Any tips on getting up early?

A few tips from my experience:

  • Go to bed a lot earlier than you think you need to. Skip dinner if necessary. Simply lie there and count down in your head to being asleep. Really tell yourself in your internal monologue - shout if you have to. Simply repeat In 10 seconds I will drift off into a relaxing sleep. In 9 seconds… Etc.

*If this fails then a quick restless pace around the room will often do the trick. Enough to just draw a few beads of sweat, these will help keep you cool under your thick duvet

  • A thick duvet and a fan heater is a must in all weather, summer included. It might sound obvious but you want the external temperature to be as close to body temperature as you can. So a comfortable 37.5c is ideal.

  • To help with this try a steaming hot bath before you get under the sheets. 42c is my recommendation because this will really open your pores in time for bed

  • After such a great night’s sleep getting out of bed will be tough so you will want to give yourself many attempts. Simply set the alarm to ring at 5 minute intervals from around 3am. With the right mental application and drive you will surely be up by 8.

  • If this fails I recommend seeing a sleep therapist, which coincidentally I am. So DM me for details

I have a sleepy tea around 9ish and that helps me get tired for bed around 10-11.

I find some fresh air is good for really waking up, so when I let the dog out I stand in the garden for a bit, or just take some (quiet) rubbish to the bin or something as that 20 second blast of fresh air helps wake me up properly.

I’ve been using the phone to automate playing the radio in the morning. Something about having that background noise - it feels less binary than an alarm that needs to be turned off while still being a noise that sort of gets me awake and eases the pain of the loud alarm

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Takes 21 days to learn a habit, or so they say

these

Supposedly it takes 10,000 hours to get good at a skill. So my advice is to simply practice going to sleep and waking up early for 10,000 hours.

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I’ve made a habit of immediately listing the reasons I’m getting up and reminding myself I actually like my job. My partner struggles because she’s not a morning person but also isn’t having the best time at work. A bit of positivity in the morning helps me but I suppose not everyone

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If you have a clock radio you need to get rid of it. They just cause stress, glowering at you from beside your bed. Put your alarm / phone away from your bed and do not look at the clock after you go to bed!
You don’t worry about time till the alarm goes. This stops the the “I have to get up in X hours” rubbish.
That’ll just stress you out.

God, I love that I don’t have to do shift work any more.

There is an app called barcode alarm where you have to scan the barcode to turn it off. I used to put my barcode in the bathroom cabinet, so I’d have to get to the bathroom to turn it off, and then I’m in the shower, and then I’m awake.

After you’ve done that for about 10 days you’ll probably find you’ll be going to bed earlier, but yeah, little read instead of telly before bed, no screens, no caffeine after dunno 13.00? Stuff like that

Yup, that’d be me. It’s called Sleep As Android. The QR code is set up in the kitchen next to the kettle so I may as well just have a coffee instead of going back to bed. And it’s set up so I can’t turn the app or the phone off till it’s done.

I still sometimes switch it off then go back to sleep on the sofa instead though. Morning 'horse is the absolute worst.

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Also I reckon if you have to get up really early you might as well get up another 30 mins early and try and enjoy being awake when most other people are asleep. Make yourself a nice coffee and take your time a little

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This is actual nonsense. Top stuff.

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It’s off The Day Today. Or Brass Eye, can’t recall which. The latter I think, Chris Morris did more of getting celebs in on that series.

This says to me it’s been way too long since I watched Brasseye. I shall remedy this ASAP.

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Hey man, i sympathise. I start work at 2am Mondays and 4am the rest of the time.

I’m totally attuned now but the first week was a bit rough. Amazing how fast your body adjusts though so even if you’re somewhat zombified the first week you’ll be so much better for the second.

I use audiobooks I’ve already heard and

Fallen asleep

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Sleep with the curtains open, especially at the moment.

I’m a big fan of being awake early, it’s just the process of getting up that I find disagreeable…

I generally find that when I need to be up (for work, or a flight or trip) I can do it, because my sleepy brain can’t come up with an excuse to stay in bed. If it’s not essential I find it harder.

I usually end up sitting on the sofa pretty braindead scrolling through my phone for a while after getting out of bed early. Not ideal (would prefer it to be a book), but it gives me time to come up to speed I guess before getting in the shower.

What can also help get you up is having a cat who comes and makes a lot of noise and demands attention, but that’s hard to line up with a specific schedule.

If your cat is as food-motivated as mine, if you feed the cat once at 5am you can look forward to being woken up at 5am every day indefinitely just on the off chance that it’ll happen a second time.

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sunrise is at half four now, don’t sleep with your curtains open unless you want waking up at half four imo.

I have to get up at half 5 - I swing from periods of being really good - straight out of bed on my first alarm, to just snoozing constantly and coming in late to the point my job’s at risk.

the technological fixes don’t really make a difference to me, you’ll sleep through them if you allow yourself to. I can’t give myself an inch on the snoozing. habits get formed so easily when it’s not even your fully conscious mind acting, both positive and negative.

this seems to be the opposite of what everyone else is suggesting but I don’t give myself any leeway, just enough time to have a wash and a brew before I’m running late and I’ve programmed myself so as soon as I’m awake I have to stand up.

it works until it doesn’t and I start letting the snoozing go and then I’m just late for 3 months in a row.

it is miles easier in the summer tbf