Anyone ever "made" themself into a morning person??

[Bleacher Creature]

And please don't tell me it's as easy as going to bed earlier, because any true "night owl" like me knows that it's not that simple. If I go to bed before 1am, I am guaranteed to lie there awake for at least an hour. And when I wake up early, I am always exhausted, no matter how much sleep I get. I know that there's some biology involved, but I just don't know what it is.

[Sabriel]

1. I have to say it doesn't work

My partner is a life-long night person, and the teaching profession ground him down. He got up at 6:30 every day, but he was still unable to go to bed before 1 or 2 am. Not a good combination. He never did adjust.

[amandae]

17. I'm the same way

Add to that how deep of a sleeper I am. As a matter of fact my kids were late to school this morning because I just have such a hard time even waking up to an alarm. I simply don't hear it. I've slept through mild earthquakes before.

I cannot fall asleep before 12:00 am. I'm usually up until 1 or 2 am. I've always been this way and I think I'll always be this way. It's really hard though in a world that is up early everyday! I'm usually really tired though, and I've taken to drinking a lot of coffee and tea to keep me awake in the mornings/afternoons. No matter how tired I am during the day though, I get that second wind in the evenings and just can't sleep early in the night.

[supernova]

2. I've tried

but it just doesn't work; and living by myself doesn't help.

My natural alert, productive hours are about 10am-10pm. I have tried to get up earlier, to exercise before work. Always, I can do it for a little while, but I always revert back to getting up later.

If I had a family to take care of, I'd probably do better and getting up earlier; but then I wouldn'thave time to exercise then either.

[mntleo2]

7. If You Had A Family

No toddler would let you sleep past 6AM. It is in their genes (and their "jeans" as well, lol)

:evilgrin: Oh. Man, that was a good one...

Cat In Seattle <-----mother of four and still an early riser even though the kids are 17. 15, 23, and 34 and getting up before 10 is a sin for all of them

[supernova]

16. I didn't say I couldn't get up

I do every day, mostly I don't sleep past about 6:30am.

What I mean is I'm not fully thinking and alert then, even if I do exercise and what not. And no, I don't think having kids would change that about me. I'd simply do those activities in a kind of fog, which is what happens now. I know myself well enough to know that.

[kick-ass-bob]

21. that doesn't mean anything.

Just because you are forced awake by something doesn't mean you can work well.

My son gets up before I do, and sometimes he has to wake me :eyes:

(He's 9)

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

3. That's EXACTLY how it happens to me.

It's biological. It's like those "ex-gay" thing... doesn't work, and morality hasn't anything to do with it.

[peekaloo]

4. I tried and failed miserably.

The best I can do is curb my pre-noon irritability.

:shrug:

[Misunderestimator]

5. Yes. I used to be a night person... then due to circumstances became

a morning person... now I am, again by circumstance, an extremely early morning person. You do get used to it, though you have to get past the exhaustion and insomnia as you become accustomed to the schedule.

I am up by 4:45 every day and usually go to sleep around 10 or 11.

[brook]

8. Same here.

I got into a line of work that I loved - and it meant being up by 4 am.Also learned to get by on 4-6 hours sleep, making it up on the weekends. Did that for 17 years - and I still get up early although I don't have to be anywhere til 8:30 these days.

I think 'motivation' is one of the key factors.

[tjwmason]

6. If I work really really hard I can get into a routine

But that means being out of bed before 9 every day at the week-ends; just one late night/morning and I'm right back to where I started immediately.

I find that if I'm suffering from lack of sleep it will hit me between about 5p.m. and 9 p.m. - then I'll start to wake up again. :banghead:

I'm slightly better now than I used to be (apparently one's body clock does shift later during adolescence), I never drink coffee after lunch-time, try not to eat too late.

When folk trot out the tired old "early to bed, early to rise" crap they get sooooooooo close to a knee in the dangly bits.

[SheilaT]

9. Middle age will do the trick.

What happens is you can no longer sleep late. It's terrible.

The other thing to point out to those jerks who thinks there's something morally virtuous about being a morning person, is that they themselves need the services of the "night owls". Someone has to work the late shift.

[underpants]

10. The Zen of the alarm clock

when the alarm goes off get your ass out of the bed.
when you wake up get your ass out of bed.


I have gotten slack about this in the last two weeks.

[bertha katzenengel]

11. I have, but I swear to god I couldn't explain it to you.

And really, the only time I'm a morning person is during the work week or when I have to get up for something REALLY important - like a vet appt or a flight.

