Becoming a morning person

[jgale]

Has anyone been able to do this? I'm not a morning person and never have been. Getting out of bed is so so difficult for me. It is a little bit easier if I got to bed really really early (like 9), but it's never easy.

In my ideal fantasy, I get up an hour before my kids (this would be around 5:30 or 6) and have a full hour to drink my tea, read a book, take the dog for a walk, start their breakfasts, pack lunches etc, before they are up. This NEVER happens. The only time I get up before them is when I have to get up for work and then I drag myself out of bed, get dressed, drink a quick cup of tea and leave for work. No breakfast for me. DH has to get their breakfasts and lunches ready.

Plus, I never want to go to bed early. I really want to stay up until midnight reading or sewing or cleaning the kitchen. I have so much more energy in the evening. And I am tired all morning. Especially at work (have to be there at 7:30 AM), I just drag myself through the day. On the nights before I work (usually 2 or 3 nights per week) I often have to take a benadryl just to be able to get to sleep at a reasonable hour so I can get enough sleep for the next day.

Has anyone successfully reset their biological clocks? I have taken to getting this ridiculous coffee drink at work, just to wake up in the morning (coffee with 2 shots of espresso).

And I can't blame it on the kids, because for the first time in about 6 years, everyone is sleeping through the night, most nights.

Help. I feel I would be a better person and all my problems would be solved if I could just become a morning person (I'm only half kidding...).

Jessi

[nolansmummy]

I want to be a morning person too.

[sarahn4639]

I want to be a morning person too so I'm subbing!

[JaneS]

www.marksdailyapple.com

It's all about blood sugar control I think. If you wake up hypoglycemic, you are running on fumes and cranky as all heck.

[ASusan]

And if your ingesting that much caffeine and then taking Benedryl most nights, you're compounding the problem into a vicious cycle. I would slowly try to change everything (sorry).

1. Go to bed 15-30 minutes earlier than usual (consistently!) for a week, then 15-30 minutes earlier the next week...

2. Cut back to 1 shot of espresso for a week, then cut the other shot the next week. Absolutely no caffeine after noon.

3. Learn progressive relaxation and practice it as you go to bed each night. Do it EVERY night and make it a habit. This - along with the caffeine reduction - may help you cut back on your Benedryl use.

4. Pack lunches the night before (sorry, but it really works. I was silently cursing DH for not bothering to put the leftover chicken into a daycare-ready dish when he cleaned up dinner last night).

5. Automate breakfast for the time being and be sure that it includes a complex carb and protein for you.

and for the advanced push -

6. I really think you need to give up on the idea of being so productive in the evening. You sound like you really like it, but if you want to get up that early, with some energy, you need to do a wind-down in the evening.

6a. I think one reason you have that much energy in the evening is your caffeine consumption. Really. If I have ANY caffeine after noon (even a small Coke), I have energy past 9-10pm, and I have trouble sleeping until 1am. This started in my late 20s-early 30s. Before that, I could drink coffee anytime and still fall asleep when I wanted to. (Then again, I had to use progressive relaxation, starting in my early 20s, to fall asleep at night. Maybe I was just missing the caffeine-sleep connection in my body all those years.)

7. Can you cut out screen time in the evening? Exposure to artificial light (especially the intensity of a computer screen or television) delays melatonin production and makes it harder to get to sleep/have a regular sleep cycle. Ideally, you'd use no screens after...6-7pm?

8. Do you get any exercise during the day? Just like my son, I sleep SO much better when I've had some exercise earlier in the day.