I’m up early. Well this morning was 2:15am as I suffer from chronic pain, but I did have a sleep on the settee until 4am after a tonne of codeine. I was awake again by 4am, which is the time I’m usually up for painkillers.

I had two loads of washing done and on the line and nipped to the shop before anyone else was awake.

Just waiting for about 9:15 or 9:30 and I’m going to mow the front and side grass, as the painkillers are still working at the moment.

Can get loads done getting up early.

I'm a chronic insomniac so always get up early as sleeping in will make my insomnia even worse. Routine is key!!

So i get up 6.30am to 7am every morning and always feel so productive.

I don’t agree. The only time I enjoy it is if we’re in a holiday villa and I can have a swim on my own which is blissful.
The rest of the time I just end up sitting down a lot and yawning then need a nap later on.

I’m a bit torn on this one. My kitten wakes me up very early so by 6.30 this morning, I’d fed her, put last nights batch of yogurt in the fridge to cool, been out for a run and had a shower. But I live in a first floor flat so can’t really do much cleaning or laundry until at least 9.00am as it’s not fair on my downstairs neighbour so that’s felt like wasted time.

Yes, in short, although it does require going to bed at a reasonable hour.

Since DD was born I can’t sleep beyond 7:30 but it does mean I get loads done before 9 and then I have the rest of the day.

Ive even started going to the gym at 6:30 twice a week, it’s a good start to the day!

I just get up and hour or so later than I would for work (so around 8am) Not really that busy at weekends though.

I actually like getting up with the kids (I do wake up DH does bedtime) but if there’s no kids in the house we would sleep in and stay in bed all day.

I agree although you tend to get flamed for saying this on here. I’m a lark and I love the early morning and hate the feeling of wasting daylight hours rotting in bed.

Lie-ins have their place if you are really exhausted but as a general rule they make you feel worse. I think you can sleep too much and people who don’t get up until midday are wasting so much of their lives.

I don’t understand the argument about late risers wasting the day. They will have more hours awake in the evening/night and perhaps they prefer that. It is true on mumsnet some (not all before everyone jumps on me) early risers seem to think they are superior to late risers.

Why is the stuff waiting for you to get up?

I suppose for me the day means daylight hours. I like to be outdoors as much as possible so sleeping through a lot of those hours seems depressing. Its also the hours of normal business stuff so if you wake up at 12 noon and want to visit something which is staffed by people you are going to have less time to do it in.

If you’re young and go out at night a lot its a bit different because a lot of your social life will revolve around the evenings (and alcohol for many people). Its quite normal for a 20 something to want to lie in.

I have to say I think for a middle aged parent, insisting on lying in until midday every weekend morning is pretty selfish: a) you are probably piling domestic labour and childcare onto the other partner by having to be in bed and b) you’re likely depriving your children of opportunities to do stuff during the day. I would not tolerate this in a partner. Occasionally, fine, but all the time is lame and selfish.

It really depends on your circadian rhythms. I like waking/getting up early when I can manage it, especially in summer as I love the freshness of mornings and the feeling of the whole day lying ahead of me, but unfortunately due to a sleep disorder which means my circadian rhythms are out of whack, getting enough sleep to be up early in the morning actually feeling physically OK is a constant struggle. Partly why I'm self-employed these days (I do realise I'm fortunate to have that option), as periodically I will hit a wall with sleep deprivation and will need to 'reset'.

Late risers just get more done in the evenings!

I have to be up very early for work (usually around 4). I like that it's generally cool and quiet, with nobody else around, at that time.

I prefer a lie-in at the weekends, if my insomnia is kind enough to accommodate that.

I wake up around 6am during the week, but on weekends I love a lie in. Children didn’t wake up until 9am this morning, which was lovely. We don’t have any plans today apart from playing in the garden and a bbq, so there is no rush to do anything.

Surely it depends on your body clock as to how you react to sleep.

Personally I feel better on poor sleep getting up after 8am, than getting up before 8am on good sleep.
Of my dc, one has always since babyhood been a lie-iner, one likes to burn the candle at both ends for a bit before one very long sleep, and one for whom if they are still in bed at 7am they're probably ill. They're now adults so I doubt this will change.

However the biggest correlation I notice is between choosing to get up early and being smug about it. I don't think I've ever heard someone being smug that they can be up until 2am without feeling tired.

I like a small one to catch up but like you feel I've wasted the day if I lay in too long.

You should do whatever suits you best. But I do get a bit narked at the suggestion that sleeping later is somehow lazy. Some of us have body clocks which are naturally tuned later. If I could follow my natural pattern in summertime I'd be sleeping roughly 3am-11am but obviously that doesn't really work with children, so I try to get up by 9 at the weekends.

Good for you. House of night owls here that only get up early if a flight is involved.

I get early 6 days a week, i love it. I usually sit outside and wake up for half an hour in the morning when it’s slient other than the birds singing. The other day I wake up between 8.30-10am otherwise I would need to nap on the other days.

Yes get alot done. I cant sleep late or I be wide awake tonight joy of menopause. But yes op I got bit done this morning.

I’m an early riser and am normally in the gym at 5.30am and home by 6.30am. It gives me time to have a coffee and shower before starting to wake the reluctant teens up.

I’ve always been an early morning kind of person though and do try and lie in at weekends but it never works and I just wake up feeling groggy.

I hate a lie in. One of the few benefits to not having little children any more is no longer having to pretend breakfast in bed is a treat!

Yes as it turns out. I was a night owl until age 29. I’m 31 now and that 6/7am-8am hour is my favourite of the day. Birds singing, misty light, coffee, the world waking up. Lovely. I pop a wash in, check my plants, empty the dishwashers and tidy a bit and by 9am the jobs are almost over.

There are lots of studies that actually indicate this. Now of course that is not to say if you are a night owl you are wrong in any way as we are all different and have different circadian rhythms but there are several studies that show that people doing night shifts have higher rates of cancer, chronic illness and depression compared (plus lower life expectancy) to those who work a normal day pattern.

Early to me is 4-5am, that’s when i’m awake daily. 9am is a long lie in for me, never happens.