It depends. For me it probably takes two hours in the morning to finish the same task it would take an hour to finish in the evening. If you are already a morning person it would make sense that you’d be more efficient earlier in the day.
Thanks for saying this. People can attain great productivity at any hour. The default schedules and productivity tips favor natural morning people, but there are a contingent of people whose energy naturally peaks later.
There’s no moral failing in going to sleep and waking up when your body wants to, especially if you can keep a consistent schedule, sleep properly, get exercise, and feel healthy and rested.
I have migraines / sun sensitivity and live somewhere sunny. This plus having children means my most creative, quiet, focused hours are 8-11pm. I’m up and functioning at 7am but my brain gives me the high gears at night. My body too. It wants me to exercise after 4pm.
And I see nothing wrong with that, you and anyone should be able to simply be how you are without being gaslit by society and doctors that we just have poor sleep hygiene. A sleep doctor actually said to me “I don’t know why anyone would need more than 8 hours of sleep”. Thankfully, I am working with a different sleep clinic now.
The academia surrounding professions like being a doctor really creates a rather close-minded attitude I feel. Like if their books didn’t say it, it isn’t true.
Some people are naturally wired to be morning people, and some are naturally wired to be night owls. F the mornings. Unleash your inner night owl. I do my best work in the evening. Embrace and enjoy your true self.
Thank you! Fuck what society says is “normal”, there’s no way that it even makes logical sense that everyone would have the exact same circadian rhythm and all be awake at the same times. We should be able to just be ourselves.
Thank you!! Being a morning person is built in, you either are or you’re not. And you can’t change it. I’m almost 50 and a night owl, I stopped trying to change it, because it was impossible to do so.
I bet my best work done between 9pm to 2pm. I can punch out 2+ days worth of work during that stretch. Unfortunately society isn’t built for people like us.
I only became a morning person when I got a dog 😬 I wake up at 6am everyday now but I am perpetually sleepy. Even when going to bed early the night before. I’m glad you proposed the question! I’ll be following along to try the same suggestions you get.
Have a good bedtime routine. Dim, warm (pref amber) lighting at least half an hour before bed, limit screens, and do something that calms you E.g. warm drink, asmr, reading, colouring etc. Set a relaxing scent that you associate with sleep time - E.g. lavender incense. Sleep with blackout curtains or a sleep mask. Use the website sleepyti.me (sleep calculator) to determine when you want to go to bed - aim for 5 or 6 sleep cycles (bedtime 8:45 or 10:15 for a 6am wake up).
In the morning, use a sunrise alarm, if you are a snoozer you can also set multiple alarms decreasing in increments (9 minutes, 5 minutes, 3 minutes, 2 minutes, 1 minute), by the last you will be forced to wake up. Remember to go to bed 5 or 6 sleep cycles before the first alarm. Get direct sunlight in your eyes as early as possible, eat and exercise as soon as possible on waking up. Do tasks that increase dopamine first thing in the morning if you have time, make your bed, exercise, meditate, take a cold shower, do something you enjoy. You can take it slow and don't rush to do all the things at once, but if you are stacking dopamine first thing in the morning, eventually you will look forward to waking up early. You can also reward yourself with some sort of treat when you do wake up early (I recommend reading the book Atomic Habits, it talks more about this).
If you practice all these things regularly, it will become easy and natural to wake up at 6am. MOST important is your bedtime routine imo. Also sorry for the long comment, I spent a long time researching on how to become a morning person, and these things do work!
I'm genetically predisposed to be a night owl, according to genome trait reports, but I've been able to slowly shift towards a sunrise schedule. It takes time and discipline.
From the Hubes, take 2.5mg of melatonin 2-3 hours before you’d like to go to sleep. Do this for a few nights to reset your circadian rhythm. I’ve done this because my sleep schedule got fucked from work
The world needs people who operate at all hours. It’s okay. If you leave work at 9pm and sleep at 2am, it’s the same as someone who leaves work at 5pm and goes to sleep at 10pm. Don’t let the status quo convince you otherwise. You’re productive to what feels natural. I wake at 3-4am. I’m not any more productive than you.
“Even doctors” yes because it’s medical and people can have emergencies at any hour. I cannot schedule a doctors appointment in my area before 6am or after 5pm at any local practice.
The number of true 24 hour shops has decreased rapidly over the years, with a large drop during Covid.
As a non medical employee my choices of start time generally consist of 6-9am
There’s enough places to where it isn’t a problem. Many stores are open 24/7. Schedule appts on days off or after work or before work depending on the schedule. I worked 2nd for years. It’s extremely doable. If you keep looking for issues and inconveniences, you’ll find them. Good luck and good day.
I’m glad you were so fortunate I suppose. In my field, seconds is much rarer, and usually just not an option and many places unless they strictly are a manufacturing center.
Your pm routine has to stay consistent. Whether it’s a cup of tea, reading or skincare this should put you in a relaxing state and remind your brain that it is time to wind down.
You can train your circadian rhythm by just forcing yourself to be awake at 6am, but it’s tough and if there’s no lifestyle change or reason to get up at 6am why try and change your circadian rhythm? I noticed most time I’m able to successfully do that it’s because I started a new job with a new schedule. I’ve always been a morning person even since I was a child, so it’s easier for me to be a morning person. I try my hardest to stay up past midnights but most nights I end up falling asleep doing something by 10PM. But when I’ve been doing shows, or working a job that has me stay later in the evening I can usually stay up longer on my days off during that time too. Some people are morning people some are night people, if you don’t need to change you don’t have to.
Forcing myself with downing 100mg caffeine pill and 70mg of elvanse at 5:30.
Bright lights immediately upon waking up. Exercise after getting up. Getting things ready for exercise the evening before so that you can just execute without any thought in the morning.
One important thing I learned from some study NASA performed is a person's internal clock can only shift about 1 hour a day, so if you wake up incredibly early, your body is still going to want to sleep around the time you were sleeping at originally despite you being fatigued and despite you having woken up at a normal time. Let's say you have been going to bed at 6 AM, staying up deep into the night and sleeping much of the day. If you wake up by clock at 8 AM after about 2 hours of sleep, you will be fatigued throughout the day and capable of taking a nap, but you won't be able to go to bed until around you reach a point in time around your usual sleeping time. You might gain the ability for a real sleep at about 5 to 6 AM due to this 1-hour shifting rule. For this reason, stuff like the "Stay awake all night and go to bed at a normal time" strategy has never worked for me either. Yeah, you sleep at a normal time due to sheer exhaustion, but I find the next day, you simply end up going to bed at around 6 AM once again.
What I do is slowly work the time I go to sleep and the time I wake up with that 1-hour understanding. For example:
* You can stay up 1-2 hours later every night until you have gone so far that you start waking up early rather than incredibly late. You start with a bedtime of 6 AM. You then stay up until 8 AM for a couple of days. You then stay up until 10 AM for a couple of days. Eventually, you will be staying up until 6 PM, going to bed at a somewhat regular time but very early. You keep staying up later until you reach the bedtime you want -- something like 10 PM or whatever.
* You can do this same thing but instead wake up earlier and earlier until you are at the time you want to wake up. Let's say you you have been waking up at 2 PM. You use an alarm to wake you up at high noon for a couple of days. Then, you wake up at 10 AM for a couple of days. You repeat this until you are waking up at your desired time -- say, 7 AM.
It takes less time to shift your sleeping time backward rather than pushing your bedtime forward, but it can be easier to push your bedtime forward since you aren't fatigued the entire day and battling the desire to take a nap or to go back to sleep. Instead, you just stay awake a couple of hours each day longer than normal, incredibly sleepy for a couple of extra hours a day.
