How to improve waking up?
January 12, 2023 5:31 AM Subscribe
How to make waking up less horrible?
As part of new year's resolutions, I've been trying to wake up earlier. My usual wake up is 6:30, but I have been aiming for 5:45. Not a huge difference! But it is the worst. It is cold, dark, and generally I feel like crap. I am going to bed at a decent time (~1030 to 11) and I am not drinking during the week. It still sucks! I am interested in your tips and tricks for how you accomplished an earlier wake up routine. And, relatedly, how do you not feel like hell when you wake up, in general? Is it hydration? Something else?
As part of new year's resolutions, I've been trying to wake up earlier. My usual wake up is 6:30, but I have been aiming for 5:45. Not a huge difference! But it is the worst. It is cold, dark, and generally I feel like crap. I am going to bed at a decent time (~1030 to 11) and I am not drinking during the week. It still sucks! I am interested in your tips and tricks for how you accomplished an earlier wake up routine. And, relatedly, how do you not feel like hell when you wake up, in general? Is it hydration? Something else?
The only way I have ever not felt like shit immediately after waking up is when I am allowed to wake up on my own rather than being woken by something else. Alarm clocks and I are not good friends.
You say you're going to bed at 22:30 to 23:00, and waking at 5:45? That means you're getting at best seven hours of sleep. Some people thrive on that little but most don't. If you've moved your waking time earlier by 45 minutes and you haven't also pulled your actually-getting-to-sleep time earlier by the same amount, you're going to feel like shit from straight-up sleep deprivation and this feeling will be cumulative.
Even if you have changed your night routine so you're falling asleep 45 minutes earlier, it's going to take at least a few weeks for the new pattern to pull your circadian rhythm into line.
Some people's circadian rhythms are super resistant to being pulled into line in this way; mine certainly is, which is why now that I'm retired I am so much enjoying the freedom to let my body do what it wants, which is fall asleep at around 5:30 and not wake again until 14:00.
posted by flabdablet at 5:43 AM on January 12, 2023 [11 favorites]
You say you're going to bed at 22:30 to 23:00, and waking at 5:45? That means you're getting at best seven hours of sleep. Some people thrive on that little but most don't. If you've moved your waking time earlier by 45 minutes and you haven't also pulled your actually-getting-to-sleep time earlier by the same amount, you're going to feel like shit from straight-up sleep deprivation and this feeling will be cumulative.
Even if you have changed your night routine so you're falling asleep 45 minutes earlier, it's going to take at least a few weeks for the new pattern to pull your circadian rhythm into line.
Some people's circadian rhythms are super resistant to being pulled into line in this way; mine certainly is, which is why now that I'm retired I am so much enjoying the freedom to let my body do what it wants, which is fall asleep at around 5:30 and not wake again until 14:00.
posted by flabdablet at 5:43 AM on January 12, 2023 [11 favorites]
If you are getting up earlier then you absolutely should be going to sleep earlier. Move up the whole winding down schedule. Screens off, etc at least an hour before desired sleep time.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 5:43 AM on January 12, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 5:43 AM on January 12, 2023 [3 favorites]
Another thing that makes waking up much less unpleasant for me is doing so after fasting for at least a couple of days. But there is really no sustainable substitute for getting enough sleep on every spin of the planet.
posted by flabdablet at 5:47 AM on January 12, 2023
posted by flabdablet at 5:47 AM on January 12, 2023
Ironically some of the times I’ve felt best just waking up were after an ER visit, because I’d had a saline drip. So yes, hydration seems to be a big part of it.
