4 ms·

There's a lot of misinformation here, so let's go 1 by 1. For the record, I'm a night owl, and I've been trying to change my schedule to a morning person for ab

There's a lot of misinformation here, so let's go 1 by 1. For the record, I'm a night owl, and I've been trying to change my schedule to a morning person for about 11 years now (with limited success). 1. Sure, that works, for a time, possibly even a few months. Until you begin subconsciously turning the alarms off or hitting the snooze. That leads to a self-reinforcing loop of "turn alarm off --> pleasure from sleep --> no mental block to turning it off next time --> turn alarm off". Anecdotally, the periods where I've lasted longest as a "morning person" lacked any sort of alarms at all. 2. That's simply not true. Coffee takes about 5-7 hours to wear off, so if you're going to bed around 2100, your safest cut off would be 1400, but generally 1600 wouldn't be that bad either. I've also had coffee and had deep, restful naps just an hour later. If you're really, truly tired, coffee is not a significant inhibitor after 5 hours. 3. That is simply not an option for most people. Family members, roommates, gyms, all might have TV screens or people browsing their phones and talking loudly and doing various activities. You can't simple "escape" the digital world entirely at 8pm. This is realistic on vacation, and I can confirm it results in better sleep, but in day2day, you're bound to slip eventually. 4. Workout - working out can prevent you from falling asleep from all the adrenaline generated during the workout. Just like coffee, it's better to not do it within 3 hours of sleep but many people don't have the luxury of choosing when they go to the gym (if they go at all). But what's the end result? You wake up earlier, and you get tired and sleepy in the afternoon, around 1-2pm. Most workplaces don't allow you to nap for an hour, so you keep feeling tired and unproductive for the rest of the day. Not to mention waking up early makes you feel really hungry if you don't eat a big breakfast.

mi100hael 10y ago
> Until you begin subconsciously turning the alarms off or hitting the snooze. Your counter-argument here appears to be "it's hard." Sure, it is, but your goal is to make it easier by ensuring a routine, a better nights sleep, etc. Some mornings still suck, but they still suck when it's 9am and the bed is warm and you're already late and don't want to go to work. > That's simply not true. Coffee takes about 5-7 hours to wear off. I didn't make any factual assertions regarding caffeine, so it's not something that can be true or false. I suggest avoiding caffeine after noon because it's a crutch. It also ensures there's no chance your body is affected by stimulants when the sun goes down and it's time to wind down. I know from experience that it's far easier to retrain your body to sleep easily and wake early if you minimize chemicals like caffeine and alcohol that interfere with your brain's natural behaviors. > That is simply not an option for most people. Family members, roommates, gyms, all might have TV screens or people browsing their phones and talking loudly and doing various activities. People did it for millions of years. In general you shouldn't be working out once you cross that time threshold, either, since you want your body to be preparing to sleep. Spend some time in the kitchen preparing your breakfast and lunch. Do some laundry or house cleaning. Get your things ready for the next day so you wake up without stress. Then grab a physical, paper book and read until you start to feel drowsy. > many people don't have the luxury of choosing when they go to the gym (if they go at all). Possibly the number one greatest thing about waking up early is that you all of a sudden have an extra two or three hours all to yourself. You can work out early in the morning, work on side projects, actually sit and eat breakfast, etc. I basically eliminated my afternoon crash since I no longer skip breakfast and overeat at lunch, and I don't hit a major caffeine low.
- antisthenes 10y ago
  > Your counter-argument here appears to be "it's hard." The counter-argument here is that it gets progressively harder. If something is getting progressively harder for the same benefit, what's the purpose of continuing to do so? Likewise, if something is a consistent difficulty, but with diminishing returns, what's the purpose of continuing? > I suggest avoiding caffeine after noon because it's a crutch. I take it you don't suffer from ADHD or any other learning disabilities. Some people need crutches to walk and not everyone is wired for the same focus and concentration ability. Calling an enjoyable harmless habit a "crutch" is nothing but a snooty high horse remark. We're not talking about popping adderall here (which has its own legitimate use cases), we're talking about 1 cup of coffee/day. > In general you shouldn't be working out once you cross that time threshold, either, since you want your body to be preparing to sleep. Spend some time in the kitchen preparing your breakfast and lunch. Do some laundry or house cleaning. Get your things ready for the next day so you wake up without stress. Then grab a physical, paper book and read until you start to feel drowsy. Again, thanks for the snooty and terrible advice. People fit household chores into the time-frames they have, and frankly house cleaning is a sometimes vigorous physical activity that's very likely to leave you in a state of elevated heart rate, just as a workout would have. > Possibly the number one greatest thing about waking up early is that you all of a sudden have an extra two or three hours all to yourself. You can work out early in the morning, work on side projects, actually sit and eat breakfast, etc. I basically eliminated my afternoon crash since I no longer skip breakfast and overeat at lunch, and I don't hit a major caffeine low. The time doesn't come from nowhere. There are only 24 hours in a day and early birds just shift the productive day to 3-4 hours earlier. If you're in bed at 9PM, You lose out on the productive 9-12 hours.
- npsimons 10y ago
  > Spend some time in the kitchen preparing your breakfast and lunch. Do some laundry or house cleaning. Get your things ready for the next day so you wake up without stress. This makes a big difference: set it up so that all you have to do in the morning is jump out of bed and put on shoes then head out the door. Have everything you possibly can packed and in the car/bicycle trunk. Shower before bed, or after your workout in the morning. Virtual inertia can make it harder to get going in the mornings; eliminate it. > Possibly the number one greatest thing about waking up early is that you all of a sudden have an extra two or three hours all to yourself. You can work out early in the morning, It's funny too, because I had the exact same response to the "luxury of choosing when they get to work out." Getting up earlier is the perfect life hack to jobs that you can't take a workout break from, because you now are getting your workout in before you even get to the office, when the gym is least crowded. Bonus: sleep in your workout clothes, then you only have to change clothes once instead of getting dressed for work in the morning, then changing to workout clothes at the gym, then changing back to office clothing.

