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Ok, so I have a question ( because lately you guys are like, the best ever at answering any/every question ).
But first a lil backstory: I’m typically not an early riser; I believe in A LOT of sleep…because, uhhh duh–?! It’s healing, energizing, & healthy.
BTW: a lot of ZZzzz’s doesn’t automatically make someone a lazy, unproductive slob.
I mean, I love to heal my body from the inside out & let it rest- & honestly? In my opinion, sleep is brain food.
Plus it feels damn good.
BUT. Lately I’ve been thinking about waking up an hour earlier ( yes, I think about this stuff; #anxiety ).
So. Normally I wake up between 8:45 am-9:30 am.
This has worked well for me. It may not work for you. But in my experience, it’s worked swimmingly. Also, keep in mind I go to bed between 12:30 am-1 am…I’m def most productive late at night.
Anyway as I’m getting older ( boo ), a 8:15 am-8:30 am wake up call sounds weirdly more appealing.
Ok, now for the question(s). To all the early risers out there: what are some tips on how to wake the F up? Give me the nitty gritty ( not some alarm-setting-wash-my-face-with-freezing-cold-water-tip ).
K?
Oh! &, ya I know what they say…”the early bird gets the worm.”
…But hey, the second mouse gets the cheese ( AKA the sleep ; ) ).
xx.Lauryn
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[ Ready for pumpkin-everything, spooky decorations, & these knee high boots ]
Early morning FASTED cardio (aka. Running) gets me up in the am! Start burning that stubborn body fat early! Some love the idea.. Some hate it.
What I tend to do with those first 30 minutes is always very “easy” but productive. I read “The Skimm” and check in on my favorite blogs. Also, my coffee pot has an alarm, so it will start brewing at 7:45 if I put the grounds in the night before. That’s always a perk to get up!
I usually try to do things that make me look forward to the morning (yoga, green smoothie, breakfast). I also try to sleep somewhere between 10 PM to 12 AM.
Never change a running system, I’d say to you! Although I would try to get some pre-midnight sleep in once in a while as it’s simply the best quality of sleep MOST people can get. May be you don’t need it at all.
I’ve stopped drinking coffee first thing in the morning years ago, It just knocks me down again. Start with tea, then water and around midday go for a coffee.
I wake up early. Like 7-7:30 all the time. Personally I love being an early riser. I can relax and have coffee, study for an hour, blog, read blogs & the news, check instagram/fb/pinny and feel super calm about it (I’m an anxious person who always feels I could be doing something more useful) because the rest of the world is still snoozing! A couple hours later, I’m halfway through a workout and feeling really productive! … I don’t have any tips that don’t involve going to bed an hour earlier or setting an alarm though! I’m way more productive in the morning, but if you are at night, then why switch?!
I’m up at 6am every morning, Sunday included! I started getting up then to help my partner get off to work, and I get most things done before 9am so I’m set up for a productive day. I find sleeping with the blinds OPEN to be really helpful, as the morning sun wakes me gently. I hop up as soon as my alarm rings (I don’t snooze, ever) and I quickly skip out to open the house up and walk outside to greet the animals. The blast of cool, fresh morning air reminds me of how great my decision to get up early was.
I agree with Jess. Sleeping with the blinds open or cracked to let natural light in is helpful. I wake up at 4:30 am everyday including the weekends without an alarm because my dogs wake up at that time! The best thing that has worked for me is to get out of bed immediately when you wake up, whether you’re using an alarm or not, because if you stay in bed after waking its just going to make you groggy and want to snooze. And yes, taking the dogs outside for a walk and having a blast of cool ocean air on your face is an instant wake-up, better than coffee (:
If you’re the kind of person who wakes up and then rolls back over if it’s not time to get up yet, don’t. Your body goes through sleep cycles, and if you wake up naturally, that means that you’re at the end of a cycle. If you force yourself awake in the middle of a cycle, your body will, for hours, think that it should be asleep and you will feel exhausted. Even though you’re technically getting more sleep, you will be more tired than if you woke up an hour earlier at the natural end of a sleep cycle.
That candle looks delicious!
I am a morning person & waking up around 7 w/o an alarm comes naturally to me. But, I set my alarm for between 5:30 and 6 am (earlier then natural). My biggest tip to get my butt up a bit earlier is to have something planned that I look forward to! Whether it is a deep breathing practice, prayer/devo time, journaling, a cup of coffee and the news, or checking Facebook — let yourself do something you really enjoy, right when you wake up, for 15 minutes! It will get you up and going. Then you can do productive things (work out, work, etc) after you have that time for yourself 🙂
A nice shower the moment you get up is a good way to tell your body that you’re starting the day, it’s pleasant, a physical fresh start, and just makes me feel alert.