I don't know how I do it. I just drag my ass out of bed and get into the shower before I change my mind. :shrug:

[yellowdogintexas]

37. oh I am right there when I am heading out of town for something

I can be up before dawn and on the road if I am heading for Kentucky.

or DFW for a flight to somewhere good.

for work purposes, however I keep begging for a 9 to 6 shift with an hour lunch! I am on 8:30 to 5 with 1/2 hr lunch right now and it is better than 8 to 5 because if I have to be there at 8 I really need to leave home at 7 because of traffic. 8:30 means I can leave home at 10 til 8 and be there in plenty of time, thus gaining an extra 20 minutes of sleep.

I was BORN to work second shift and have never had a job where I could actually work second shift. My daughter is the same way, at least her job IS second shift (after a fashion)

For about 5 years I did have a job with pure flex time..if I felt like going in at 7 and leaving at 3 I could; or 9 and leave at 5, that was OK too. I loved that. So I often went in between 7 and 7:30 to be able to leave earlier to avoid traffic and to do errands, etc. It was very nice.

I don't think I could do that any more.

[sybylla]

12. yeah, grow older

I used to need 10 hours of sleep a day from midnight to 10am preferably.

I'm still a night person, but now that I'm older, I accomplish less sleep. It happens to many women, anyway, that your sleep cycle is disturbed by menopause so the closer you get to it, the more fucked up your night can get. I'm not that close to menopause yet, but its rare that I get a full 8 hours.

So I'm in bed between 11 and 12 most nights and awake again usually no later than 6:30, well ahead of the alarm at 7 and often as early as 3:30 in the morning.

It was tough at first, but eventually I got tired of tossing and turning. I started getting up and doing something figuring I'll take a nap later if I need it (I work in my home so I can do exactly that if I need to).

Now, it seems, I've evolved into a morning person, too.

[flamingyouth]

13. I used to stay up a lot later when I was younger.

Now it's much easier for me to get up earlier. I guess I just don't go to bed as late, which is easy to do when you get up at the crack of dawn.

[Taverner]

14. I've done it

Waking up early is just the start. Do high energy activities (working out, morning walk, etc..) in the morning right when you wake up. The rest of your day speeds by...

[BlueIris]

15. Yeah, but only for a few months at a time. It's hell.

And I always relapse after a while.

Okay, a couple of things that have worked for me--in no particular order, without elaboration--

A good multivitamin.

A loud alarm clock, that I can't sleep through, pushed as far away from my bed as possible.

High ocatane legal stimulants, for the morning pain (coffee, black tea, Coke, Mt. Dew).

This last one's a toughie--no night news, especially of the online variety. Try stopping all news at 10.00 p.m.

[Tesibria]

18. Yes !

For 30+ years, I was a "night person" -- I'm now a (early!) morning person.

This is how I did it (over a few months):

1. Went to bed (even tho I didn't sleep) around 10. Set the alarm for 1:30 am. Got up at 2:00 and stayed up, doing the work I used to do before going to bed. I stayed up, not taking naps during the day.

2. After several days of this, I fell asleep when I tried to go to sleep at 10. I kept getting up at between 2:00 and 3:30.

3. After a while of this (few weeks, I think), I went to bed at 10-10:30, and woke up when I woke up (no alarm) -- usually around 4:00 - sometimes 4:30.

... and I've maintained that for the past 2+ years. And I love it, because getting up at 4:00, I still have time to myself - that treasured "quiet time" - but I feel sooo much better at 4:00 am when I'm just getting up compared to - in my "prior" life, when I was still up at that time.

[Bleacher Creature]

24. Thanks!

I'll give it a try.

[kick-ass-bob]

19. I tried it, and I must say...

it failed miserably.

I am good starting around 10 or so, but I really can't handle the early morning, and believe me, I have tried.

[miss_kitty]

20. I am a night and a morning person

when I was young, I went to bed late late late and woke up early because I had to. Later on in life, I messed with sleeping patterns, which was pretty cool. I lived on GMT for awhile here on the west coast and didsome breaking up of my sleeping. Now I go to bed late and wake up early. I have a nap sometimes during the day.

[trackfan]

22. The dog succeeded in making me, at least, more of a morning

person. He just won't let us sleep in.

[BamaGirl]

23. I wish I was a morning person.

Really. Cause year after year sleep deprived sucks. I'm never asleep before 2am and I get up with the kids at 6am. I have no advice, but tons of empathy. :hug:

[Guy Fawkes]

25. Slowly go to bed earlier and earlier.

You need to give your circadian rhythms time to adjust.