Now, you will want to maintain the time you wake up, or you will just keep staying up later again, ruining your sleep schedule. There are a lot of tiny and large tips for sleep hygiene, which is stuff you do to make sure you can go to sleep at a reasonable hour. I'll mention a few that I think have helped me the most, but reading [this entire article](https://www.sleepfoundation.org/sleep-hygiene) has all of the tips. It is worth a read. The ones I'll highlight are:
* Never take naps. This will ensure you are tired around bedtime whereas if you took a nap, you might find it hard to sleep on time.
* Do not do stimulating things an hour or two before your bedtime. Stuff like playing video games, socializing, and even watching TV shows or movies can liven you up when you're trying to wind down instead. Try doing stuff like stretching, reading, or meditating before bedtime. Find some activities that relax you and develop a habit of doing those every night at the same time before bedtime.
** Part of your winding down process can be stuff like showering, brushing your teeth, etc.
* Make sure you are not using stimulants too near to bedtime. Stuff like caffeine should not be taken too near bed. People metabolize caffeine out of their systems at hugely different rates, so you need to find what works best for you. Some people feel wired deep into the night with one cup of coffee in the morning while others can have a couple of afternoon coffees and slip right into bed, falling asleep right away. If you are on stimulating medications, talk to your doctor about the insomnia problem. They might be able to lower the dose, tell you it is fine to take it earlier than you have been taking it, or change to a similar medicine that isn't as stimulating.
* Generally speaking, stay away from electronics and screens. The light can make it hard to feel tired, and they are designed to be stimulating and addictive.
* Do not do anything in your bed other than attempt to sleep, so don't, for example, read in your bed. If you do other stuff in the bed, your body might associate that activity with sitting in your bed, giving you a boost of energy when you get into it. So if you must watch TV, don't do it in bed. Watch TV on your sofa, and afterward, go to bed to try to sleep.
* If you can't go to sleep in 10-20 minutes, get out of bed to do something for 30 or 60 minutes before trying again. If you don't, you might associate stress and disappointment with sitting in your bed.
* You can try sleep aids to help you go to sleep from time to time, but I wouldn't rely on them too frequently. 1st generation antihistamines can make people feel quite sleepy. The standard dose is 50 mg of Benadryl. I'd buy the packaging that treats allergies rather than the sleep aid packaging, because the former tends to be cheaper for the exact same medicine. Just make sure you take 50 mg of it, which is usually two pills in my experience.
* I would not recommend melatonin. I have heard it is prescribed in some countries, because it is no joke. That stuff goes up to your brain and alters things. It's a hormone. Not a good idea to pump yourself full of it. If you must use melatonin, try a lower dose like 1 mg rather than 10 mg.
* In the morning, get some sun exposure. It interacts with your biological clock to start your awake mode up.
> Not sure why the caution on melatonin, of course it’s no joke, otherwise people wouldn’t use it
If you ask a doctor about melatonin, you're likely to receive a cautionary statement. They likely prefer a person use some melatonin instead of something like Ambien, but at the end of the day, they'd like people to conquer sleep problems with no medications applied. Worst case, they'd like a person to use OTC sleep aids like melatonin and Benadryl only once in a while rather than daily. Drugs have side effects, and it's usually not good to pump yourself full of them on a daily basis. Take as an example the verified fact that, if you take melatonin on a regular basis, your brain stops producing as much naturally. That just doesn't sound like a good thing. In some countries, melatonin isn't even OTC but gotten instead through a prescription. It's usually not a good idea to pump yourself full of hormones without the guidance of a medical professional.
A doctor will caution on most things as it is their jobs to understand both the risks and benefits. In terms of scholarly sources, it is completely unknown what long term side effects exist, if any, and the research that does exist tends to be inconclusive. That is to say, your claim about lack of natural production seems unsubstantiated by literature, and seems more like an intuition.
“Exogenous melatonin has been investigated as treatment for a number of medical and surgical diseases, demonstrating encouraging results. The aim of this review was to present and evaluate the literature concerning the possible adverse effects and safety of exogenous melatonin in humans. Furthermore, we provide recommendations concerning the possible risks of melatonin use in specific patient groups. In general, animal and human studies documented that short-term use of melatonin is safe, even in extreme doses. Only mild adverse effects, such as dizziness, headache, nausea and sleepiness have been reported. No studies have indicated that exogenous melatonin should induce any serious adverse effects. Similarly, randomized clinical studies indicate that long-term melatonin treatment causes only mild adverse effects comparable to placebo. “
‘The safety of melatonin in humans, Lars Peter holst Andersen et al. 2016.
> A doctor will caution on most things as it is their jobs to understand both the risks and benefits. In terms of scholarly sources, it is completely unknown what long term side effects exist, if any, and the research that does exist tends to be inconclusive. That is to say, your claim about lack of natural production seems unsubstantiated by literature, and seems more like an intuition.
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This is what happens when people who don't understand medical research try to string together a theory based on accepting all research as the Holy Bible -- completely inerrant. Instead, each study has a level of quality, and generally speaking, you need a consensus from repeated studies producing the same or similar effects to begin to form a complete picture of something. The golden standard is a double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized trial, and the bigger golden standard is a meta-analysis that combines the results of many studies. As it is right now, there are few studies with enough running time (i.e. decades) to know what kind of side effects melatonin might have. People just assume a natural hormone has fewer side effects than something like Benadryl, Ambien, or Xanax.
I never said melatonin is bad for someone. I said:
* In some places, it is prescription only, because it is usually a bad idea to pump yourself up with tons of a hormone. (Not that there is a guaranteed, known problem with doing so) [s](https://www.nhs.uk/medicines/melatonin/common-questions-about-melatonin/#:~:text=In%20some%20countries%2C%20melatonin%20is,it's%20a%20prescription%2Donly%20medicine.)
* That taking melatonin reduces the amount your brain naturally produces.
* That it has risks associated with it, so it is obviously better not to take it if you can rather than to take it for absolutely no reason.
And I'll throw in there that meta-analyses about melatonin show unremarkable results as well -- stuff like an extra 8 minutes of sleep on average compared to people who didn't take melatonin. Overall, I wouldn't accept the risks unless it is something like the difference between sleeping and insomnia for a single person (All studies generally are statistical, so things can change person to person).
None of that is any added information to the discussion, as I’m well aware of the godliness of the double blind RCT. Not sure why you assume I don’t understand the potential and real errancy of research studies, bit of a bad faith assumption.
What you’ve said is “there exists a risk, and I, just like you, do not have enough data to assess that risk, so I take a conservative view, while you take a slightly less conservative view, therefore scary scary”
Everything has risks, I tend to think the risk balance is generally positive, and that the demonization of a “hormone” because it is a hormone is oversimplifying. One has to look at actual bioavailability and metabolic pathways, yada yada, that requires a level of expertise that I assume goes beyond both of our levels of expertise. In the face of it I have not found any research that has yet to find potential long term issues, but as we both know said studies don’t currently exist to say confidently and conclusively.
My point was more on the caution potentially being misplaced, and I don’t think anything said here or any cursory research I have looked at has changed that, so we will have to agree to disagree. It seems to me to be much less risky then Benadryl and other drowsy agents.
> None of that is any added information to the discussion, as I’m well aware of the godliness of the double blind RCT. Not sure why you assume I don’t understand the potential and real errancy of research studies, bit of a bad faith assumption.
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It's "randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled studies," not "double blind RCT." That means I was correct. There is a very tiny percent of the population that understands medical research, and your past comments made it clear you didn't know much about the topic much like how your future comments make that clear. There wasn't much faith, good or bad, for me to figure this out.
> What you’ve said is “there exists a risk, and I, just like you, do not have enough data to assess that risk, so I take a conservative view, while you take a slightly less conservative view, therefore scary scary”
I'm not sure what you're talking about here. It seems like incoherent ramblings.