I wake up at 5 everyday, but I also take a cat nap during the day. Knowing that I’ll get to sleep again in a few short hours makes it so much easier to get up.
I listen to music and stretch! I do a full stretch routine with some soft music gradually turning to more energized songs, and then I drink a big glass of water before breakfast. It works!
^ I second this. My alarm clock plays good music, nothing super harsh. Then I do about 15-30minutes of gentle yoga and drink a cup of warm water with lemon.
6am spin gets me going – it’s like a first cup of coffee kicking my butt into gear for the day.
Hi Lauryn,
It’s easier for me to go to bed earlier and rise earlier once we set the clocks back because it is dark earlier in the evening. Maybe earlier to bed, earlier to rise will work for you! We set clocks back on Nov 2. Take care!
No advice here. I get up because the children make me. Been trying to beat them at it for years just to have some peace and quiet, and a moment to write. Hasn’t happened yet. Still trying. Like you said, sleep is GOOD! Good luck!
I’m most definitely an early riser – up at 4:45am every day, gym at 5:15, work before 8. But it really is part nature and part nurture. I am instinctively an early riser (without an alarm during the week I’d be up by about 5:30; on the weekends I can barely sleep past 7) and by 9:30-10 I’m absolutely ready for bed. That’s the nature part. As far as the nurture – yes, your body will start to acclimate to changes, and things will become habit, but you can’t fully change your body clock. Getting up an hour earlier but going to bed a half hour earlier should work well for you. If this pattern works well for you, getting up 2 or more hours earlier probably wouldn’t be key.
It seems like you’re doing everything else right – routine is key. It’s not about getting into bed early; it’s about trying to get into bed and wake up at the same time every day (and not sleep til noon on weekends).
I don’t ever let myself hit the snooze. I know I really am fine by the time I reach the bathroom. Then I open all the windows to let some cool air in, remind myself how great I’m going to feel on my walk back from the gym, and reward myself when I get back with an awesome protein shake/omelet etc.
I used to be the same way, go to bed late, wake up late.
The best advice I could give is to tire yourself out earlier so that you can get to bed earlier, and in turn, wake up earlier.
It won’t be easy, and your body doesn’t do anything without training, so think of it as exercise. You need to train for it. Going to bed early and waking up early is a skill.
I go to bed at 9:30pm and wake up at 5:00am now….took some time, but I have never felt better!
XO Lauren
I am total definition of an “Early Bird” On weekdays my alarm goes off at 4:20am. Say wha? But its totally worth it. Taking magnesium in the evening totally helps relax your bod & helps you sleep so much deeper. Once my alarm goes off in the morn, I’m rushing out of bed to turn it off..hence..I keep my cell in the bathroom so there’s no “snoozing” going on. You can buy water soluble magnesium, its best when taken in the evenings!!
Hey love!
Knowing I have something to do, even if its just grab a coffee and read a fashion mag gives me a bit of motivation to get my booty up. I have to plan everything (I’m OCD like that)… It helps me start my day off without feeling anxiety!
Also…… I love a good cup of lavender tea when I’m working at night (usually what I drink when I send you those late emails haha). Helps me make sure I’m relaxed when I shut my eyes and not going over a zillion + one things in my head… Which makes getting up easier.
It takes a few times, and there will always be those mornings you hit snooze (especially if the night before included on too many glasses of wine 😉 ) but I’ve just switched from waking up at 8am to 530am… 😐 good luck love.
xx. B
1. The business cards look great!
2. I wish we had Bath and Body Works in the UK, the candles seem soooooo nice – if I was to order one online, which would you recommend?
3. EARLY BIRD is my name. Okay, not really, but to wake up early, I suggest an early bedtime (of course!), get in bed one hour earlier than “bedtime” and try and set the mood with dim lights and a book – that’s just me… – in the morning, set alarm 10-15 minutes before you want to get out of bed, this way you still feel like you have 10-15 minutes of “sleep”/rest. I don’t go back to sleep and spend that time flicking through my mail, twitter, facebook etc. that way my mind “eases” into waking up. Then DON’T, I repeat DO NOT go back to sleep, open curtains, go to the bathroom and start your day!
Hope thats helpful! xoxo,
http://www.berrybloomxo.blogspot.com
I used to really love the phone app Sleep Cycle – it wakes you up when you’re in your lightest sleep stage within a half hour span. It really works! I don’t use it anymore because I really need to wake up exactly at 6, it can’t be any later. It is roughhhh sometimes. that’s not even all that early compared to my friends.
