Getting up earlier

[blank]

I'd like to start getting up earlier, or no longer doing this:

6:30 alarm goes off
6:45 radio goes off
7:00 iPhone goes off

depending on what time i really have to be at work

6:50 - 8:00 get out of bed. let's say 7:30
7:30 head to the bathroom, take a leak
7:32 turn on shower, water is hot instantly. always washing face with either Dan Kern cleanser or men-u ultra concentrate tea tree oil. usually not shampooing hair (do it at night if i do it), scrubbing body with any cheap shower gel
7:40 leave shower, stepping on my new bathmat, usually fairly alert but can be groggy, brush teeth, apply baxter of california plant moisturizer, and lab series for men acne gel if necessary
7:45 make quick protein shake, usually including flaxseed. on weekdays i have no interest in eggs, bacon, anything like that for breakfast. but i can always enjoy a quick shake.
7:50 find clothes to wear, shoes, collect Filsn, book, magazine, ipod, and the four necessary items: card holder, cash clip, iphone, watch
8:00 leave for the train

Quoted is my "morning routine" from the other thread, and this is not the first time I've typed it through, nor is it the first time I've read or considered it and thought, "wow, this is pretty bad." For years, I've had a, I can't think of a better word for this, phobia of sleeping through alarms and not getting up on time, so I typically set three alarms in the morning, quite often not getting up until the third one, but often at night I convince myself that the first one will really get me up.

I'd like to wake up earlier just to feel better about things; to put on deodorant and not worry about not having enough time for it to dry so that it affects the shirt I wear. I don't need to make coffee or cook eggs Benedict. Actually, I don't care to at all. I eat breakfast at work, free every day.

So that's #1 I think: how can I more rationally set my alarms, and try to better manage that first bit of waking up?

The second thing is that I might like to get up a little earlier, perhaps work out in the morning. I am unsure if I want to go this route; I have just moved neighborhoods and was opposed to working out at night in the old neighborhood due to the walk I'd have to take to get to the gym, but now, working out late might be more appealing as the gym close-by is gorgeous and clean.

But I might like to take a ride through the park in the morning, and many nights, I go to bed, set my alarm earlier and say, "i'm going to wake up early and ride this morning" and then I don't, and inevitably either do it when I get home and am tired from work, or don't do it at all.

edit: Oh, I neglected to leave out one very important thing, in the midst of my excitement that SF's refined men of wisdom would start advising me. My bedtime. It varies anywhere from 11:30-12:00. This is because, on average, I probably get home from work between 6:45 - 7:45. Since I have trouble waking up in the morning, if I'm going to work out, it's going to happen at night, and it'll happen soon after I get home, so that might not see me back in my apartment until 9PM (as was the case tonight. Then, I'll fix a protein shake, shower, consider whether I need more food, and watch tv or use the internet or sometimes read. I am obsessed with baseball so if there's a game on (Mets, Yankees or ESPN always), I'll typically watch it. I simply can not get into bed without unwinding from the day somehow. If I don't work out at night and I get home between those hours, I typically cook a simple meal and then enter the shower and unwind phase.

So there are some problems here. I know I'm not the only one, because a lot of us seem to be very harried in the morning and rush through everything. But, how do you break the cycle?

 

[TheIdler]

This might help:

http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/200...n-early-riser/

Some of his posts are kind of kooky, but this was a useful take on it. Basically, get up at the same time every day, even weekends, and learn how to go to bed when you're tired. Just set one alarm, and don't let yourself hit snooze or anything. On some level, your half-asleep consciousness knows you've got more alarms set up and it knows that your 6:30 isn't your 'real' alarm, so it lets you half-sleep through it.

 

[Syl]

If you need a certain amount of sleep and you want to get up earlier then it's simple math. Go to bed earlier.

 

[grundletaint]

you're doing a lot better than me!

-alarm goes off at 6 *snooze*
-alarm at 6:10 *snooze*
-out of bed at 6:20, take a leak, get dressed, out the door by 6:26 to open office at 6:45

 

[MetroStyles]

Although I currently practice the hyperefficient morning routine, there is a lot to be said for the pleasure of waking up earlier and not having to hurry through the morning.

 

[James Gatz]

Originally Posted by TheIdler

Basically, get up at the same time every day, even weekends, and learn how to go to bed when you're tired. Just set one alarm, and don't let yourself hit snooze or anything. On some level, your half-asleep consciousness knows you've got more alarms set up and it knows that your 6:30 isn't your 'real' alarm, so it lets you half-sleep through it.

This is exactly what I do. I go to bed at pretty much the same time every night, and wake up at the same time every day. Generally speaking, I don't have to set an alarm, as I just wake up naturally about 5 minutes before the alarm goes off, but if I'm still asleep when it rings, I get up immediately. As far as hitting snooze goes, I'd much rather have actual sleep as opposed to the 9 minute half-sleep that comes after hitting the snooze button. If you want to start getting up earlier, I'd suggest starting by setting your alarm 15 minutes earlier than you get up now, and gradually work your way into whatever time you would eventually like to wake up over the next couple of weeks.

 

[Ambulance Chaser]

Go to bed earlier. No later than 10:30 PM.

Stop watching baseball on TV. You get two minutes of action and three hours of waiting. Any highlights will be broadcast on ESPN the next day.

