Advice for the Late Risers

mndsm wrote: Get a two year old. Never sleep late again.

Yeah, having 20-30 pounds of toddler land on your groin is a guaranteed wake up call.

Screw the sleep cycle length, a good snooze doesn't let you fall back all the way asleep. I would do 5 minute intervals progressively louder and harder to turn off. Hate to say it man, I think you are sleeping more like someone passed out from alcohol than normal sleep. That's extreme exhaustion caused by too little sleep an often too many stimulants. The unwakable sleep is exaggerated by alcohol. Have you tried eliminating all stimulants and depressants?

I haven't tried giving up stimulants and depressants, no. Coffee has long been my crutch. I don't drink a whole lot of alcohol, maybe a few drinks a week at max.

If I were to allow my body the schedule it wants I would be living 27 hour days. Wake up at 5:30, my body says it is time for sleep around 12:30 and wants at least 8 hours so I would be up at 8:30 the next morning. Keep repeating that and soon I would be getting up around midnight.

I actually did this as an experiment once years ago and I felt amazingly great for the two weeks I could let it happen.

As it is I bust my ass out of bed at 5:30, try and force myself into bed by midnight and walk around like a zombie most of the morning. I never have problems actually sleeping. I can nod off at any time but my mind and body just aren't ready at night. It doesn't matter if I have run 10 miles that day or did nothing. That is just how I work and every morning is a fight.

In reply to MrJoshua:

In my case I've been this way long before I learned the joys of alcohol.

I guess that is where I have an advantage. I do not drink and I do not use caffeine.

Two hints- Number one is to just do it. Throw out the snooze alarms, rig up whatever it takes to wake you,even if its a drip line of cold water. When your eyes open, put your feet on the floor.

Number 2 is more fun, but a bit costly. It changed my life- Go to Europe for two weeks. Get over your jetlag there, then come home. You will be waking up refreshed 6 hours earlier than you were when you left, and if you just keep the habit, you are good. I had to give up watching late night TV, but thats what DVRs are for. 22 years and counting of 6:15 am with no complaints.

I've always been a morning person, but I do this weird thing where after a few days, I get used to whatever noise wakes me up, and tune it out. Try switching your alarm noise every morning.

Real light is a huge help, too. I sleep with my blinds half-open, and always wake up when there's direct sunlight on me.

And yes, waking up at the same time every day is a huge help. Whether I set an alarm or not, I'm usually up at 7 or 7:30.

Join the military? Worked for me, 20+ years later I still wake up 2 minutes before the alarm clock goes off...My SO did not have the privilege of being awakened by Drill Instructors so some improvisation was required to modify typical college student behavior. A 32 oz cup filled with ice and then topped off with water and allowed to sit for 2 minutes prior to pouring it on her worked pretty well. I only had to do it once and then the sound of the ice cubes being removed from the ice tray and dumped into the cup was enough incentive to separate her from the bed. After a week or two I didn't even have to resort to cracking the ice. Surprisingly enough, she still tolerates me and gets up when the alarm goes off...

Sleepy Time

I'm going to give this a try for the next couple weeks.

my internal clock was very similar to Ditchdigger, was about a 25 - 27 hr clock …

I worked nights for yrs, bartender, waiter, 2nd shift factory … so sleep wasn't a problem

in college I could/and did sleep through 10 o'clock classes (I didn't last long in college LOL )

navy sorta changed that .. but after I got out, my old sleep habits kicked back in (not helped by working nights LOL )

when I switched to day shift I had to learn to get up and go to bed

this isn't pointed at you or anyone else, but I explain it (for me) is that I finally grew up … I made the decision that when the alarm went off … I just got up … mind over mind … whatever

it worked for me … eventually I was able to get up at 4:15, would get to the plant at 5:15-5:30 .. do my hr of overtime in the morning and still get off at 3pm … I taught myself to go to bed a 9pm and through the joys of chemistry was able to get to sleep .. and would usually wake up 5 - 10 min before the alarm

this is more just telling my story than a help for you .. sorry

I appreciate all of the advice! My first "project" will be committing to getting to bed by 10 every night. If I consider it a project, I will actually do it. Since I was a teenager, midnight felt like my natural weekday bedtime. This of course does not make sense when I need to be at school or work less than 8 hours later.