Latley it’s not that bad for me to wake up because I NEED to – I have a cat with epilepsy and if she doesn’t get her meds at 6, she could have a seizure – even 15 min late could do it. SO that’s pretty great motivation to get up! After that I have my coffee and go for a walk, boot camp class, or gym. (I set out my gym clothes or sometimes even wear them to bed)
I used to look at my phone for a bit and the bright light seemed to wake me up, so there’s a tip! Especially looking at my instagram friends who are already killin it and taking pics in the gym – very motivating to get up!
I use to be the same way. Now I go to sleep earlier (aim for 10 p.m. – usually in bed by 11 p.m.) and wake up between 5:45 to 6 a.m. Here are my tips: def go to bed earlier… Put your phone/alarm in a different room so you have to physically get out of bed to turn it off… Get coffee ASAP 🙂 as soon as you have coffee you’ll feel much more awake and ready to start your day!
I wore a JawBone Up band for awhile (until a dog literally tore it apart) and it tracks your sleep, etc. You can program it and put what time you’d like to be awake by. It gently buzzes your wrist when it’s time to wake up. In fact, it is set to wake you up when your in the right stage of sleep. It’s crazy! Needless to say if you want to wake up at 8:15, It’d tell the JawBone up that you want to wake up at 8:30-8:45. It always started buzzing a little earlier than I wanted to wake up but I guess it was when I was in the right stage of my sleep cycle to be least jarring to my boday! 😉 Anyways, good luck! You got this!
Chronic early bird over here! I can’t sleep in to save my life. My early bird secrets: 1. Go to bed earlier (sucks to be a G-Ma already but it works; 2. I open my blinds just a little before bed so I get the morning sun– it’s hard to sleep when the room is bright; 3. This may not apply but works everyday, I listen for Laverne aka the pup. I usually hear her in her crate at about 6:30 and once I hear her moving around, I’m wide awake. Hopefully that helped!
Just start doing it! Go to be a little earlier every night, and wake up a little earlier every morning until you’ve reached the time you want to be up at. Then keep doing it. As soon as you get used to it, it’ll happen easier and feel natural. (I’ve had to readjust my wake/sleep sched a few times due to my bf’s work schedule.) I’m an early riser anyways, but 7am was when I’d normally wake up, but now that he has to be at work by 6am I get up at 4:45am to make his lunch. Then I just start my day. Clean the house, go to the gym, come home shower get ready for work. Hot tea or coffee help me wake up, after a HUGE glass of water! Then after work, I don’t have to much but make dinner and relax 🙂
First off, the sleep cycle App is amazing! Wakes me up feeling great. Definitely check that out!
If I plan to workout in the early morning I will sleep in my gym clothes so that I am ready to get out the door.
Having something to look forward to in the morning, like a workout class, personal trainer appointment, or knowing you have to meet someone at the gym or for coffee. I also use a fun, peppy song as an alarm, Let Me Clear My Throat – DJ Kool, but to each her own 🙂
The bombshell spell from my Tone it up nutrition plan!
Sad, but food gets me up. I have always been a sleeper inner so it was rough at first but after some practice it’s all natural now. When I wake up the first thing I remind myself of is that I get to go make oatmeal and go for a little early-morning run, works like a charm.
Make sure that you are still following a standard set of sleep cycles. ie., make sure that you sleep for 6, 7.5, or 9 hour increments. If that means that you have to go to bed an hour earlier or sleep a half hour later, so be it.
So I was always a late riser and in the past year I’ve completely made a shift. I now get up at either 5:25 or 5:55 depending on if I’m going to a 6 or 630am yoga class.. I absolutely love getting up early and it’s become something I look forward to.
A few of my favorite tips:
1. a large cup of warm water with lemon – helps me wake up and energize from the inside out, plus it balances your pH
2. have something to look forward to that encourages you to get out of bed..if I wasn’t completely stoked on going to my yoga classes in the am, there’s no way I’d get up! Maybe it’s not yoga for you maybe it’s something else – doing an early morning blog post or I don’t know, whatever you enjoy..but definitely have something to look forward to.
After a few weeks, waking up earlier becomes a routine and you learn to love it! Good luck!
PS obviously the 5 o clock hour will not work for you but I do think you’ll love your new 815-830 wake up call!