That said, you need more sleep. Focus on shifting your bedtime earlier if you must wake up at such an uncivilized hour. Shaving a solid 45 minutes off your sleep is a huge deal. Our bodies go through cycles when we sleep, involving all kinds of organs and systems and processes. When we cut these cycles off at an unnatural time, everything stays out of whack. Get those 45 minutes back.
posted by Mizu at 5:49 AM on January 12, 2023 [3 favorites]
That said, you need more sleep. Focus on shifting your bedtime earlier if you must wake up at such an uncivilized hour. Shaving a solid 45 minutes off your sleep is a huge deal. Our bodies go through cycles when we sleep, involving all kinds of organs and systems and processes. When we cut these cycles off at an unnatural time, everything stays out of whack. Get those 45 minutes back.
posted by Mizu at 5:49 AM on January 12, 2023 [3 favorites]
The total amount of sleep is important as noted by others, but there’s also a difference in how you feel based on where you are in the sleep cycle. So even if 6-7 hours of sleep works for you otherwise you may be forcing yourself to wake up during a deeper sleep cycle. There are alarms/apps that claim to monitor your sleep cycles and can wake you during a more favorable point in your sleep cycle within a certain window.
But also yeah go to bed an hour earlier.
posted by jeoc at 5:55 AM on January 12, 2023 [3 favorites]
But also yeah go to bed an hour earlier.
posted by jeoc at 5:55 AM on January 12, 2023 [3 favorites]
I have a Philips Hue bulb. It ets me set a morning wake-up routine, which I have set to slowly fade in the light for 20 minutes. This ends with the light at full brightness 5 minutes before my scheduled alarm goes off. About 90% of the time, I sort of gently wake up with the room lighting up before the jarring alarm goes off. That kind of transition from sleep to wake leaves me feeling much, much more put together than when I get blasted out of sleep by an abrupt alarm.
In the past I had the light rising up in brightness so that full brightness coincided with the sound alarm. It was a happy, random discovery that I could put a gap between the two and give the light time to wake me up. I know some people do this with sound alone, too, so that a gentle set of sounds comes on first, continues for some period of time, and ending with the sort of last resort klaxon as a back-up.
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 6:02 AM on January 12, 2023 [6 favorites]
In the past I had the light rising up in brightness so that full brightness coincided with the sound alarm. It was a happy, random discovery that I could put a gap between the two and give the light time to wake me up. I know some people do this with sound alone, too, so that a gentle set of sounds comes on first, continues for some period of time, and ending with the sort of last resort klaxon as a back-up.
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 6:02 AM on January 12, 2023 [6 favorites]
good morning! three tips:
posted by tamarack at 6:09 AM on January 12, 2023 [3 favorites]
- sunrise alarm clock. i cannot recommend this strongly enough. it makes the difference between “jarred awake in the dark, nauseated” to “ugh, it’s a bit early”. i have an older philips model, and it has served me for years so far. no regrets on the price!
- definitely go to bed earlier, but can i also suggested that 45 mins earlier is a big difference?! why not try a 5-10 minute increment approach. even 10 mins a week for a month would allow your body some hope of catching up.
- treat yourself to coffee (if you are a coffee person). i have a keurig machine on my nightstand (no, i am not kidding) and it is such a kindness in the winter when it is dark and cold and generally feels like hibernation season. ymmv on this tip, but consider: I can have coffee before my feet hit the floor :)
posted by tamarack at 6:09 AM on January 12, 2023 [3 favorites]
2nding if you've tried something that simulates sunrise like the Hue bulbs mentioned by late afternoon dreaming hotel.
posted by Candleman at 6:10 AM on January 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Candleman at 6:10 AM on January 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
One thing that has helped is to keep a big thing of water by my nightstand and drink the whe thing immediately upon waking. Instant jolt of energy.
posted by lemur at 6:16 AM on January 12, 2023
posted by lemur at 6:16 AM on January 12, 2023
As someone who typically wakes up early (not so much by choice), I'm going to second all of the comments pointing out that waking up earlier means going to bed earlier. If you don't, then you just feel short on sleep and each day gets cumulatively a bit worse.