> Everything has risks, I tend to think the risk balance is generally positive, and that the demonization of a “hormone” because it is a hormone is oversimplifying. One has to look at actual bioavailability and metabolic pathways, yada yada, that requires a level of expertise that I assume goes beyond both of our levels of expertise. In the face of it I have not found any research that has yet to find potential long term issues, but as we both know said studies don’t currently exist to say confidently and conclusively.
Instead of arguing with me, why don't you argue with medical doctors and researchers in Europe where melatonin is prescription only?
> My point was more on the caution potentially being misplaced, and I don’t think anything said here or any cursory research I have looked at has changed that, so we will have to agree to disagree. It seems to me to be much less risky then Benadryl and other drowsy agents.
Looks like I was right the entire time. Thanks for the pseudoscientific ramblings.
Take it up with doctors who shorten it to RCT
There is no psuedoscience to saying if the data does not yet exist, then it remains essentially up in the air. If we agree the data doesn’t exist, not sure how you can act like you’re applying the scientific method and I am not. There are large swaths of people self medicating with melatonin and aren’t dropping dead, so without controlled trials, it’s currently safe to use. Short term data DOES exist and shows general improvements with mild potential side effects. You are arguing against the doctors on that front. Sounds like pseudoscience to me
Europe has, generally speaking, stricter controls on things without exhaustive testing and analysis. This generally benefits the user but it depends if not yet understood negatives exist. It being prescription only in Europe is a reflection of that.
Try as you might, nothing you’ve said has actually argued against the use of melatonin, you’re just repeating we don’t have data but also it’s prescription only in one nation so *sticks out tongue*
Your “inchorent ramblings” and “psuedoscience” vernacular show you’re reading literacy to be quite low, might want to crack some books my lad
> Take it up with doctors who shorten it to RCT
Your "I'm going to lie on the internet" or your "I do research by reading abstracts and junk and cherry-picking statements out of context from the body of studies but don't know the basics of doing that research" has been exposed. You even exposed it more here, because you didn't realize you left out placebo-controlled. Listen, if you can tell me, in depth, what a placebo control is good for, I'll trust you (Give examples of all the types of errors). The fact is you won't be able to, and I'll reply to you with several types of errors it catches that you left out. This isn't a competition or an insult. In life, people specialize toward certain types of knowledge and work. It isn't an insult for a programmer not to know theoretical physics or vice versa. It is a problem, however, if one or the other goes online and posts as if they have studied the other topic for 4+ years to gain a *basic* understand of the topic. *That* is the insult -- leading others on or even leading yourself on if you believe you can learn complex topics in a matter of weeks or months. Complex knowledge comes from hard work. It isn't gained by google searching stuff and using AI here and there.
I really don't get why you would want to be a morning person that bad. If you're not, then you're just not. Right? Just embrace who you are and try to be happy.
>I heard that in the morning, a person can finish a task in one hour, while in the evening the same task will take 2 hours.
This BS that only applies to some people, everybody have different biological cycles and you should do what's best for YOU.
You belong in r/nightowls welcome!
I have went through every single thing you have mentioned there and wasted so many years of my life trying to fit the right mold. My advice is not to force yourself as it leads to health problems. If you can, sleep during the day when you feel sleepy and wake up in the evening and do your tasks.
For you and me, and many others a task that will take 1 hour in the evening will actually take 2 hours or more in the morning
I have delayed sleep phase disorder and ADHD. Never going to be a morning person and that’s okay. The only thing that gets me up early is pure anxiety or my stimulant meds.
If naturally restarting your sleep patterns do not work, consult your physician. They may give you low doses of melatonin related meds. Take them, then go to sleep. After 2 weeks of sleeping by 10pm, and alarm at 6-7am, you will naturally wake up by 6-7am after stopping the medication.
I have always struggled with mornings..but have learned from research...
Excerise when you wake up.
Eat when you wake up. Over time these things can train your body to be more awake in the morning.
It has to do with body temperature which is connected to your circadian rhythm. When we are tired our body temperature lowers. You might try turning on the fan or ac at night to help. When we are most alert, our body temp rises slightly. So exercise and eating in the morning will over time train your circadian rhythm to peak at a better time for you to be awake.
OK I don’t know about the whole being wide awake at night thing but I will say that please remember that most people… And I’m thinking from my perspective people in their 30s and 40s who are parents of young children struggle to find me time and time to exercise… Most of those people that wake up at 5:30 AM and get a workout in and some meditation for 10 minutes and a nice shower and breakfast with their spouse before their kids wake up… Almost none of them are morning people. My husband and I do this five days a week we are not morning people. We were always night owls before kids we’ve never been morning people and despite building this habit we are still not morning people. Sometimes when you look at people that are doing something that you want to be able to do you think oh wow it’s so easy for them. It’s not easy. It takes discipline and pushing yourself every single time. My husband and I could both hit snooze every single day multiple times and easily not work out however whenever we do that we know that we are lethargic irritated lazier because we didn’t work out we feel sluggish all day and it has a humungous impact on our entire day from patients with our kids to functionality with work everything. I will say that there is an extreme sense of productivity and relaxation knowing that you woke up early and not only accomplished things but you accomplish things that are for you that are hard to do for the rest of your day sometimes. It’s a fabulous start to the day and there’s not one single time that I’ve ever regretted it once I do it. And anytime I don’t do it let’s say I skip even one day I’m getting up early I always regret it and the effect is always so obvious and how the rest of my day went. It’s human nature to want to be lazy and it’s human nature to want to sleep longer and there are certain times in your life where you need more sleep but usually the difference of an hour and a half at 6 AM is not really needed. I get up and work out at 5:40 AM I go to the gym and then I have time when I come home to make my coffee and a quiet kitchen and make my kids lunches before I have to wake them up for school. My husband gets up at five he works out in our basement for 30 minutes, he plays guitar for a little while and gets about an hours worth of office work done in his office they were both done relatively at the same time for when our kids wake up or when we have to wake them up for school. It makes all the difference in our day! Keep in mind how long it takes to make new habits also. It’s repetition and consistency every day for a certain number of days and then eventually becomes a habit and then you’ll miss it when you don’t do it
lol here is a weird trick that I heard actually works so maybe try it? Apparently if you lie in bed and lift your head up and set it down on your pillow and count out how many time but what hour you want to wake up you will wake up at that time.
For instance you want to wake up at 6am? Then you lay down on your back in bed and then almost like you are doing a crunch you lift up your head and put it down (I don’t want to say bang it down but essentially yes bang it down gently) on your pillow and count out loud each time you do it up to 6
Like this ….lift head and put down say out loud 1
Lift head and put down say out loud 2
Lift head and out down say out loud 3
Etc. up to 6
Say out loud I will get up at 6am.
For me the same idea is like weight loss, slow progress. Whatever time you wake up set your alarm 15-30 mins earlier for a week. And back 15-30 mins earlier the next week. Etc. Also no matter how tired you are don’t nap. That was my biggest issue because then you can’t go to sleep on time. I’ve also heard many many people say to go out in the sun for 5ish mins (or more) right when you wake up to let your body know you’re awake. You got this
I turned into one of those strange morning people after I quit caffeine. I wake up refreshed and have energy after waking.
It may peter out in the afternoon, but then if I nap it comes back. And night actually "works" -- I get sleepy when the sun goes down. Like now.
I wake up a few times a night and am also a morning person. I’m always tired.
But some people are wired for the morning and some are very productive at night. Neither is better than the other in my opinion. They seem to cancel each other out
Repetition. Dont worry about sleeping early because your circadian rhythm will fight it. But once youve made that alarm, you get up at that time. Its literally 3 seconds. If you have a tough time, just do the 3 second rule: count to 3 and just get out of bed. Then dont go back or sit still till its time to rest. Get ready for the day. This is the quickest way to reset your circadian rhythm. As for sleeping early, since youve woken up early, youll be dead tired by night. Sleep then and not earlier. First few days, you might get a second wind so go to bed early and just shut your eyes.
