How to get up earlier?

Dear faithlehane,

my struggle to sleep less than 9 hours at night goes back as far as to six years.

i have been trying to regulate my sleep patterns since 2002, but success has been very slow to come.

one thing i have realised is that you have to see the whole picture, and not just sleep.

How deeply you sleep and how much you sleep is affected greatly by the kind of food you eat, the stress you experience day-to-day, your emotional and mental well being and many other factors.

At least food has a major impact and bearing on sleep.

cheers,
b.

I bought an amazing e-book last year by Kacper Postawski called 'Powerful Sleep' - google this for more info. In a nutshell, Kacper claims there is loads of evidence to suggest none of us actually need more than 6 hours of sleep a night!! He says we need to work towards this gradually, and the key is to sleep DEEPLY. Apparently here are 2 main keys to sleeping deeply: EXERCISE, and DAYLIGHT (!) Yes, the amount of daylight entering our eyes determines how much our core body temperature rises during the day, and thus how much it falls at night causing us to sleep deeply. There are a lot of other factors too, do look Kacper up if you want to look further into this. I now sleep 7 hours a night - down from 9 - it does work! Take care - Sue

Hi!

I'm a software developer so I'm used to late nights, what helped me get up early was setting a REALLY annoying alarm clock far enough away that I'd have to get up to turn it off. (Big Ben's are annoying alarm clocks: http://www.alarmclocksonline.com/47601.htm)

But as madalsa points out, food(as well as exercise[or lack of]) has a big impact on sleeping too.

Keeping a regular schedule sleep and meals 7 days a week - no sleeping in on the weekends - may help.

Also put a nice bright light near your bed so it will shine in your face. Either set your alarm for 8am - when it goes off turn on the light and hit the snooze. Or put the light on a timer to go on at 8am. After a few days of this you may find it easier to get up at 8:30 or a little earlier. Use the light every day even if you lie under it just a few minutes before getting up. It should help keep your circadian clock synced with the alarm clock.

Good luck.

Thanks for all the great advice, I'll definitely google Kacper - I did think it was 6 hours we were supposed to aim for, and hope one day I'll manage to get down to that :)

The one problem I have with the alarm (and generally doing things before 9) is the other half - we live in a small studio flat (it's not just one room, but the bed is in a room literally the size of the bed with slidey doors to the living room that do nothing to hide noise, but still keep the area private) and he's a bed monster who doesn't get up until the exact last minute he has to. Makes getting up early on a weekend not terribly appealing either :) But I realise we'll have to work around this. I don't think he'll be quite so bad in the summer either.

The light idea sounds really good too :) I will definitely be trying this.

I'm a little skeptical that normal humans can get by on 6 hrs of sleep or less. Until the very recent invention of the electric light, humans probably slept most of the nighttime hours. A lot of recent research has shown that people that sleep longer (8+ hours) have lower incidence of heart disease, lower weight, and better mental function. For example, see:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/30/health/30risk.html?ref=science

In another study, researchers tested subjects who had slept 8 hours and said they felt well rested against those who had slept 10 hours - those who slept longer performed much better on a whole bunch of memory and reaction time tests.

I know there are a few amazing individuals who do exist perfectly happily on 6 hours or less; but I think most of us need more sleep. My advice is, if you want to get up at 8 and feel rested, go to sleep earlier! A regular bedtime routine will help with that, as will making sure you start calming down earlier in the evening. I've struggled with insomnia for years, and that's what works for me. Oh, and no caffeine after 11 am - I drink decaf tea only in the afternoon.

I have the same problem with my other half...I think he'd stay in bed til noon if he could. :)

Amanda

What has worked for me is just doing 15 minutes at a time. The difference between 8:15 and 8:30 isn't that big, and after awhile you adjust. Just stick with it, be consistent, and later try another 15 minutes after you adjust to 8:15.

Best of luck!

Leo

-lbabauta

Leo makes a great point here - do it in easy chunks - one step at a time ......

Have a look at things which may impact your ability to sleep more positively ie exercise is known to assist in sleep, while caffeine will do the opposite.

just a couple of thoughts

I agree that exercise generally helps...unless it's too close to bedtime, then you're wired!!

I recently discovered Steve Pavlina's site. While I don't agree with everything he says, I am finding a lot of value in much of it.

I have been using his "getting up right away" method, and it's working amazingly well for me. http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2006/04/how-to-get-up-right-away-when-your-alarm-goes-off/

I get up right away, do some stretching while checking the sunrise, then work on writing my book for two hours. I've been happy with the automatic productivity!

I have found light to be a huge factor in the quality and quantity of sleep I experience. The first thing I did was make the room as dark as possible - this alone resulted in a deeper, more luxurious sleep. And then waking up gently to LIGHT rather than a jolting, irritating beep has made the mornings so much more "friendly" and sweet.
This is the clock I use : http://products.mercola.com/sun-alarm-clock/

I would also agree with moving your bedtime earlier in small increments - actually I would recommend 5 minute intervals, for three or four nights at a time.
And just a few more tips :
Make sure your room is cool but your feet are warm. Cotton socks have astonishingly cured multiple bouts of insomnia. Seriously!
Don't drink anything with caffeine for at least 3 hours before bed, and nothing at all for an hour before.
Keep a notepad and pencil by your bed. Writing down that thought that's whirling round in your head makes it so much easier to drift off.