Also, waking up way before daylight does kind of suck. I really like the point in the spring where the increasingly early sunrise mean that it starts being light out when I get up. It just feels much nicer than being in the dark, even for the exact same hours of sleep.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:29 AM on January 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
Also, waking up way before daylight does kind of suck. I really like the point in the spring where the increasingly early sunrise mean that it starts being light out when I get up. It just feels much nicer than being in the dark, even for the exact same hours of sleep.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:29 AM on January 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
An assumption was made that you are getting fewer hours of sleep, I'm not sure I see that in your Ask.
To get up earlier, go to sleep earlier, not just by the same amount, but by more. You want to get up 45 minutes earlier; go to bed an hour and a half earlier; your body will be closer to waking when it's 5:45. Get enough sleep. Adequate sleep has a bunch of health benefits, and does help with waking at a reasonable time.
As you sleep, your brain tracks subtle indicators of time and prepares to wake at the usual time. In winter's darkness, this is a difficult change, but as the days lengthen it gets easier. What helped me get up and be happy this morning was filling the coffeepot and setting the timer last night. I opened the bedroom door and smelled coffee and my day got so much better.
posted by theora55 at 7:07 AM on January 12, 2023
To get up earlier, go to sleep earlier, not just by the same amount, but by more. You want to get up 45 minutes earlier; go to bed an hour and a half earlier; your body will be closer to waking when it's 5:45. Get enough sleep. Adequate sleep has a bunch of health benefits, and does help with waking at a reasonable time.
As you sleep, your brain tracks subtle indicators of time and prepares to wake at the usual time. In winter's darkness, this is a difficult change, but as the days lengthen it gets easier. What helped me get up and be happy this morning was filling the coffeepot and setting the timer last night. I opened the bedroom door and smelled coffee and my day got so much better.
posted by theora55 at 7:07 AM on January 12, 2023
I use Alarmy with several alarms of increasing annoyance. It's expensive but it is brutally effective.
What works for me is to wake up about an hour before I have to get out of bed and then I give myself an hour to lounge and read or play silly games or just cuddle cats. Getting straight out of bed makes me want to stab people, but having the sense of 'ahahah I am snuggled in bed and don't have to get up!' for a blissful hour makes it much easier.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 7:20 AM on January 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
What works for me is to wake up about an hour before I have to get out of bed and then I give myself an hour to lounge and read or play silly games or just cuddle cats. Getting straight out of bed makes me want to stab people, but having the sense of 'ahahah I am snuggled in bed and don't have to get up!' for a blissful hour makes it much easier.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 7:20 AM on January 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
The body lowers temperature in preparation for sleep and raises the temperature around 3 am as part of the circadian wake-sleep cycle. Wearing warm clothing for my head or feet helps me wake with the my natural rise in body temperature, usually about an hour before sunrise.
Also, eating a very spare amount in late afternoon and evening helps my hunger to wake me up for the new day; I feel so much more energetic than on the days when I've had a heavy meal and some alcohol late at night.
Staying hydrated also helps. My bladder sends me email prompts to rise and shine, so to speak. I would languish in bed for much longer without her insistent prompts. Bless her little heart.
posted by effluvia at 7:30 AM on January 12, 2023
Also, eating a very spare amount in late afternoon and evening helps my hunger to wake me up for the new day; I feel so much more energetic than on the days when I've had a heavy meal and some alcohol late at night.
Staying hydrated also helps. My bladder sends me email prompts to rise and shine, so to speak. I would languish in bed for much longer without her insistent prompts. Bless her little heart.
posted by effluvia at 7:30 AM on January 12, 2023
a) overcompensate at first, getting in bed/lights out much earlier.
b) cbd tincture 1hr before bed changed my life. I've never got "too little" sleep. but as long as i can remember, i have had "super shitty" sleep. I'd wake up rested maybe 1/month.
these days? feeling rested 5/7 days.
posted by j_curiouser at 7:41 AM on January 12, 2023
b) cbd tincture 1hr before bed changed my life. I've never got "too little" sleep. but as long as i can remember, i have had "super shitty" sleep. I'd wake up rested maybe 1/month.
these days? feeling rested 5/7 days.
posted by j_curiouser at 7:41 AM on January 12, 2023
I always feel the worst waking up when I'm drinking more caffeine, probably because I can easily end up basically in mild caffeine withdrawal immediately upon waking. So, less caffeine is always something to try.