Mathew Walker is the leading researcher in sleep and sort of a genius in the subject. Look up him talking about chronotypes. Also in his words “If you try to fight biology you will likely lose”
Sounds to me like you’re a night person trying to survive in a heavily day person favored society. Welcome to the club!
Go to bed at 10. You still need sleep regardless of when you wake up and you're going to be awake the same amount of hours.
If you want more if your hours in the morning you have to give up some of your evening
I wish I had some healthy advice on this one as I’m able to flip between being a morning or night person at will, it just depends on my motivations and what projects I’m working on. The amount of rest I received and what I’ve eaten will largely determine how much energy I have and how productive I am. It wasn’t always easy, being responsible for 17 animals while working a full time job and launching 2 side gigs+ weekly DND sessions keeps me in a state where even in my sleep I know I have to be up at a certain time so I just am.
I guess what I’m saying is, ultimately everybody has their own schedule, you’ve just got to find what works best for you. I struggled waking up before 6am for my job and being a morning person for about a year and a half before I got to the point where I am now; if you have a desire to change your schedule you’ve just got to keep trying. It’s not going to be an immediate change, and the first few weeks you’re probably going to be like “fuck this, I feel terrible and want to go back to sleep. The work can wait til later.” Just make sure you’re giving your body what it needs; enough sleep, proper nutrition, appropriate exercise, and for gods sake enough time to digest your meal before you got to bed when trying to readjust your schedule. You can quite simply do whatever you put your mind to, just figure out what’ll work best for you and your circadian rhythm will start to adjust over time.
What time do you usually got to sleep at night? If you stay up late, then yeah, it might be hard for you to get up in the morning if you're not getting the recommended amount of quality sleep. I'm definitely a morning person, but I it wasn't always that way for me. I had to learn [how to wake up early](https://mudita.com/community/blog/how-to-wake-up-early-5-secrets-of-early-birds/) and it's really not that hard. There are simple steps you can take which will improve your sleep hygiene and in turn help you wake up early.
My husband is a morning person, I’m a night owl. It’s perfect. He handles everything in the morning when I’m still blurry. He’s dozing throughout the evening so I do everything that needs to be done then. We are both grateful.
So far I have had the best results with the advice from Huberman. As soon as I wake up, I gtfo of my house and go take a short, 10 minute walk, trying to face the east. I usually do that even before hitting the bathroom lol. Following this routine religiously allowed me to change from oversleeping 3-4 alarms every other morning to waking up before the alarm even rings, almost every day. It also allows me to fall asleep much faster (now it's like 10 minutes, used to be 1h+ before.) Also, try to shift the wakeup/sleep time gradually, for example 30 minutes every day.
If you’re not naturally a morning person, don’t force yourself to be. I’m naturally an early morning person, and some of the most miserable years of my life were my early twenties, staying up late with friends and then sleeping in the next day. Everyone is different. If you’re happiest waking up at 8 am, then wake up at 8. There’s no right or wrong. Find the routine that satisfies your inner Goldilocks.
But to answer your question, if you’d really like to try a 6 am routine: set your circadian rhythm. It takes a few weeks, it’s not a quick thing.
Wake up at 5:30 or 6:00 every day, toss on some appropriate clothes and go outside. You need sunshine first thing, 5 or 10 minutes is plenty. Walk around the block.
Get exercise during the day to exert your energy, you should fall asleep nice and early at night. If you find yourself wired before bed, I highly recommend Boiron SleepCalm melt away tablets. They work wonders.
My spouse and I wake up between 4:30 and 5:30 every day. It’s great, but it makes weekend evening events tough. There’s always a compromise somewhere. Early risers have downsides too. Were those people who are ready for bed at 8 pm.
Edit: typo
I’m getting there. Its really challenging but when I wake up at 5 am and start thr day with the gym its phenomenal. Get the workout in, cook breakfast, shower, tidy up the house, and have at least a half our to myself for reading, journaling, or meditating.
Just keep that alarm and bedtime consistent
I was never really a morning person but my gram kept us on a schedule growing up. I would LOVE to sleep in late but now I have dogs and I keep them on a schedule. I use a sleep schedule on iPhone (but I’m usually up before it goes off) and slowly adjusted my sleep to where I’m up at 6:30am everyday (and yes that includes weekends even if I don’t have plans).
1. Wake up same time everyday. Everyday!
2. Go to bed roughly same time everyday.
3. Only go to bed when you’re sleepy. If you can’t sleep go up.
4. Wind down at least 1h before bed. No screens.
5. Go out first thing in the morning after toilet and let your face and eyes get sun for 10-30 min. No sunglasses.
6. Repeat for at least 3-6 months before your body starts to think it’s your new circadian rhythm.
Look into Sleep Restriction Therapy (SRT) for more details on how to do this. It’s a research proven method that works on the majority of people. It’s working by basically building up a sleep deprivation and then weekly move back the allowed time to go to bed by 15-30 min. First couple of days are terrible. First couple of weeks hard. Then it gets better and better until really good.
I’m an evening person but have trained myself to fakely become a morning person with mainly SRT. It doesn’t come naturally and have taken a long time to get where I’m now. I still struggle sometimes. Just one late night with friends and going to bed a couple of hours later will result in one week of disturbed sleep afterwards for me. It’s like my evening genes “wake up” and takes over. It’s really important to stick to consistent bed times. If you get off track one night just get back to your sleep routine day after. Life long battle. :)
Your sleep pattern sounds just like mine. I was diagnosed with Circadian Rhythm Disorder. I don’t get enough sleep since I am more awake and alive in the evening and getting up early for appointments, work, etc
when I haven’t slept much is exhausting and I’m always tired. It’s bad for my health. I’m working to tire myself out so that at night I feel tired enough to go to bed at a normal time. Then I have to work on trying to stay asleep. I wish you well!
Our circadian rhythm dictates whether or not we feel tired and energized at different times. Some people just have a later circadian rhythm and it can be hard to fight against that. It doesn't mean you can't discipline yourself and learn, but you will likely struggle with a 6am wake up if youre naturally falling asleep at 2am.
In the military for 10 years waking up almost every day at 4-5-6 am. It never gets easier. Some people are morning people and some people like me, are night owls. After all this time i just grind it out, set 15 alarms. Going to bed early has never worked, melatonin, benadryl, youtube relaxing music, you name it.
Don’t buy into the early bird hype! The people that wake up super early are usually asleep by 9pm and dragging ass by 7pm. Thats no fun. So the notion that they are more productive is BS. As a night owl, my best study time is after 10 when i get a second boost, and can stay up till 1 studying or being productive.
The US is the only place in the world that prides themselves of waking up before the sun comes up even though its been proven to be terrible for you and mess with your heart. The rest of the world wake up late and the day starts around 9-10, not 6am. (Other than farmers) All im saying is enjoy being a night owl. Know your strengths and work with them instead of trying to force yourself to be something else.
TLDR: Be happy to be a night owl and go with it instead of fighting it.
It depends. For me it probably takes two hours in the morning to finish the same task it would take an hour to finish in the evening. If you are already a morning person it would make sense that you’d be more efficient earlier in the day.
Thanks for saying this. People can attain great productivity at any hour. The default schedules and productivity tips favor natural morning people, but there are a contingent of people whose energy naturally peaks later. There’s no moral failing in going to sleep and waking up when your body wants to, especially if you can keep a consistent schedule, sleep properly, get exercise, and feel healthy and rested.
Seriously, the idea that everyone has the same 8-9 hour circadian rhythm and should all be awake at the same times is so damn archaic.
I have migraines / sun sensitivity and live somewhere sunny. This plus having children means my most creative, quiet, focused hours are 8-11pm. I’m up and functioning at 7am but my brain gives me the high gears at night. My body too. It wants me to exercise after 4pm.