If you feel the need to unwind at night, listen to a jazz CD.

Train your body to be out of bed no later than 6:30, 6:00 if you're working out in the morning. Work out in the morning if at all possible. Your workouts will be much more consistent (no excuses about working late to miss a workout) and you will energized for the rest of the day. If you like to workout outside, the temperature is perfect early in the morning.

 

[sleekblackroadster]

i think Ambulance Chasher got it dead-on.

 

[clarity]

My alarm clock is always across the room so I am forced to get up to shut it off. By them I am awake. After a long time of doing that I no longer need an alarm to wake up for work unless I went to bed late.

 

[globetrotter]

Originally Posted by Ambulance Chaser

Go to bed earlier. No later than 10:30 PM.

Stop watching baseball on TV. You get two minutes of action and three hours of waiting. Any highlights will be broadcast on ESPN the next day.

If you feel the need to unwind at night, listen to a jazz CD.

Train your body to be out of bed no later than 6:30, 6:00 if you're working out in the morning. Work out in the morning if at all possible. Your workouts will be much more consistent (no excuses about working late to miss a workout) and you will energized for the rest of the day. If you like to workout outside, the temperature is perfect early in the morning.

+1

 

[Jumbie]

I need a more regular routine.

My sleeping is so sporadic and I can't remember the last time I got more than 6 hours. For the past week I've been going to bed at around 2 a.m. and waking up at 5:45. Kinda dumb because I don't really need to go to sleep that late.

During my surgery rotation, I had to be at the hospital at 5 a.m. Woke up at around 4 every day. Man, that sucked!!!

 

[blank]

Originally Posted by James Gatz

I go to bed at pretty much the same time every night, and wake up at the same time every day. .

This is probably the best option, but impossible, because I am 23 living in New York City, so on Friday and Saturday nights, I am not going to bed earlier than 2AM, and I'm typically then sleeping until 10AM, because I'm young, single and that's just how it goes.

Go to bed earlier. No later than 10:30 PM.

Stop watching baseball on TV. You get two minutes of action and three hours of waiting. Any highlights will be broadcast on ESPN the next day.

If you feel the need to unwind at night, listen to a jazz CD.

Train your body to be out of bed no later than 6:30, 6:00 if you're working out in the morning. Work out in the morning if at all possible. Your workouts will be much more consistent (no excuses about working late to miss a workout) and you will energized for the rest of the day. If you like to workout outside, the temperature is perfect early in the morning.

This is probably the best option. If I were to start going to bed at 10:30 and waking up earlier, that would settle the workout and the unharried morning issues.

But is this all possible if my sleep cycle gets disrupted two or three days a week and I'm sleeping in on weekends?

 

[Saucemaster]

You may just not be a morning person. My morning routine is similar to yours (with fewer alarms, but usually including somewhere between 15-30 min of snoozing), and it works fine for me. I work out at night, but I still hit the gym six days a week, and I don't miss workouts--the amount of self-discipline, or rather, self-punishment, it would take to get me to work out in the morning is orders of magnitude greater than the amount it takes me to just make myself go when I get home from work. I also actually perform better in the gym in the evenings--I lift more, I run faster, I tire less easily. I also get a "second wind" a few hours after the sun goes down, and I've always experienced this for as long as I can remember. Big burst of energy while other people are starting to get tired and go to bed. (This was the case long before I started working out in the evenings, so it's not that.) This may not apply to you, but if it does... consider just accepting that you're a night person, and not really a morning kind of guy.

If you're bound and determined to start waking up earlier, though, AC is right, you have to go to sleep earlier and stay consistent.

 

[javyn]

What Idler said is right on. The trick is to get up earlier and stay up. Go to bed when you feel tired, but DON'T oversleep the next day. Get up at whatever time you decide every day, no matter how tired you are. That and eating earlier in the day are the only way to change your sleep cycle.

Trying to go to bed earlier won't work because you will just lay in bed awake and frustrated trying to sleep, unless you take a pill.

 

[odoreater]

Originally Posted by Saucemaster

You may just not be a morning person. My morning routine is similar to yours (with fewer alarms, but usually including somewhere between 15-30 min of snoozing), and it works fine for me. I work out at night, but I still hit the gym six days a week, and I don't miss workouts--the amount of self-discipline, or rather, self-punishment, it would take to get me to work out in the morning is orders of magnitude greater than the amount it takes me to just make myself go when I get home from work. I also actually perform better in the gym in the evenings--I lift more, I run faster, I tire less easily. I also get a "second wind" a few hours after the sun goes down, and I've always experienced this for as long as I can remember. Big burst of energy while other people are starting to get tired and go to bed. (This was the case long before I started working out in the evenings, so it's not that.)

This may not apply to you, but if it does... consider just accepting that you're a night person, and not really a morning kind of guy.

If you're bound and determined to start waking up earlier, though, AC is right, you have to go to sleep earlier and stay consistent.


+1. I'm not a morning person, and I've quit trying. My job gives me the option to come to work at 10:00 a.m., so that's what I do. I wake up at 8:00 and get here by 10:00. If I wake up any earlier, I'm usually miserable. So, as Sauce said, maybe you just have to accept the fact that you're not a morning person and resign yourself to the dark side.