[Guy Fawkes]

33. I have to add...

This is how I get ready to start school every year after summer break. Coffee helps, too.

[Nikia]

26. I have to get up at 5:30 a.m. for work

I had never had to get up that early before on a consistent basis ever. It took me a whole year of getting up at that time before I didn't feel like I had gotten hit by a truck every morning even if I did manage to get 9 or 10 hours of sleep (or less too). Now, after 4 years I am still usually tired. I am not tired though if I do get 9 or 10 hours of sleep, but I usually don't because I don't want to sleep away my life.
On the weekends, if I get up after 8 a.m., I am not tired if I got at least 6 hours of sleep.

[WCGreen]

27. Good god no.........

[SuperWonk]

28. It is not easy...

it just takes getting in the habit. And coffee.

[WCGreen]

29. Lots of coffee.....

And I hear you have to actually like people, or at least tolerate them cause there are so many around during the day....

[China_cat]

30. When I opened my own business

I trained myself to be a morning person. Had to.

Didn't have to like it, though.

[ContraBass Black]

31. Try going around the other way.

Go to bed later and later, becoming nocturnal for a brief period. When your sleep routine gets all the way around the clock and you're waking up early in the morning, lock yourself into the schedule.

Of course, if you're regularly employed, this isn't going to work.

[Jamastiene]

35. That worked for me for about 2 weeks, but

then I ended up right back into the old routine. I'm still a night owl. No doubt about it. I hate mornings and cannot be made to adjust no matter how hard I try. I do know of the trick you are talking about. It does seem to work at first, but in time it rolls back around and it's harder to get back again especially with a schedule that keeps you from being able to do that. Your plan is the closest I ever came to making it work better though.

[SarahB]

32. Not really.

I usually am up by 7:30 (on the 4 days a week I don't work 3rd shift) because I have kids, but I'm not usually asleep before 12:30-1:00 ever. I'm not my best until later in the morning either. I've always been this way. :shrug:

[Jamastiene]

34. I still haven't gotten used to it and feel like I never will.

I'm like you almost to a tee. I can't seem to go to bed early enough or get enough sleep to make up for getting up early and how hard it is. I actually have problems with my stomach (nausea) from getting up early. When I am allowed to just go by my own biological clock (mostly) and only have to get up for night classes or to do something at night, I'm ok and never get nauseated even if I only had 4 hours of sleep, but daytime, forget it. I'll never get used to it and I'll never be able to function at my full capacity in the daytime. I can't even think in the daytime.

[skygazer]

36. I've known people who could make themselves go to bed early

And make themselves get up early. But it wasn't like a natural thing and they really weren't worth a damn for the first couple of hours of the day. My sister is like that - she's always been a sleep-till-about-ten type of person and even when she had to get up early for several years for her job, it didn't stick and was only on work days - as soon as she left that job, she was right back to staying up late and sleeping in.

I, on the other hand, have always been an early morning person. When I was young, I could also stay up late and thrive on only a few hours of sleep but I never slept past maybe 8:00 and that, for me, is sleeping late. My usual time to get up on a non-work day is 6:30 or 7. Work days I get up at 3:20 - that's early even to me.

[Kat45]

38. I've been trying for 5 years and it hasn't worked yet!

I'm a night person, and for many years I worked from 12:30 PM-9:30 PM--then I'd go out to clubs, stay out 'til 2, and not have to get up 'til late morning. I loved that schedule! After that, I telecommuted for a number of years; set my own schedule, which did not include any activities for morning except sleeping.

Five years ago, I had a job that started at 9. It's a good thing my boss didn't have a fit that I was always late. Another 9 AM job, another easy-going boss. But those jobs were PT so I could just stay an extra hour or two. Now I have a FT job that starts at 9, and I really struggle to get there on time. Even when my clock radio wakes me up, I can't get myself to actually get up; I just keep laying there. Sometimes I even fall back asleep with the radio still on. It's hard to get up because I usually don't get to bed until around 12:30 or 1:00. It's midnight now and I should be in bed, but I couldn't resist taking a "quick" peek at DU. (Notice the word "quick" is in quotes, because it's never just a quick peek.)

[darkism]

39. Even if I go to bed at midnight (early for me) ...

...I still don't naturally wake up until 1 pm the next day.

My sleeping patterns are truly fucked :p