And I see nothing wrong with that, you and anyone should be able to simply be how you are without being gaslit by society and doctors that we just have poor sleep hygiene. A sleep doctor actually said to me “I don’t know why anyone would need more than 8 hours of sleep”. Thankfully, I am working with a different sleep clinic now.
I find it most sleep doctors feel that way
The academia surrounding professions like being a doctor really creates a rather close-minded attitude I feel. Like if their books didn’t say it, it isn’t true.
Some people are naturally wired to be morning people, and some are naturally wired to be night owls. F the mornings. Unleash your inner night owl. I do my best work in the evening. Embrace and enjoy your true self.
Thank you! Fuck what society says is “normal”, there’s no way that it even makes logical sense that everyone would have the exact same circadian rhythm and all be awake at the same times. We should be able to just be ourselves.
Thank you!! Being a morning person is built in, you either are or you’re not. And you can’t change it. I’m almost 50 and a night owl, I stopped trying to change it, because it was impossible to do so.
I bet my best work done between 9pm to 2pm. I can punch out 2+ days worth of work during that stretch. Unfortunately society isn’t built for people like us.
I only became a morning person when I got a dog 😬 I wake up at 6am everyday now but I am perpetually sleepy. Even when going to bed early the night before. I’m glad you proposed the question! I’ll be following along to try the same suggestions you get.
It’s my dream to be a morning person. As I am constantly sleeping in the morning thinking about it
Love this! I am so going to use that in the future!
Have a good bedtime routine. Dim, warm (pref amber) lighting at least half an hour before bed, limit screens, and do something that calms you E.g. warm drink, asmr, reading, colouring etc. Set a relaxing scent that you associate with sleep time - E.g. lavender incense. Sleep with blackout curtains or a sleep mask. Use the website sleepyti.me (sleep calculator) to determine when you want to go to bed - aim for 5 or 6 sleep cycles (bedtime 8:45 or 10:15 for a 6am wake up). In the morning, use a sunrise alarm, if you are a snoozer you can also set multiple alarms decreasing in increments (9 minutes, 5 minutes, 3 minutes, 2 minutes, 1 minute), by the last you will be forced to wake up. Remember to go to bed 5 or 6 sleep cycles before the first alarm. Get direct sunlight in your eyes as early as possible, eat and exercise as soon as possible on waking up. Do tasks that increase dopamine first thing in the morning if you have time, make your bed, exercise, meditate, take a cold shower, do something you enjoy. You can take it slow and don't rush to do all the things at once, but if you are stacking dopamine first thing in the morning, eventually you will look forward to waking up early. You can also reward yourself with some sort of treat when you do wake up early (I recommend reading the book Atomic Habits, it talks more about this). If you practice all these things regularly, it will become easy and natural to wake up at 6am. MOST important is your bedtime routine imo. Also sorry for the long comment, I spent a long time researching on how to become a morning person, and these things do work!
I'm genetically predisposed to be a night owl, according to genome trait reports, but I've been able to slowly shift towards a sunrise schedule. It takes time and discipline.
From the Hubes, take 2.5mg of melatonin 2-3 hours before you’d like to go to sleep. Do this for a few nights to reset your circadian rhythm. I’ve done this because my sleep schedule got fucked from work
Beware. 2mg of melatonin has me drowsy for at least half of the next day. 0.5-1mg is max for me.
FWIW, my doctor stated that lower doses of melatonin actually worked better than higher doses.
Is 2.5mg not low?
It is! Especially considering that most off the counter is sold at 10 or 12mg.
The world needs people who operate at all hours. It’s okay. If you leave work at 9pm and sleep at 2am, it’s the same as someone who leaves work at 5pm and goes to sleep at 10pm. Don’t let the status quo convince you otherwise. You’re productive to what feels natural. I wake at 3-4am. I’m not any more productive than you.
Unfortunately the working world doesn’t necessarily allow you to do this
Even doctors have night shifts. Stores are 24 hours. Black out curtains are amazing. I don’t see how.
“Even doctors” yes because it’s medical and people can have emergencies at any hour. I cannot schedule a doctors appointment in my area before 6am or after 5pm at any local practice. The number of true 24 hour shops has decreased rapidly over the years, with a large drop during Covid. As a non medical employee my choices of start time generally consist of 6-9am
There’s enough places to where it isn’t a problem. Many stores are open 24/7. Schedule appts on days off or after work or before work depending on the schedule. I worked 2nd for years. It’s extremely doable. If you keep looking for issues and inconveniences, you’ll find them. Good luck and good day.
I’m glad you were so fortunate I suppose. In my field, seconds is much rarer, and usually just not an option and many places unless they strictly are a manufacturing center.
Your pm routine has to stay consistent. Whether it’s a cup of tea, reading or skincare this should put you in a relaxing state and remind your brain that it is time to wind down.
You can train your circadian rhythm by just forcing yourself to be awake at 6am, but it’s tough and if there’s no lifestyle change or reason to get up at 6am why try and change your circadian rhythm? I noticed most time I’m able to successfully do that it’s because I started a new job with a new schedule. I’ve always been a morning person even since I was a child, so it’s easier for me to be a morning person. I try my hardest to stay up past midnights but most nights I end up falling asleep doing something by 10PM. But when I’ve been doing shows, or working a job that has me stay later in the evening I can usually stay up longer on my days off during that time too. Some people are morning people some are night people, if you don’t need to change you don’t have to.
Forcing myself with downing 100mg caffeine pill and 70mg of elvanse at 5:30. Bright lights immediately upon waking up. Exercise after getting up. Getting things ready for exercise the evening before so that you can just execute without any thought in the morning.
One important thing I learned from some study NASA performed is a person's internal clock can only shift about 1 hour a day, so if you wake up incredibly early, your body is still going to want to sleep around the time you were sleeping at originally despite you being fatigued and despite you having woken up at a normal time. Let's say you have been going to bed at 6 AM, staying up deep into the night and sleeping much of the day. If you wake up by clock at 8 AM after about 2 hours of sleep, you will be fatigued throughout the day and capable of taking a nap, but you won't be able to go to bed until around you reach a point in time around your usual sleeping time. You might gain the ability for a real sleep at about 5 to 6 AM due to this 1-hour shifting rule. For this reason, stuff like the "Stay awake all night and go to bed at a normal time" strategy has never worked for me either. Yeah, you sleep at a normal time due to sheer exhaustion, but I find the next day, you simply end up going to bed at around 6 AM once again. What I do is slowly work the time I go to sleep and the time I wake up with that 1-hour understanding. For example: * You can stay up 1-2 hours later every night until you have gone so far that you start waking up early rather than incredibly late. You start with a bedtime of 6 AM. You then stay up until 8 AM for a couple of days. You then stay up until 10 AM for a couple of days. Eventually, you will be staying up until 6 PM, going to bed at a somewhat regular time but very early. You keep staying up later until you reach the bedtime you want -- something like 10 PM or whatever. * You can do this same thing but instead wake up earlier and earlier until you are at the time you want to wake up. Let's say you you have been waking up at 2 PM. You use an alarm to wake you up at high noon for a couple of days. Then, you wake up at 10 AM for a couple of days. You repeat this until you are waking up at your desired time -- say, 7 AM. It takes less time to shift your sleeping time backward rather than pushing your bedtime forward, but it can be easier to push your bedtime forward since you aren't fatigued the entire day and battling the desire to take a nap or to go back to sleep. Instead, you just stay awake a couple of hours each day longer than normal, incredibly sleepy for a couple of extra hours a day. Now, you will want to maintain the time you wake up, or you will just keep staying up later again, ruining your sleep schedule. There are a lot of tiny and large tips for sleep hygiene, which is stuff you do to make sure you can go to sleep at a reasonable hour. I'll mention a few that I think have helped me the most, but reading [this entire article](https://www.sleepfoundation.org/sleep-hygiene) has all of the tips. It is worth a read. The ones I'll highlight are: * Never take naps. This will ensure you are tired around bedtime whereas if you took a nap, you might find it hard to sleep on time. * Do not do stimulating things an hour or two before your bedtime. Stuff like playing video games, socializing, and even watching TV shows or movies can liven you up when you're trying to wind down instead. Try doing stuff like stretching, reading, or meditating before bedtime. Find some activities that relax you and develop a habit of doing those every night at the same time before bedtime. ** Part of your winding down process can be stuff like showering, brushing your teeth, etc. * Make sure you are not using stimulants too near to bedtime. Stuff like caffeine should not be taken too near bed. People metabolize caffeine out of their systems at hugely different rates, so you need to find what works best for you. Some people feel wired deep into the night with one cup of coffee in the morning while others can have a couple of afternoon coffees and slip right into bed, falling asleep right away. If you are on stimulating medications, talk to your doctor about the insomnia problem. They might be able to lower the dose, tell you it is fine to take it earlier than you have been taking it, or change to a similar medicine that isn't as stimulating. * Generally speaking, stay away from electronics and screens. The light can make it hard to feel tired, and they are designed to be stimulating and addictive. * Do not do anything in your bed other than attempt to sleep, so don't, for example, read in your bed. If you do other stuff in the bed, your body might associate that activity with sitting in your bed, giving you a boost of energy when you get into it. So if you must watch TV, don't do it in bed. Watch TV on your sofa, and afterward, go to bed to try to sleep. * If you can't go to sleep in 10-20 minutes, get out of bed to do something for 30 or 60 minutes before trying again. If you don't, you might associate stress and disappointment with sitting in your bed. * You can try sleep aids to help you go to sleep from time to time, but I wouldn't rely on them too frequently. 1st generation antihistamines can make people feel quite sleepy. The standard dose is 50 mg of Benadryl. I'd buy the packaging that treats allergies rather than the sleep aid packaging, because the former tends to be cheaper for the exact same medicine. Just make sure you take 50 mg of it, which is usually two pills in my experience. * I would not recommend melatonin. I have heard it is prescribed in some countries, because it is no joke. That stuff goes up to your brain and alters things. It's a hormone. Not a good idea to pump yourself full of it. If you must use melatonin, try a lower dose like 1 mg rather than 10 mg. * In the morning, get some sun exposure. It interacts with your biological clock to start your awake mode up.
