GettingUpEarlier

I am not a morning person. Life is requiring that I get more done in the morning, which is a serious struggle. The only quiet time I have available is after 10 PM, so I often don't get to bed before midnite.

I've tried several things, including putting multiple alarm clocks, different stations for wake-up news or music, having a bright light on the nightstand. None of it help all that much. The brain still takes about 30 minutes to assemble itself in the morning.

This article claims to teach a method for getting up and active earlier. I'm skeptical, but am going to give it a try and will report back.

How do you other non-morning people cope with mornings?

--DaveSmith 2006.04.27

Well, I'm not sure my current mode is a solution, because it could preclude doing other things. It wakes me up, though.

My partner and I get up at 6:00 every weekday and go swimming. (Jill's been doing it for 3+ years; I started last Sept.) I do whatever I can in a bit more than half an hour: currently about a km. We throw on clothes over our bathing suits and get out of the house as efficiently as we can, and then shower on campus after we swim.

I never get to bed early enough, from life-long habit. It's a struggle to get up most mornings, especially in winter when it's cold and dark, but the routine and the peer pressure help. We both know we'll feel better if we do it.

I love it. Apart from the exercise, it's either valuable thinking time, or pure non-thinking time, which I also need. I feel great afterwards. It has made me much more productive in the morning, and in fact, all day. I'm also more relaxed generally, and I sleep well.

--FionaCharles 27-Apr-2006

Dave, thank you for sharing that article. I found it interesting, though it does not address my current problem. I wake up before my alarm (good) but then don't get up until well after my alarm (bad). I still want to wake up before the alarm, but would like to get up sooner after waking then I currently am. -- ShannonSeverance 2006.04.27

I suggest that if you want to wake up early, without an alarm clock, you need to go to sleep about 9 hours before. Let us know if that works for you.

-- KeithRay 2006.04.27

I combine Fiona's and Keith's advice. I find physical conditioning helps lower the amount of sleep I need. I also go to bed early enough that I can get 7-8 hours of sleep by the time I want to wake up. The shoulder surgery reduces the quality of sleep, so I'm currently going to bed a little earlier.

And as a morning person, I'm out of bed right away. -- DonGray 2006.04.28

Like Don, I'm a morning person. Getting up on wakeup is a problem I don't have. However, I'm sleepy come 10pm, so Dave's schedule wouldn't work for me. I'd probably time shift in the opposite direction, i.e. get up at 4am vice 5:30am, to get the quiet time.

MikeMelendez 2006.04.28

I too am a morning person, but I need at least 7 and preferably 8 or more hours sleep. Physical exercise makes a big difference in how well I sleep, but enough sleep before the alarm goes off is the real key for me. The business world, at least here, is designed for those of us who function better in the morning. Out here we are on mountain time, and we are expected to be at work most places by 8 A.M. at the latest so that we are nearly in sync with the centres of the universe in New York and Toronto:-) It can be very difficult for the real night owls. SherryHeinze 2006.04.28

Several non-morning-person co-workers confirm the effect of waking up groggy, even when getting enough exercise and 8 hours of sleep. "It feels like my brain is swapped out onto a slow disk drive, and has to sloooowly swap back in" was a description from one. This seems to be something that morning people have difficulty appreciating.

--DaveSmith 2006.04.28

I concur. I don't think the perfect habits exist that could have me functional first thing in the morning -- I need some (preferably quiet) time. I think both sides of the divide find the other's morning behaviour hard to comprehend, and sometimes even a little objectionable. Maybe it's because of differences in brain chemistry or wiring or something?

--FionaCharles 29-Apr-2006

I remembered something about a study on "morning people" and not "morning people." I went to and search on " 'morning person' study." I found lots of differing studies. Most studies conclude that there is something about people who wake up and are moving full speed vs those who take a long time to start moving. My wife and I differ in this.

The one thing I find that helps almost everyone move quicker when first awake is daylight and lots of it.

