STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

AbsolutPrep1981 · BCBG

Non-Morning People

Eurodaisy · Dooney & Bourke

I am SO not a morning person. I inevitably wallow in bed for a good half-hour before getting up. (Fortunately, my DH is very accepting of my behavior, although he still doesn't yet understand it.)

I would try using different alarms each time, so that you don't get used to tuning out the same noise every morning. The TV in our bedroom has a wake up timer, so I usually use that. (Plus watching some TV forces my brain to start processing information and helps get me up.) Try using your cell phone alarm, clock radio, clock CD player, etc.

I also have a hard time getting up when I'm dreading going to work or I'm in a depression-type funk. Have you considered those possibilities? The sleeping-in problem may just be a symptom of something bigger.

AbsolutPrep1981 · BCBG

Eurodaisy wrote:

I am SO not a morning person. I inevitably wallow in bed for a good half-hour before getting up. (Fortunately, my DH is very accepting of my behavior, although he still doesn't yet understand it.)

I would try using different alarms each time, so that you don't get used to tuning out the same noise every morning. The TV in our bedroom has a wake up timer, so I usually use that. (Plus watching some TV forces my brain to start processing information and helps get me up.) Try using your cell phone alarm, clock radio, clock CD player, etc.

I also have a hard time getting up when I'm dreading going to work or I'm in a depression-type funk. Have you considered those possibilities? The sleeping-in problem may just be a symptom of something bigger.

No I don't think its anything bigger. Ive always been this way. In highschool my mom forced me out of bed every morning and in college I took no classes before 11am. My mom says Ive been like this even as a little kid and she talked to my dr. about it because I would lay in my bed for hours awake and then sleep really late and he said some people are just naturally morning or night people. So I think Im stuck like this and just need to deal with it. Thanks for the suggestions Ill try some different clocks/sounds.

lynnie · Chanel

some tips:

*go to bed around the same time every night and try to wake up around the same time every morning, even on weekends - i've also heard sleep before midnight is best- so if you sleep 1 am to 9 am, you might not be as well rested as 11-7, even if its the same amt. of time.

*keep your curtains open so light streams in and you start waking up when the sun gets up

*try to curb caffeine use- i've found the more i drink, the more tired i am in general.

*set your alarm (or 3!) half an hour to one hour before you have to actually be up

*take a coldish shower in the morning, drink some tea, eat a good breakfast and maybe relax to some television- i find when i have a routine to look forward to in the morning, I am more excited to get out of bed. i like rewarding myself w/my favorite bagel shop or nice coffee on days when i'm particulary pissed to be awake.

*make sure you're eating healthy and are getting all the vitamins you need.

also, is it possible that the quality of your sleep is disturbed? Maybe you're not getting enough "deep" sleep which you need to feel rested? Or maybe you're sleeping too much? i think EVERYONE has mornings where they are tired and don't feel like getting up, espec. for classes or work, but in general, i always wake up before my alarm and naturally wake up on weekends around the same time as i do on weekdays. which can be annoying!

squishy · Coach

lynnie wrote:

go to bed around the same time every night and try to wake up around the same time every morning, even on weekends - i've also heard sleep before midnight is best- so if you sleep 1 am to 9 am, you might not be as well rested as 11-7, even if its the same amt. of time.

i'm in no way a morning person, but having a regular schedule really helps. i also force myself to turn on my computer... having to focus on something (responding to e-mail, reading the news, browsing ST) helps me get started in the morning

AbsolutPrep1981 · BCBG

I am also curious what time other people get up. I have to be up by 4:30 in order to leave by 6am and be at work at 7am. So I set my alarm for 4am. I wonder if I can get by with waking up at 5am instead.

Oh and about eating healthy everything I eat is organic and health and I excercise almost every night at the gym. On the weekends I wake up around 8/9ish and am bright eyed and bushy tailed its just the weekdays that are killing me.

-- Edited by AbsolutPrep1981 at 15:05, 2007-01-16

lynnie · Chanel

AbsolutPrep1981 wrote:

I am also curious what time other people get up. I have to be up by 4:30 in order to leave by 6am and be at work at 7am. So I set my alarm for 4am. I wonder if I can get by with waking up at 5am instead.

Oh and about eating healthy everything I eat is organic and health and I excercise almost every night at the gym. On the weekends I wake up around 8/9ish and am bright eyed and bushy tailed its just the weekdays that are killing me.

-- Edited by AbsolutPrep1981 at 15:05, 2007-01-16

thats so early!!! ahh, i feel for you.

as far as waking up, i give myself 20 mins to get ready (yea, i'm pretty quick) and then i'm out the door. Is there any way you can pare down your morning routine?

squishy · Coach

AbsolutPrep1981 wrote:

I am also curious what time other people get up. I have to be up by 4:30 in order to leave by 6am and be at work at 7am. So I set my alarm for 4am. I wonder if I can get by with waking up at 5am instead.

Oh and about eating healthy everything I eat is organic and health and I excercise almost every night at the gym. On the weekends I wake up around 8/9ish and am bright eyed and bushy tailed its just the weekdays that are killing me.

-- Edited by AbsolutPrep1981 at 15:05, 2007-01-16

wow. i feel so lucky.

how many hours of sleep do you get?

littlebean · Kate Spade

Oooh, that is SO early -- I can understand why it is so hard for you to get up! I have a hard time getting up even at 8 or 9am sometimes!