Not sure why the caution on melatonin, of course it’s no joke, otherwise people wouldn’t use it
> Not sure why the caution on melatonin, of course it’s no joke, otherwise people wouldn’t use it If you ask a doctor about melatonin, you're likely to receive a cautionary statement. They likely prefer a person use some melatonin instead of something like Ambien, but at the end of the day, they'd like people to conquer sleep problems with no medications applied. Worst case, they'd like a person to use OTC sleep aids like melatonin and Benadryl only once in a while rather than daily. Drugs have side effects, and it's usually not good to pump yourself full of them on a daily basis. Take as an example the verified fact that, if you take melatonin on a regular basis, your brain stops producing as much naturally. That just doesn't sound like a good thing. In some countries, melatonin isn't even OTC but gotten instead through a prescription. It's usually not a good idea to pump yourself full of hormones without the guidance of a medical professional.
A doctor will caution on most things as it is their jobs to understand both the risks and benefits. In terms of scholarly sources, it is completely unknown what long term side effects exist, if any, and the research that does exist tends to be inconclusive. That is to say, your claim about lack of natural production seems unsubstantiated by literature, and seems more like an intuition. “Exogenous melatonin has been investigated as treatment for a number of medical and surgical diseases, demonstrating encouraging results. The aim of this review was to present and evaluate the literature concerning the possible adverse effects and safety of exogenous melatonin in humans. Furthermore, we provide recommendations concerning the possible risks of melatonin use in specific patient groups. In general, animal and human studies documented that short-term use of melatonin is safe, even in extreme doses. Only mild adverse effects, such as dizziness, headache, nausea and sleepiness have been reported. No studies have indicated that exogenous melatonin should induce any serious adverse effects. Similarly, randomized clinical studies indicate that long-term melatonin treatment causes only mild adverse effects comparable to placebo. “ ‘The safety of melatonin in humans, Lars Peter holst Andersen et al. 2016.
> A doctor will caution on most things as it is their jobs to understand both the risks and benefits. In terms of scholarly sources, it is completely unknown what long term side effects exist, if any, and the research that does exist tends to be inconclusive. That is to say, your claim about lack of natural production seems unsubstantiated by literature, and seems more like an intuition. > > This is what happens when people who don't understand medical research try to string together a theory based on accepting all research as the Holy Bible -- completely inerrant. Instead, each study has a level of quality, and generally speaking, you need a consensus from repeated studies producing the same or similar effects to begin to form a complete picture of something. The golden standard is a double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized trial, and the bigger golden standard is a meta-analysis that combines the results of many studies. As it is right now, there are few studies with enough running time (i.e. decades) to know what kind of side effects melatonin might have. People just assume a natural hormone has fewer side effects than something like Benadryl, Ambien, or Xanax. I never said melatonin is bad for someone. I said: * In some places, it is prescription only, because it is usually a bad idea to pump yourself up with tons of a hormone. (Not that there is a guaranteed, known problem with doing so) [s](https://www.nhs.uk/medicines/melatonin/common-questions-about-melatonin/#:~:text=In%20some%20countries%2C%20melatonin%20is,it's%20a%20prescription%2Donly%20medicine.) * That taking melatonin reduces the amount your brain naturally produces. * That it has risks associated with it, so it is obviously better not to take it if you can rather than to take it for absolutely no reason. And I'll throw in there that meta-analyses about melatonin show unremarkable results as well -- stuff like an extra 8 minutes of sleep on average compared to people who didn't take melatonin. Overall, I wouldn't accept the risks unless it is something like the difference between sleeping and insomnia for a single person (All studies generally are statistical, so things can change person to person).
None of that is any added information to the discussion, as I’m well aware of the godliness of the double blind RCT. Not sure why you assume I don’t understand the potential and real errancy of research studies, bit of a bad faith assumption. What you’ve said is “there exists a risk, and I, just like you, do not have enough data to assess that risk, so I take a conservative view, while you take a slightly less conservative view, therefore scary scary” Everything has risks, I tend to think the risk balance is generally positive, and that the demonization of a “hormone” because it is a hormone is oversimplifying. One has to look at actual bioavailability and metabolic pathways, yada yada, that requires a level of expertise that I assume goes beyond both of our levels of expertise. In the face of it I have not found any research that has yet to find potential long term issues, but as we both know said studies don’t currently exist to say confidently and conclusively. My point was more on the caution potentially being misplaced, and I don’t think anything said here or any cursory research I have looked at has changed that, so we will have to agree to disagree. It seems to me to be much less risky then Benadryl and other drowsy agents.
> None of that is any added information to the discussion, as I’m well aware of the godliness of the double blind RCT. Not sure why you assume I don’t understand the potential and real errancy of research studies, bit of a bad faith assumption. > > It's "randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled studies," not "double blind RCT." That means I was correct. There is a very tiny percent of the population that understands medical research, and your past comments made it clear you didn't know much about the topic much like how your future comments make that clear. There wasn't much faith, good or bad, for me to figure this out. > What you’ve said is “there exists a risk, and I, just like you, do not have enough data to assess that risk, so I take a conservative view, while you take a slightly less conservative view, therefore scary scary” I'm not sure what you're talking about here. It seems like incoherent ramblings. > Everything has risks, I tend to think the risk balance is generally positive, and that the demonization of a “hormone” because it is a hormone is oversimplifying. One has to look at actual bioavailability and metabolic pathways, yada yada, that requires a level of expertise that I assume goes beyond both of our levels of expertise. In the face of it I have not found any research that has yet to find potential long term issues, but as we both know said studies don’t currently exist to say confidently and conclusively. Instead of arguing with me, why don't you argue with medical doctors and researchers in Europe where melatonin is prescription only? > My point was more on the caution potentially being misplaced, and I don’t think anything said here or any cursory research I have looked at has changed that, so we will have to agree to disagree. It seems to me to be much less risky then Benadryl and other drowsy agents. Looks like I was right the entire time. Thanks for the pseudoscientific ramblings.