mi100hael 10y ago

> Until you begin subconsciously turning the alarms off or hitting the snooze. Your counter-argument here appears to be "it's hard." Sure, it is, but your goal is to make it easier by ensuring a routine, a better nights sleep, etc. Some mornings still suck, but they still suck when it's 9am and the bed is warm and you're already late and don't want to go to work. > That's simply not true. Coffee takes about 5-7 hours to wear off. I didn't make any factual assertions regarding caffeine, so it's not something that can be true or false. I suggest avoiding caffeine after noon because it's a crutch. It also ensures there's no chance your body is affected by stimulants when the sun goes down and it's time to wind down. I know from experience that it's far easier to retrain your body to sleep easily and wake early if you minimize chemicals like caffeine and alcohol that interfere with your brain's natural behaviors. > That is simply not an option for most people. Family members, roommates, gyms, all might have TV screens or people browsing their phones and talking loudly and doing various activities. People did it for millions of years. In general you shouldn't be working out once you cross that time threshold, either, since you want your body to be preparing to sleep. Spend some time in the kitchen preparing your breakfast and lunch. Do some laundry or house cleaning. Get your things ready for the next day so you wake up without stress. Then grab a physical, paper book and read until you start to feel drowsy. > many people don't have the luxury of choosing when they go to the gym (if they go at all). Possibly the number one greatest thing about waking up early is that you all of a sudden have an extra two or three hours all to yourself. You can work out early in the morning, work on side projects, actually sit and eat breakfast, etc. I basically eliminated my afternoon crash since I no longer skip breakfast and overeat at lunch, and I don't hit a major caffeine low.

antisthenes 10y ago
> Your counter-argument here appears to be "it's hard." The counter-argument here is that it gets progressively harder. If something is getting progressively harder for the same benefit, what's the purpose of continuing to do so? Likewise, if something is a consistent difficulty, but with diminishing returns, what's the purpose of continuing? > I suggest avoiding caffeine after noon because it's a crutch. I take it you don't suffer from ADHD or any other learning disabilities. Some people need crutches to walk and not everyone is wired for the same focus and concentration ability. Calling an enjoyable harmless habit a "crutch" is nothing but a snooty high horse remark. We're not talking about popping adderall here (which has its own legitimate use cases), we're talking about 1 cup of coffee/day. > In general you shouldn't be working out once you cross that time threshold, either, since you want your body to be preparing to sleep. Spend some time in the kitchen preparing your breakfast and lunch. Do some laundry or house cleaning. Get your things ready for the next day so you wake up without stress. Then grab a physical, paper book and read until you start to feel drowsy. Again, thanks for the snooty and terrible advice. People fit household chores into the time-frames they have, and frankly house cleaning is a sometimes vigorous physical activity that's very likely to leave you in a state of elevated heart rate, just as a workout would have. > Possibly the number one greatest thing about waking up early is that you all of a sudden have an extra two or three hours all to yourself. You can work out early in the morning, work on side projects, actually sit and eat breakfast, etc. I basically eliminated my afternoon crash since I no longer skip breakfast and overeat at lunch, and I don't hit a major caffeine low. The time doesn't come from nowhere. There are only 24 hours in a day and early birds just shift the productive day to 3-4 hours earlier. If you're in bed at 9PM, You lose out on the productive 9-12 hours.
npsimons 10y ago
> Spend some time in the kitchen preparing your breakfast and lunch. Do some laundry or house cleaning. Get your things ready for the next day so you wake up without stress. This makes a big difference: set it up so that all you have to do in the morning is jump out of bed and put on shoes then head out the door. Have everything you possibly can packed and in the car/bicycle trunk. Shower before bed, or after your workout in the morning. Virtual inertia can make it harder to get going in the mornings; eliminate it. > Possibly the number one greatest thing about waking up early is that you all of a sudden have an extra two or three hours all to yourself. You can work out early in the morning, It's funny too, because I had the exact same response to the "luxury of choosing when they get to work out." Getting up earlier is the perfect life hack to jobs that you can't take a workout break from, because you now are getting your workout in before you even get to the office, when the gym is least crowded. Bonus: sleep in your workout clothes, then you only have to change clothes once instead of getting dressed for work in the morning, then changing to workout clothes at the gym, then changing back to office clothing.