Same boat, lots of good advice/ideas to try. I kinda refuse to give doctors my $ for this kind of stuff. Thanks, chaps!

I've got NPR tuned to start about 1hr before I actually want to wake up. When it first turns on, I wake up, but I'm only half awake. I say to myself..."mmmm sleep"

Then...I can't get back to actual sleep. The talking. Make it stop. Stop talking. Ugh...that sounds interesting...ooo that's cool. Oh man, that's depressing. Wait, no, you're going to tell me this all over again? Stop talking. Ugh, I guess I'll just get up.

Normal alarms warrant turning off. The noise is so annoying that you just spring up, hit the alarm, and go back to bed.

The news doesn't lawl me to sleep like music. It doesn't make me immediately spring out of bed to turn it off. It make my mind THINK about waking up.

This combined with waking up at 6:45am everyday regardless of weekend or holiday certainly helps as well. Easier to do during the summer and when I haven't been drinking.

I'm in the same boat... I use an alarm on my phone called "I can't wake up." I have it set to do 3 random puzzles, which can be a memory game, math problems, color matching, etc.. It's set to taper the alarm sound up over 10 minutes, and I'm allowed to have two snoozes, each one gets shorter and louder.

And then it checks 3 minutes after you turn it "off" as a wakeup check.

What is your bedtime procedure? Is the tv on? Computer? Phone?

Get into a bedtime routine and stick with it. Try to stick with the bedtime too. Your bed is a bed, it is for 2 things: Sleeping, and, um, gymnastics. Don't watch TV in it, Don't lounge around on it, and don't get on your computer in it. I try not to even text in it. Personally, I try to not look at any "screen", be it tv computer or cell phone, for at least 30 minutes before I go to sleep. I read a book, or a GRM, or a Chiltons manual.

Also, figure out what it is that does wake you up--Cup of water dumped on your face? Someone/thing ripping the covers off? If so, set up an alarm clock to do that. Couldn't be too hard, just a timer and a motor.

Pit bull.

Fed once a day at 6 am.

I am the opposite of the OP. I have no need of alarm clocks. I wake up at 6 regardless of what time I go to bed or what time zone I am in. I would like to be able to sleep in longer.

mtn wrote: Your bed is a bed, it is for 2 things: Sleeping, and, um, gymnastics. Don't watch TV in it, Don't lounge around on it, and don't get on your computer in it. I try not to even text in it.

Big +1 for this.

My bedroom has a bed, dresser, and a nightstand. That's it. Last night, I put my phone across the room instead of on the nightstand, and it helped prevent me from goofing off on the internet, and helped me get up by forcing me to get out of bed to turn off the 6 alarms.

Well, I was given notice that I will be let go on Friday. I am planning to put in my resignation tomorrow (I am off today), so that I can preserve some minor shred of dignity. I know that it will cut me off from unemployment, but I think that the odds of receiving it would be minor otherwise. This certainly isn't how I hoped my tenure of almost 12 years to end, but I will just have to be positive and hope that I can frame the situation in the best light possible to future employers.

Sorry to hear it, man.

I've lost a couple of jobs for my tardiness, but luckily as my jobs have gotten more professional so too has the appreciation of management to overlook a few tardy days versus staying late most nights and not taking overtime to do it.

I also have learned that I will not accept (or hope to stay at) a job that requires that I punch a clock in order to be viewed as a good employee. I know too many lazy employees who show up early.

In reply to Mitchell:

get diagnosed with something tomorrow, sue boss on monday.

Sorry to hear that MrC. :( You should move back to Gainesville and help us build challenge cars. :D

Agreed. Move back!!

Put in my letter today. What a strange mix of happiness, relief, and fear of the unknown I am feeling. Finally quit my first job.