Sweet dreams,
Jacqui

I think it's dangerous to start saying that every person should be aiming for a certain number of hours of sleep a night, especially when so much research out there says that sleeping for 7-8 hours seems to have a lot of health benefits. I think it's important to find the right amount of sleep for *you and your body and your life*.

I personally need 8 - 9 hours of sleep a night. I know that part of that is probably due to my lack of exercise because I do have an easier time waking up when I've had exercise than when I haven't, *but* I still sleep and feel rested and alert when I sleep for at least 8 hours a day, whether I'm getting regular exercise or not. Plenty of people I know swear that they only need 5 hours of sleep. I'm sure that a handful of them just don't remember what it's like to be well rested anymore, but I'm sure that there are some of them who are totally rested and happy after 5 hours.

Just learn to listen to your body! If you're having a hard time getting up 30 minutes early, maybe it's time to try to go to sleep just 10 or 15 minutes earlier than you would. Maybe that could be your new habit, just go to sleep 10 minutes earlier. If you can find 10 minutes to do something when you're awake, why can't you use those same 10 minutes to get extra shut-eye.

Can I suggest trying to go to sleep a little earlier? For me, there's something very different about the sleep I get before midnight that is essential to my being able to get up early (usually ~5 or 5:30). Plus, you have to give your body some time to adjust. You can definitely do this!

I must be one of those lucky individuals who doesn't need much sleep. 6-7 hrs is all I can do, no matter if I go to bed early or late. And I always get up immediately...have never used a snooze alarm. Leo's right, though. Adjust your sleep time in increments. Don't try to do it all at once.

Re my earlier post (Powerful Sleep) and subsequent posts, I agree we each have our own, different ideal sleep time. Mine seems to be 7 hours. If I sleep more, it weakens my sleep system and I sleep less deeply. If I sleep less, I get crotchety!

Powerful Sleep states the purpose of REM sleep is still not fully understood. However this doesn't mean it's not important, obviously. If we only get 5-6 hours a night we wouldn't get very much REM sleep. So certainly it seems sensible to experiment. But the thing that struck me most forcibly from Powerful Sleep is the suggestion that we can SLEEP TOO MUCH - and it actually makes us tireder! My experience has shown this to be true - for me at least. Good luck everyone! Sleep well and and Happy New Year!

Thank you everyone for your thoughtful and incredibly helpful replies!

I am going to do it in 15 minute increments (as this still allows for my 10 minutes of exercise I'm going to do a day) and make sure I do my bedtime routine earlier than I have been currently (I usally miss midnight and end up going to bed at 10 past because I forget how long the wind down routine takes).

I'm going to get ready for bed at 11, and any time left between then and 11.45 (to begin with) will be spent doing a mindfulness meditation or reading. This should hopefully put me in a sleeping mood and remove any stressful thoughts.

I'll also be putting the alarm somewhere I'll have to get out of bed to switch it off. I'm sure the boyfriend's gonna love that ;) but judging from what I've read once I'm up I'll be fine

Lastly, I often miss breakfast, and my lunchtime skips around a lot. It's not my main aim this month, but I really am going to keep this in mind the next time I think about skipping brekki, and also try and keep lunchtime to 1:30.

That article about practicing getting up was really interesting! I'm going to try that if all else fails!

I never really though about how sleep differs at certain times, and how deeply we sleep. I think there are some things which need addressing in my life to help me attain more quality sleep, and hopefully my exercise goal will begin to help with that!

Thanks again everyone for your comments and information. More information is welcome, but judging by what's been said the above plan seems like it will work! :) Happy new year!

Sorry for not reading all of the above.

The BIGGEST SINGLE THING that worked for me is the following:

1. Not arguing with yourself.

This means that when the alarm goes off you should NOT start debating with yourself or deciding to have another five minutes. The second you've done that at worst the day is lost or at best you're going to be late for work.

Stop allowing yourself to talk yourself back into bed, or another five minutes.

Oh and alright, one last thing: keep going every day. I've been doing it for three months (I'll admit, i had work at 7am so I had a reason) and since then over Christmas I could still get up at 6am. REALLY useful!

However, I shold add: three weeks later and I've forgotten how hard it is to get up at 6am. Back to square one. Keep going, use my advice, and I hope it works!! x

I've noticed that I have two sets of sleep time that allow me to get up early: less than 5 or more than 9 hours. I find that I feel great when I wake up with either of those sets of time, even if it's just 3.5-4 hours. Anywhere between, and I feel groggy. Usually, when I get less hours for a few nights in a row, my body finally wants me to go to sleep earlier in the evening, thus starting a 9+ hour pattern for a while.

Sounds like you'll be fine. You already have a lot of great ideas, help and support.

()>---) Here's to a more restful 2009!