I would recommend doing whatever you can to wake up later. If you don't have to leave until 6am, is it possible to delay waking up until as late as 5:30am or even 5:40am? When I am in a schedule where I have to wake up really early, that's what I try to do. So instead of a morning shower, I take a night shower, and I pack my lunch, pick out my clothes, pack my bag, etc. all the night before. That way I just roll out of bed, get dressed, slap on some make up, and go! You could even take a portable breakfast (bananas, apples, cereal bars, yogurts, etc.). Don't know if any of this is an option, but that's what I would do.

AbsolutPrep1981 · BCBG

Thanks for all the advice. Here is typical morning:

4 alarm starts

430 actually get up and make coffee and sit around til it kicks in

445 shower

500 get dressed and dry hair (i have LONG THICK hair)

530 rush around trying to put on makeup, brush teeth, make breakfest, grab lunch (make night before) and run out the door by 6

Eurodaisy · Dooney & Bourke

Wow. I don't have to be at work until 9. If I had a job that required me to get up at 4 a.m., I would probably quit.

Kudos to you, though... I don't think there's anything wrong with taking some time to make coffee first and give yourself 15 min to really "wake up." Sounds pretty normal to me...

Kelly · Hermes

I have a horrible, awful time getting up. I have three alarm clocks going with a combined number of alarms somewhere around 10. And I STILL turn them all off in my sleep! I really don't understand myself sometimes...

Anyway, you can try having a few alarms, or having one across the room or in an adjacent room so you actually have to get up and walk over there to turn it off.

Or you could get a coffee pot with a timer - knowing that you have coffee waiting could help. Or at least knowing you have to get up or else the coffee will burn!

halleybird · Hermes

weird question, but have you ever been checked for sleep apnea? I have the hardest time getting up, even on the weekends when I have had tons of sleep. I literally can't remember waking up and feeling rested. I also have some breathing problems at night, according to my husband, and I looked up the symptoms and they are really familiar. Plus, people with SA have a difficult time waking up. Anyway, it might be worth getting checked out -- I plan to mention it to my dr. the next time I go in.

Anyway, some other things that *sort of* work for me are getting up right when the alarm goes off, no matter how hard it is (if you shut it off in your sleep, put it across the room so you have to walk to it), and going to bed at the same time every day. HTH!

ILoveChoo · Hermes

omg, thats so early!!! I set the alarm for 7:30, snooze for 10 minutes and am out the door around 8:05

Dizzy · Marc Jacobs

It sounds backwards, but my mornings are MUCH better when I stay away from the coffee altogether. Otherwise, it just starts this vicious cycle where I need more and more just to function, but it keeps me awake at night so I'm even more tired.

If you're getting plenty of sleep, though, then I don't know.

Bastet · Kate Spade

I hate mornings. Getting up for work is an ordeal for me, but like you I wake up around 9am on weekends with no problems. The main thing that helps me get going in the morning is eating. I used to sleep as late as possible and skipped breakfast and just drank coffee. I was a zombie. Now, I eat a small bowl of cereal or a grapefruit and that little bit is enough to help me get going.

I've also noticed that I have a harder time getting up with it's dark outside. In the summer, the sun is on its way up when my alarm goes off, and it's easier for me to get up. I think that in the winter, when it's pitch dark at 6am, my body feels like it's getting up in the middle of the night because I see that it's dark. I don't know how to fix this problem, since there's no way I can convince myself that it's not dark out. Maybe since you have to be up so early, the darkness is throwing you off?

jrhampt · Kenneth Cole

I get up a little before 7 am and leave the house at 7:30 so I can be at work by 8. I need at least 8 hours of sleep (preferably closer to 9) to feel energetic throughout my day, so I try to be in bed around 10. I also think about what I'm going to wear the next day before I go to bed so I don't have to waste time putzing around the next morning.

I find that as long as I'm consistent about my schedule and getting enough sleep, it's easy to get up in the morning.

jacL · Coach

I hated waking up in the mornings with a passion, so I took a third-shift position and I like it so much!

Most people do not have this option (it really is a lot better than it sounds) so if I were you, I would start by making small changes. Buy a programmable coffee maker and get it ready the night before when you make your lunch so you don't have to do it in the morning. Even if you don't have a programmable one you can still get it ready at night so all you have to do when you wake up is push a button. Showering at night would save a lot of time too. It used to help me to turn the lights on right after my alarm went off, even if I pushed snooze a few times (like Bastet said, it was hard for me to wake up when it was still dark out).

Halleybird's suggestion of asking your doctor about sleep apnea isn't a bad idea either.

subwolley · Kate Spade

OMG, thank god someone started this thread!! I am SO NOT A MORNING PERSON! Never have been my entire life. I have the hardest time waking up in the morning. Lately, it's seems to be getting worse.

At night I say to myself "Okay, I'm gonna get all my stuff ready, and I'm gonna get up earlier so I won't be late for work." But it doesn't matter. I'll still sleep in. When I am tired, there is no reasoning with me. When I'm tired. I just don't care.

And it doesn't seem to matter how much sleep I get. I can get 8-9 hours a night, and still be tired in the mornings. Of course, it's harder if I less than 8 hours.

Today, I am dragging. I've been dragging all week actually. I'm not sleeping well.

I think exercise and diet might be the most beneficial thing. More protien in the morning and vitamins.

henrymckenzie · Nine West

I like post which deals with the points related to the morning activities of the common people.I also have a hard time getting up when I'm dreading going to work or I'm in a depression-type funk. Have you considered those possibilities? The sleeping-in problem may just be a symptom of something bigger.