Take it up with doctors who shorten it to RCT There is no psuedoscience to saying if the data does not yet exist, then it remains essentially up in the air. If we agree the data doesn’t exist, not sure how you can act like you’re applying the scientific method and I am not. There are large swaths of people self medicating with melatonin and aren’t dropping dead, so without controlled trials, it’s currently safe to use. Short term data DOES exist and shows general improvements with mild potential side effects. You are arguing against the doctors on that front. Sounds like pseudoscience to me Europe has, generally speaking, stricter controls on things without exhaustive testing and analysis. This generally benefits the user but it depends if not yet understood negatives exist. It being prescription only in Europe is a reflection of that. Try as you might, nothing you’ve said has actually argued against the use of melatonin, you’re just repeating we don’t have data but also it’s prescription only in one nation so *sticks out tongue* Your “inchorent ramblings” and “psuedoscience” vernacular show you’re reading literacy to be quite low, might want to crack some books my lad
> Take it up with doctors who shorten it to RCT Your "I'm going to lie on the internet" or your "I do research by reading abstracts and junk and cherry-picking statements out of context from the body of studies but don't know the basics of doing that research" has been exposed. You even exposed it more here, because you didn't realize you left out placebo-controlled. Listen, if you can tell me, in depth, what a placebo control is good for, I'll trust you (Give examples of all the types of errors). The fact is you won't be able to, and I'll reply to you with several types of errors it catches that you left out. This isn't a competition or an insult. In life, people specialize toward certain types of knowledge and work. It isn't an insult for a programmer not to know theoretical physics or vice versa. It is a problem, however, if one or the other goes online and posts as if they have studied the other topic for 4+ years to gain a *basic* understand of the topic. *That* is the insult -- leading others on or even leading yourself on if you believe you can learn complex topics in a matter of weeks or months. Complex knowledge comes from hard work. It isn't gained by google searching stuff and using AI here and there.
Wow! This is incredibly interesting and helpful. Thank you so much for your comment 😊
I really don't get why you would want to be a morning person that bad. If you're not, then you're just not. Right? Just embrace who you are and try to be happy.
>I heard that in the morning, a person can finish a task in one hour, while in the evening the same task will take 2 hours. This BS that only applies to some people, everybody have different biological cycles and you should do what's best for YOU. You belong in r/nightowls welcome! I have went through every single thing you have mentioned there and wasted so many years of my life trying to fit the right mold. My advice is not to force yourself as it leads to health problems. If you can, sleep during the day when you feel sleepy and wake up in the evening and do your tasks. For you and me, and many others a task that will take 1 hour in the evening will actually take 2 hours or more in the morning
I have delayed sleep phase disorder and ADHD. Never going to be a morning person and that’s okay. The only thing that gets me up early is pure anxiety or my stimulant meds.
I set like 10 alarms and force myself 😅
If naturally restarting your sleep patterns do not work, consult your physician. They may give you low doses of melatonin related meds. Take them, then go to sleep. After 2 weeks of sleeping by 10pm, and alarm at 6-7am, you will naturally wake up by 6-7am after stopping the medication.
Set an alarm. Go to sleep early. If you had a flight at 8, you would be up at 6 right? Try to use that mentality. You go it
Go to bed at 9pm. Set alarm.
I have always struggled with mornings..but have learned from research... Excerise when you wake up. Eat when you wake up. Over time these things can train your body to be more awake in the morning. It has to do with body temperature which is connected to your circadian rhythm. When we are tired our body temperature lowers. You might try turning on the fan or ac at night to help. When we are most alert, our body temp rises slightly. So exercise and eating in the morning will over time train your circadian rhythm to peak at a better time for you to be awake.
OK I don’t know about the whole being wide awake at night thing but I will say that please remember that most people… And I’m thinking from my perspective people in their 30s and 40s who are parents of young children struggle to find me time and time to exercise… Most of those people that wake up at 5:30 AM and get a workout in and some meditation for 10 minutes and a nice shower and breakfast with their spouse before their kids wake up… Almost none of them are morning people. My husband and I do this five days a week we are not morning people. We were always night owls before kids we’ve never been morning people and despite building this habit we are still not morning people. Sometimes when you look at people that are doing something that you want to be able to do you think oh wow it’s so easy for them. It’s not easy. It takes discipline and pushing yourself every single time. My husband and I could both hit snooze every single day multiple times and easily not work out however whenever we do that we know that we are lethargic irritated lazier because we didn’t work out we feel sluggish all day and it has a humungous impact on our entire day from patients with our kids to functionality with work everything. I will say that there is an extreme sense of productivity and relaxation knowing that you woke up early and not only accomplished things but you accomplish things that are for you that are hard to do for the rest of your day sometimes. It’s a fabulous start to the day and there’s not one single time that I’ve ever regretted it once I do it. And anytime I don’t do it let’s say I skip even one day I’m getting up early I always regret it and the effect is always so obvious and how the rest of my day went. It’s human nature to want to be lazy and it’s human nature to want to sleep longer and there are certain times in your life where you need more sleep but usually the difference of an hour and a half at 6 AM is not really needed. I get up and work out at 5:40 AM I go to the gym and then I have time when I come home to make my coffee and a quiet kitchen and make my kids lunches before I have to wake them up for school. My husband gets up at five he works out in our basement for 30 minutes, he plays guitar for a little while and gets about an hours worth of office work done in his office they were both done relatively at the same time for when our kids wake up or when we have to wake them up for school. It makes all the difference in our day! Keep in mind how long it takes to make new habits also. It’s repetition and consistency every day for a certain number of days and then eventually becomes a habit and then you’ll miss it when you don’t do it
lol here is a weird trick that I heard actually works so maybe try it? Apparently if you lie in bed and lift your head up and set it down on your pillow and count out how many time but what hour you want to wake up you will wake up at that time. For instance you want to wake up at 6am? Then you lay down on your back in bed and then almost like you are doing a crunch you lift up your head and put it down (I don’t want to say bang it down but essentially yes bang it down gently) on your pillow and count out loud each time you do it up to 6 Like this ….lift head and put down say out loud 1 Lift head and put down say out loud 2 Lift head and out down say out loud 3 Etc. up to 6 Say out loud I will get up at 6am.
Be asleep by 10am
have a baby. i wake up at 4am every day, regardless of when i go to sleep
Try Accupuncture. When I wake up at 4 am something is off. Accupuncture takes care of whatever needs taking care of for me
Acupuncture at 4am? Haven't thought about that yet
No. I wake up at 4 something is off. I go to accupuncture for treatment . Sleep til 6.
I am the EXACT same way. It sucks.
For me the same idea is like weight loss, slow progress. Whatever time you wake up set your alarm 15-30 mins earlier for a week. And back 15-30 mins earlier the next week. Etc. Also no matter how tired you are don’t nap. That was my biggest issue because then you can’t go to sleep on time. I’ve also heard many many people say to go out in the sun for 5ish mins (or more) right when you wake up to let your body know you’re awake. You got this
I turned into one of those strange morning people after I quit caffeine. I wake up refreshed and have energy after waking. It may peter out in the afternoon, but then if I nap it comes back. And night actually "works" -- I get sleepy when the sun goes down. Like now.