It's tricky, but working out how to time your alarm to your usual sleep cycles can work. You can try to either fall asleep a little earlier or a little later (or ditto moving your alarm a bit) and see if you can get the lighter part of your sleep cycle to line up with your alarm. There are calculators that try to guess based on average sleep cycle lengths, but it can vary by person (and probably changes as you age). This can really help with grogginess but it's also pretty hard unless you're great at enforcing bedtimes.
posted by BungaDunga at 8:12 AM on January 12, 2023
It's tricky, but working out how to time your alarm to your usual sleep cycles can work. You can try to either fall asleep a little earlier or a little later (or ditto moving your alarm a bit) and see if you can get the lighter part of your sleep cycle to line up with your alarm. There are calculators that try to guess based on average sleep cycle lengths, but it can vary by person (and probably changes as you age). This can really help with grogginess but it's also pretty hard unless you're great at enforcing bedtimes.
posted by BungaDunga at 8:12 AM on January 12, 2023
It's tricky, but working out how to time your alarm to your usual sleep cycles can work.
I was just about to recommend using a sleep cycle alarm clock app. I have one on my iPhone (called, unsurprisingly, "Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock"). It analyzes the noises you make when you are sleeping to figure out what stage of the sleep cycle you are in. You give it a time window in which you need to wake up, and the alarm sounds when you are in a light sleep. Sure, you might sleep twenty or thirty minutes less, but I'd much rather do that than get jolted awake from a deep sleep. I've used it for several years and love it.
But also: everyone who said go to bed earlier is right. Your plan isn't providing enough sleep.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 8:18 AM on January 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
I was just about to recommend using a sleep cycle alarm clock app. I have one on my iPhone (called, unsurprisingly, "Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock"). It analyzes the noises you make when you are sleeping to figure out what stage of the sleep cycle you are in. You give it a time window in which you need to wake up, and the alarm sounds when you are in a light sleep. Sure, you might sleep twenty or thirty minutes less, but I'd much rather do that than get jolted awake from a deep sleep. I've used it for several years and love it.
But also: everyone who said go to bed earlier is right. Your plan isn't providing enough sleep.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 8:18 AM on January 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
I go to bed ridiculously early in the winter (7pm or 7:30 is not unheard of, 9 or 9:30 would be late-ish) and have most of my workweek free/me time in the morning before work. I then wake up without an alarm. But this is what my body seems inclined to. It’s not for everyone. For me I’d rather be awake in the morning in (outside) darkness than in the evening.
posted by needs more cowbell at 8:47 AM on January 12, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by needs more cowbell at 8:47 AM on January 12, 2023 [4 favorites]
I also use Sleep Cycle, and have it connected to Hue bulbs in two bedroom lamps; it brings the light up gradually over the course of about half an hour, so that when the alarm goes off, the lamps are at full brightness. In the winter, it makes a world of difference.
(and yes - go to bed earlier too!)
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 8:47 AM on January 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
(and yes - go to bed earlier too!)
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 8:47 AM on January 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
Put on happy music or a chatty podcast and take that noise immediately into the bathroom for a quick shower.
posted by pseudostrabismus at 8:59 AM on January 12, 2023
posted by pseudostrabismus at 8:59 AM on January 12, 2023
The answer is you need to be going to bed even earlier and waking up naturally. There's no like woo I'm alive feeling coming from being forced awake ever. I have always, always, always been a huge night person, and I use the word literally literally when I say that waking up before dawn is not a thing I have ever done willingly.
Yet when I just started going to sleep at 10pm, I started waking up naturally a few hours ahead of my alarm and with it pitch black out. And I was actually weirdly energized for once in my life and happy. I don't do it often, I like the night time a lot, but the answer was just go to bed as early as possible for me.