The days I wake up easiest is when I set my mind to it the night before. If I just go to bed and don’t really think about the next morning, chances are I’m going to wake up and press my snooze 5 times before I get up. Before dozing off the night before, I like to think about what I’m going to do when I get up, and picture it in my head (getting up, getting work out stuff on, exercising, eating breakfast (and planning what I’m eating), etc). When I do wake up, the first thing that comes to mind is the mission I laid out for myself the night before and I’m ready to go without even thinking about it! I also sleep better, without worry due to being awakened with anxiety of forgetting something. I find it’s a mindset more than anything.
I recently started getting up @ 6am to get my gym session in before work rather than after but let me tell you, it wasn’t easy at first. What helped me was setting my phone alarm, and then putting the phone at least 10 feet away from me – so I literally had to get up to turn it off.
Also, having a legit reason to get up – such as a workout at 7am – vs. just ‘wanting to get up earlier’ will make you accountable to get up. Otherwise its all too easy to hit silence on the alarm and hit the sheets again.
Good luck!
I thought I was the ONLY one with this sleep schedule too! Why do I feel bad about it? I freak if I wake up past 9 a.m. or so, and usually am not even remotely tired until 1:00 a.m., but get so much done between 7 p.m. and 1 a.m. at night too. I’ve learned to accept it after a year and I’m just glad I’m not alone. I say, if your body tells you that’s what it likes- just go with it! Great post!:)
I’d suggest going to sleep at 12 for a week and see what time you wake naturally. If you’re looking for something organic to wake you up earlier…try kids. I’ve been blessed with two that didn’t come with a snooze button. We’re up and out the door, cycling or watering the plants at 6am.
I love your #anxiety – cracks me up!
Oh girl, I’m glad you posted this! Sleep is sooo important! Especially if you work out a lot (like you do!), it’s necessary for muscle recovery. It shocks me to see some of my fit friends who brag (via Facebook/Insty/Twitter check-ins) about hitting the gym at 3am or 4am! Kuddos to them- if it’s the only time they can make it happen, that’s ah-MAY-zing! BUT I feel like those people (and others) associate early rising with being more organized/productive/etc… Me, I’d rather be fully rested and go to the gym later in the day. 🙂
Good for you for listening to your natural rhythms! My favorite time to sleep has always been midnight to 8am, so getting up at 7am for work was never my favorite. Now I work from home so I wake up when I feel like it- between 7am and 8:30am (unless I have an early conference call). But yeah, I totally agree with you- life is MUCH better when you can wake up, sans alarm, fully rested. To me that’s the best way to start the day no matter what time it is. 🙂
I get up around 6:30 every morning so that I can workout before school. Most of the time I’m really tired! Here’s what helps me:
Some mornings I like to pop in my earbuds as soon as I get out of bed and put on a really upbeat song (like SG’s Come & Get It)
I use a sort of loud alarm that makes me spring awake
And of course working out in the morning is what really wakes me up!
Hope this helps! Best of luck!
xoxo, em
If you want to make waking up early a habit…borrow a toddler or baby! They will have you up nice and early consistently. If you need help finding one, you can borrow mine for a couple days! Sleeping into 8:30 seems like an absolute dream.
The only reason that I wake up at 5:45 is because I have to. I’d definitely wake up at 11 everyday if I could. There really is no appeal. If you aren’t cramming all day due to lack of time, you should sleep in. The only reasons I willingly wake up before the sun is to watch the sunrise or get a workout in before my day starts.
Sleep with the windows/curtains open. The natural light wakes me up, and is much more pleasant than an alarm clock 🙂
A cup of chamomile tea, light yoga/meditating, and slowly changing my bedtime to 10 mins earlier each week now lets me get to sleep by 11ish and up and well rested by 7-8!
The only way I can get up early is the reminder that the today show is on, and starbucks is only 2 miles away from my house! Haha. But I have always been an early riser, for me it is so weird to sleep in past 7:30a. My ‘sleeping in’ is 7:00-7:15!
I love waking up early to get my run in or go to an early yoga class. I always think about what yummy breakfast I am going to have after and make coffee before I leave to look forward to!
Hi, I work at a sleep clinic and the best quality and most important sleep will happen before 12am (roughly). Your body’s natural sleep/wake cycle is controlled by you circadian rhythm, which is the biological clock that controls your physiological processes over a 24hr cycle. This dictates that your meant to be asleep when the sun goes down and awake when it comes up. So basically the earlier to bed the better, it will help you to achieve more quality stage 3 sleep (where immune repair function and memory consolidation occurs) and REM (dream sleep). Quality is much more important than quantity when it comes to sleep 😉