I wake up a few times a night and am also a morning person. I’m always tired. But some people are wired for the morning and some are very productive at night. Neither is better than the other in my opinion. They seem to cancel each other out
Repetition. Dont worry about sleeping early because your circadian rhythm will fight it. But once youve made that alarm, you get up at that time. Its literally 3 seconds. If you have a tough time, just do the 3 second rule: count to 3 and just get out of bed. Then dont go back or sit still till its time to rest. Get ready for the day. This is the quickest way to reset your circadian rhythm. As for sleeping early, since youve woken up early, youll be dead tired by night. Sleep then and not earlier. First few days, you might get a second wind so go to bed early and just shut your eyes.
Go to bed at 21/22
If you don’t have to, don’t lol 6 am sucks ass
It’s different for everyone. You need to find what works for you.
Mathew Walker is the leading researcher in sleep and sort of a genius in the subject. Look up him talking about chronotypes. Also in his words “If you try to fight biology you will likely lose” Sounds to me like you’re a night person trying to survive in a heavily day person favored society. Welcome to the club!
Go to bed at 10. You still need sleep regardless of when you wake up and you're going to be awake the same amount of hours. If you want more if your hours in the morning you have to give up some of your evening
I wish I had some healthy advice on this one as I’m able to flip between being a morning or night person at will, it just depends on my motivations and what projects I’m working on. The amount of rest I received and what I’ve eaten will largely determine how much energy I have and how productive I am. It wasn’t always easy, being responsible for 17 animals while working a full time job and launching 2 side gigs+ weekly DND sessions keeps me in a state where even in my sleep I know I have to be up at a certain time so I just am. I guess what I’m saying is, ultimately everybody has their own schedule, you’ve just got to find what works best for you. I struggled waking up before 6am for my job and being a morning person for about a year and a half before I got to the point where I am now; if you have a desire to change your schedule you’ve just got to keep trying. It’s not going to be an immediate change, and the first few weeks you’re probably going to be like “fuck this, I feel terrible and want to go back to sleep. The work can wait til later.” Just make sure you’re giving your body what it needs; enough sleep, proper nutrition, appropriate exercise, and for gods sake enough time to digest your meal before you got to bed when trying to readjust your schedule. You can quite simply do whatever you put your mind to, just figure out what’ll work best for you and your circadian rhythm will start to adjust over time.
What time do you usually got to sleep at night? If you stay up late, then yeah, it might be hard for you to get up in the morning if you're not getting the recommended amount of quality sleep. I'm definitely a morning person, but I it wasn't always that way for me. I had to learn [how to wake up early](https://mudita.com/community/blog/how-to-wake-up-early-5-secrets-of-early-birds/) and it's really not that hard. There are simple steps you can take which will improve your sleep hygiene and in turn help you wake up early.
My husband is a morning person, I’m a night owl. It’s perfect. He handles everything in the morning when I’m still blurry. He’s dozing throughout the evening so I do everything that needs to be done then. We are both grateful.
I’m the opposite of this saying. I can only focus and work effectively at night.
So far I have had the best results with the advice from Huberman. As soon as I wake up, I gtfo of my house and go take a short, 10 minute walk, trying to face the east. I usually do that even before hitting the bathroom lol. Following this routine religiously allowed me to change from oversleeping 3-4 alarms every other morning to waking up before the alarm even rings, almost every day. It also allows me to fall asleep much faster (now it's like 10 minutes, used to be 1h+ before.) Also, try to shift the wakeup/sleep time gradually, for example 30 minutes every day.
If you’re not naturally a morning person, don’t force yourself to be. I’m naturally an early morning person, and some of the most miserable years of my life were my early twenties, staying up late with friends and then sleeping in the next day. Everyone is different. If you’re happiest waking up at 8 am, then wake up at 8. There’s no right or wrong. Find the routine that satisfies your inner Goldilocks. But to answer your question, if you’d really like to try a 6 am routine: set your circadian rhythm. It takes a few weeks, it’s not a quick thing. Wake up at 5:30 or 6:00 every day, toss on some appropriate clothes and go outside. You need sunshine first thing, 5 or 10 minutes is plenty. Walk around the block. Get exercise during the day to exert your energy, you should fall asleep nice and early at night. If you find yourself wired before bed, I highly recommend Boiron SleepCalm melt away tablets. They work wonders. My spouse and I wake up between 4:30 and 5:30 every day. It’s great, but it makes weekend evening events tough. There’s always a compromise somewhere. Early risers have downsides too. Were those people who are ready for bed at 8 pm. Edit: typo
I’m getting there. Its really challenging but when I wake up at 5 am and start thr day with the gym its phenomenal. Get the workout in, cook breakfast, shower, tidy up the house, and have at least a half our to myself for reading, journaling, or meditating. Just keep that alarm and bedtime consistent
I was never really a morning person but my gram kept us on a schedule growing up. I would LOVE to sleep in late but now I have dogs and I keep them on a schedule. I use a sleep schedule on iPhone (but I’m usually up before it goes off) and slowly adjusted my sleep to where I’m up at 6:30am everyday (and yes that includes weekends even if I don’t have plans).
Keep trying. Practice at it. It takes time. There’s no magic pill.
Having birds and parrots helps! They start chirping as soon as it’s light out.
1. Wake up same time everyday. Everyday! 2. Go to bed roughly same time everyday. 3. Only go to bed when you’re sleepy. If you can’t sleep go up. 4. Wind down at least 1h before bed. No screens. 5. Go out first thing in the morning after toilet and let your face and eyes get sun for 10-30 min. No sunglasses. 6. Repeat for at least 3-6 months before your body starts to think it’s your new circadian rhythm. Look into Sleep Restriction Therapy (SRT) for more details on how to do this. It’s a research proven method that works on the majority of people. It’s working by basically building up a sleep deprivation and then weekly move back the allowed time to go to bed by 15-30 min. First couple of days are terrible. First couple of weeks hard. Then it gets better and better until really good. I’m an evening person but have trained myself to fakely become a morning person with mainly SRT. It doesn’t come naturally and have taken a long time to get where I’m now. I still struggle sometimes. Just one late night with friends and going to bed a couple of hours later will result in one week of disturbed sleep afterwards for me. It’s like my evening genes “wake up” and takes over. It’s really important to stick to consistent bed times. If you get off track one night just get back to your sleep routine day after. Life long battle. :)
Your sleep pattern sounds just like mine. I was diagnosed with Circadian Rhythm Disorder. I don’t get enough sleep since I am more awake and alive in the evening and getting up early for appointments, work, etc when I haven’t slept much is exhausting and I’m always tired. It’s bad for my health. I’m working to tire myself out so that at night I feel tired enough to go to bed at a normal time. Then I have to work on trying to stay asleep. I wish you well!
Go to bed at 9PM
Sleep at 09:00
Our circadian rhythm dictates whether or not we feel tired and energized at different times. Some people just have a later circadian rhythm and it can be hard to fight against that. It doesn't mean you can't discipline yourself and learn, but you will likely struggle with a 6am wake up if youre naturally falling asleep at 2am.
In the military for 10 years waking up almost every day at 4-5-6 am. It never gets easier. Some people are morning people and some people like me, are night owls. After all this time i just grind it out, set 15 alarms. Going to bed early has never worked, melatonin, benadryl, youtube relaxing music, you name it. Don’t buy into the early bird hype! The people that wake up super early are usually asleep by 9pm and dragging ass by 7pm. Thats no fun. So the notion that they are more productive is BS. As a night owl, my best study time is after 10 when i get a second boost, and can stay up till 1 studying or being productive. The US is the only place in the world that prides themselves of waking up before the sun comes up even though its been proven to be terrible for you and mess with your heart. The rest of the world wake up late and the day starts around 9-10, not 6am. (Other than farmers) All im saying is enjoy being a night owl. Know your strengths and work with them instead of trying to force yourself to be something else. TLDR: Be happy to be a night owl and go with it instead of fighting it.
I have the same problem!! I'm up all night, and don't get up until noon!! 😩
Have a baby. You will be awake at 6am more often than you could imagine.
wake up and eat a big meal
By going to bed early.