You will never bounce out of bed feeling awake if you're not adequately rested. Also, part of waking up is that it's really in stages. Doesn't have to take long to go through them, but it is a process generally for our brains, right?
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 9:05 AM on January 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
Yet when I just started going to sleep at 10pm, I started waking up naturally a few hours ahead of my alarm and with it pitch black out. And I was actually weirdly energized for once in my life and happy. I don't do it often, I like the night time a lot, but the answer was just go to bed as early as possible for me.
You will never bounce out of bed feeling awake if you're not adequately rested. Also, part of waking up is that it's really in stages. Doesn't have to take long to go through them, but it is a process generally for our brains, right?
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 9:05 AM on January 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
I also have a Philips sunrise alarm clock and it makes waking up way less horrible for sure.
The other trick I learned from MeFi is to "practice" waking up. Like you literally need to set your alarm for a few minutes from now, get into bed, and then when it goes off, get up. Repeat. I'm at the point now where I just visualize it before I go to bed, and I'm pretty good at getting up when my alarm goes off now.
posted by radioamy at 9:40 AM on January 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
The other trick I learned from MeFi is to "practice" waking up. Like you literally need to set your alarm for a few minutes from now, get into bed, and then when it goes off, get up. Repeat. I'm at the point now where I just visualize it before I go to bed, and I'm pretty good at getting up when my alarm goes off now.
posted by radioamy at 9:40 AM on January 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
are you certain that you are sleeping well? long ago i had surgery and the anesthesiologist told me straight up: "you have a narrrow airway, and probably have sleep apnea. you should get a sleep test".
i did a test and they were right. so i started sleeping with a CPAP and it legit changed my life. waking up became easy and my need for daytime naps vanished. i love that this condition is treatable via mechanical means, as opposed to using drugs.
posted by bruceo at 10:46 AM on January 12, 2023
i did a test and they were right. so i started sleeping with a CPAP and it legit changed my life. waking up became easy and my need for daytime naps vanished. i love that this condition is treatable via mechanical means, as opposed to using drugs.
posted by bruceo at 10:46 AM on January 12, 2023
Nthing everybody who says are you still getting enough sleep? I frequently struggle to get up during the week because I fail to go to bed early enough to get enough sleep. On vacation I go to bed earlier because I don’t feel the need for me time after work (which causes me to stay up as opposed to sleeping) and I have no problems getting up.
posted by koahiatamadl at 11:01 AM on January 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by koahiatamadl at 11:01 AM on January 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
Do you get enough magnesium? Most north americans don't, we run a deficiency in our diets. Also as you age your electrolytes are more likely to be unbalanced, especially if you are a person who will experience menopause, so if you're over 31, consider supplementation for them!
I started drinking 500-750ml of water with a single scoop of this not-entirely-disgusting electrolyte drink in the evening about 6 months ago and I feel like it has made waking up (and um, existing) a little nicer!
posted by euphoria066 at 5:25 PM on January 12, 2023
I started drinking 500-750ml of water with a single scoop of this not-entirely-disgusting electrolyte drink in the evening about 6 months ago and I feel like it has made waking up (and um, existing) a little nicer!
posted by euphoria066 at 5:25 PM on January 12, 2023
Response by poster: OK, I don't want to get ahead of myself too far, but I bought a sunrise lamp and it has blasted me out of bed early the last 4 days, feeling pretty good. We will see if it sticks!
posted by Mid at 8:01 AM on January 19, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Mid at 8:01 AM on January 19, 2023 [1 favorite]
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I was ready to come in here and tell you to have a glass of water by your bed and drink the whole thing when your alarm goes off, while you're waking up and your body is equalizing, that helps me tremendously. But you've chosen to go from a full night's sleep to not a full night's sleep. And for what.
If I were your body I'd be pissy at you, too.
posted by phunniemee at 5:42 AM on January 12, 2023 [42 favorites]