DwaynePhillips 29 April 2006

I guess I'm a morning person. I go to sleep when I can't keep my eyes open, or when I'm yawning so often I can't have a conversation. (Well, I frequently start getting ready for bed before I'm falling over asleep.) I get up at the same time Mon-Fri, and all too often, the same time Sat and Sun. That's a problem, because my hubby sleeps (or attempts to) late on the weekends, but I'm up. Luckily, he's a fairly heavy sleeper, so I rarely wake him all the way up.

For me, the key is going to sleep when I'm tired. -- JohannaRothman 2006.04.30

There seems to be a moralist clan in this society that favors getting up early. Like all moralists, they seem to think that one set of principles applies to all people. Bull. If you're a morning person, fine. If you're an evening person, fine. If you're an alternating person, like me, fine. Personally, I've learned from my dogs. They sleep when they're tired and rise wide awake when there's something interesting to do (like deal with a skunk in the yard or greet a visitor or guard me while I'm taking a shower). If you have a life full of interesting things to do, and if you, like Johanna, sleep when you're tired, you won't need articles to tell you how to live. - JerryWeinberg 2006.05.14

Then there is the question for the evening/morning person, how do you deal effectively with a time constraint to the day? - CharlesAdams 2006.05.14

Charles, what do you mean by a time constraint? -- JohannaRothman 2006.05.22

I was thinking of a job, or a commitment, that requires a person to go against their nature. An example is a mandated early start to work when the person is an evening person.
In the last decade, I have put myself into the situation of burning both ends of the candle due to commitments I have taken on. I am begining to unwind these. I am going through the exercise of deciding what is really important to me, and discarding things that do not enhance my life. I have yet to find if I am an evening or morining person. I still have a lot of rules about "early" that still are not transformed into guides. My goal is to get seven and one-half hours of sleep. That seems to be my sweet spot.--CharlesAdams 2006.05.23

We had early rains, and an early spring, and now have lots of pollen. Allergists are saying this is the worst season for allergies in the Bay Area in a lifetime. It takes a long time in the morning for the brain to clear. A number of co-workers, who are otherwise asymptomatic, are complaining about being groggy in the morning. I'm wondering if there's a connection.

--DaveSmith 2006.06.03

When my allergies hit, I need even more sleep than usual (especially if I'm taking any medicine), and it's not clear I'm a morning or evening person. I need to go to bed early and wake up later.

For me, what I eat and how much sleep I need are interrelated, along with my vitamins and medicines. Even before I knew about low-carbing, it was clear that sugar-related foods were deadly for my allergies, i.e. exacerbated them. (For me, YMMV.)

Here in Boston, it's been raining for most of the past 6 weeks. Mold is higher than it's been in years. Now the trees are starting to bloom. At least today, it's sunny. We're supposed to get maybe one more day of sun before it rains again. Time for a light helmet for me :-) -- JohannaRothman 2006.06.05

There might be a medical reason why you can not get up in the morning. Recently I was diagnosed with a "sleep disorder" and the medications have helped tremendously. So you might wish to see a sleep specialist and see what if there is a medical condition which is preventing you from getting a good nights sleep and thus makes waking difficult.

KenEstes 2006.06.05

Everyone's different, Ken, and yes some people might have medical reasons or sleep disorders that cause them to have difficulty waking. Some others of us are just wired that way. I sleep solidly most nights -- could sleep for Canada if it were an Olympic sport -- but except in an emergency, when I was pumped with adrenalin, I have never in my life woken up, bounced out of bed and started functioning 100%. I need a little time.

I just don't see that it's a problem. I like my mornings -- as long as no-one's pestering me to behave like someone else.

FionaCharles 5-June-2006 (Yep. Thank you, Jerry.)

Fiona, that was probably 5 June 2006, and you probably got up this morning before you were ready for action. I cannot work by someone else's clock--not if it's to be my work, the work that people pay me for. So I explain that to clients. If they want to get what they're paying for, they need to negotiate hours with me. - JerryWeinberg 6.6.6

The number of the consultant! CharlesAdams 2006.06.06

Updated: Wednesday, June 7, 2006