Calling All Morning People!
I want to be a morning person, I really do. To me, there is something inexplicably wonderful about getting up early with the sun, experiencing the quiet of the morning, and checking five things off of the to-do list before 9am.
But I need help.
I just can’t do it. When I quit my full-time job, I promised myself that now that I was in charge of my daily schedule, I would go to bed at 10pm and wake up at 6am, every day. I would have some prayer time and bible study, take a leisurely morning walk with the dog, make a healthy breakfast, and check the morning news and my e-mail, all before 9am. I would be ready to walk out the door, looking fabulous within 3 hours. BUT IT HASN’T HAPPENED ONCE.
I have read books about sleep habits, planned a schedule, and bugged my husband to no end. But nothing is working. No matter how hard I try, (or don’t), I can’t seem to go to sleep before 11pm, and wake up before 8am unless I absolutely have to. And I have learned that I really need 8 hours, and ideally 9 hours of sleep to function well the next day. I know that’s ridiculous, but by age 28 I know my body, and it’s the truth.
So I am calling all morning people. How do you do it? What has worked for you? What hasn’t? If you have been getting up at 5am every day since you were 10 years old with a perky smile on your face, I don’t think you can help me. But anyone who has had to create new habits and rhythms to get up early, and not sacrificed too much sleep to do it, TALK TO ME! Life is too short, and I have too much to accomplish in a day for this to persist. It’s intervention time. Don’t let me down.
I thought this would be impossible, too, once I started working & going to class early. What helps me, is setting my alarm for about 15 minutes before my planned wake up time, and soon as it goes off, I simply jump out of bed. I don’t let the covers suck me back in because I literally just jump out. It sounds ridiculous- I know. But it worked. And, since it’s 15 minutes earlier, you feel a little proud too and it keeps you out of going back.
Another thing is the multivitamin I take is One a Day Energy, and it gives you a little spurt of energy as you take it.
Just some ideas!
Yeah, I am NO HELP.
I wake up at 6am and HATE it. I try to go to bed by 10…which usually becomes 10:30 and sometimes 11. And then I am tired and miserable. Bleh. I love morning, but don’t want to wake up THAT early.
I say, don’t fight it. Though it can be nicer to have more daylight hours (it’s not light until 7am here now, though!) – you’re just an hour off what you’d like to be.
Get as much sleep as you want – it’s not like you’re sleeping until 11am.
My only tip? I drink LOTS of water so I HAVE to get out of bed in the morning. And sometimes I get in bed way at 9:30 and read, so I can try and fall asleep by 10.
I’m a morning person, but I don’t know how I do it. I think it’s genetic. But I am forced to get up at 4:30 a.m. for my job, and I really couldn’t survive if I didn’t learn to go to bed around 9 p.m. Now I’m just used to it and if I try to stay up late bad things happen.
I don’t know how you would do this, but if you make yourself wake up super early one day then hopefully by that night you will be tired enough to go to bed early. Then if you get good sleep maybe you’ll be able to wake up a bit earlier the next morning!
Melissa, that’s a great idea- just making myself literally jump out of bed. Not giving my self the opportunity to lay back down! I will definitely try that. As for vitamins, I’m taking prenatals at the moment, but I have to wait until I eat something or they will make me pukey, unfortunately. But they do help my energy level for sure. Thanks so much!
Ashley, thank you for giving me permission to let myself off the hook a bit.
I do think part of it is being realistic about how long it actually takes me to get to bed, like you said. I know that if I lay down at 10:30, I am probably going to read for at least another half hour before I fall asleep. Maybe I just have a rebellious streak- something about going to bed and getting up at the same time very day scares me, even though part of me would love the regularity. I’m a freak.
Kathleen, I like that suggestion! I just have to try to make myself wake up early for a long enough streak that something sticks, and I actually get tired enough to go to bed earlier! This is definitely a possibility. Thanks!
I have to be at work at 5:30am and I live half an hour away. So that means my alarm goes off at 4:15am. Yes, I’m a morning person. My only advice is routine routine routine. Every night after dinner, I have a little me-time (books, blogs, tv, etc). Then I shower, feed the cat, and crawl into bed around 9:30. Every. single. day. (except weekends, duh.) In the morning, I drink a protein shake on my way to work to get me going. And I drink coffee… considering I work at a coffeehouse, that part isn’t too hard. I stay active and busy as soon as I walk through the door, so I’m a very perky morning person (the kind you love to hate). So, my secret in a nutshell? Routine. Staying active. Coffee and protein.
Early to bed, early to rise, makes one healthy, wealthy and wise.
Mary McGuire
Renee, WOW! I am impressed. I guess having a job that forces you to get up early is one of those things that is foolproof! I had an 8-5 job, and I requested for the hours to be changed from 9-5:30, and cut my lunch to a half hour. That’s how bad I am.
Routine- definitely need to work on getting that. Coffee- I am getting alot better at drinking coffee! Protein- the hubby makes smoothies alot, but I need to get him to make one every morning!
Yehuda, Mary McGuire was a wise woman.