I’m always so exhausted, I can take an hour to wake up. How do you wake up quickly ?
Conventional wisdom is to keep a balanced circadian rhythm. Sleep at regularish times. Your body clock is set by when you first see blue light from above, so going outside first thing and looking up. Meal times too. Consider your diet and pre sleep habits - sugar, tv, caffeine tend to mess with sleep. Alcohol disables your adrenaline and helps fall asleep but then lowers the quality. Weed largely removes dreams and helps feel rested, but then there’s a slight hangover that encourages you to keep smoking
In short, it’s a holistic lifestyle thing. Everyone is different, so keeping a journal and experimenting helps. And of course your daily level of stress is a factor
There are also bedside lamps that slowly turn on at defined times, so you can wake up slowly. I’ve also built a blue light with a pi zero for my kids, that slowly increases in intensity over 10 minutes
I would also suggest something like a very bright Philips hue light (or other smart bulb). For me personally the bedside lamps can be problematic when sleeping sideways. And with smart bulbs you can just use whatever lamp you want.
I did this as well. I put 3 in the ceiling fan above my bed.
I get up an hour before my partner, and I also wake up easier, so I have them turn on at a low orange-red sunrise type color. They then later gradually brighten to a higher level of bright white when it’s time for her to get up, so it’s more intense, but still not harsh.
We still have alarms to actually get us up, but they can be quieter and less harsh, since the light helps the actual waking effect.
Go to sleep earlier, you probably are really just still exhausted from lack of sleep. Once you have eniugh sleep you’ll wake up without falling asleep again.
Perform acts counter to what your body wants for the majority of your earthly existence. Feel bad bout wanting rest and relaxation. Develop anxiety about not having enough money.
Humans need money to survive, for other species it’s free.
Even though humans would suck at surviving now and probably almost all die if society collapses.
Make it a habit to always just stand up when you wake up. Even if it’s like an hour away from when you actually wanted to get out of bed. I used to be really bad at getting out of bed, but now even when I’m depressed I manage quite well. I will say you need motivation to get around the start.
Always wake up at the same time
Yes, even on weekends.
this.
And try to go to bed at the same time, preferably early.
I use “Sleep as Android”.
- Sleep tracking in an attempt to wake me up 30 minutes before my alarm depending on my sleep cycle.
- Smart watch with the same app for increasing the accuracy of sleep tracking by giving access to my pulse.
- NFC Tag. Using one of the settings from the same app. I’ve connected it to an NFC tag in my living room. I can’t turn off my alarm unless I scan the NFC tag. Nor can I turn off my phone, snooze the alarm, or lower the volume.
ah, neat. NFC.
I used to set an alarm on my laptop to go off at the same time as my phone, so I would have to walk into the other room in order to turn it off. These days I tend to wake up several hours before my alarm goes off, unable to return to sleep.
These days I tend to wake up several hours before my alarm goes off, unable to return to sleep.
Same. It’s rough. My 4 year old woke me at 3am this morning. That was it. Just couldn’t get back to sleep.
My daughter is 2 months old so she’s not mobile yet, but this is definitely something I’m dreading in the future lol. Right now all I have to worry about is being woken up by her fussing in her sleep every half hour (she sleeps in a bassinet at the foot of the bed), but we’ve gotten better at discerning what merits actually getting up vs letting her self-soothe.
To answer the original question, though, having a child will train you to be able to wake up in a matter of seconds…
My daughter is 2 months old
It only gets better from there tbh. That’s my experience anyway. Peak exhaustion around 8-10 weeks then a slow recovery.
Congratulations! Enjoy the snuggles :)
Realize you overslept.
Get a light that turns on slowly over 30 minutes before your alarm. Helps ease you into morning if you live in areas with dark winter mornings.
Have a cat retching… works always here.
I’m no morning person either. I just set a timer on the radio (when I sleep trough it I’m to exhausted) and I take about 2h before leaving for work. I’m just a liability on the road when I leave without waking up slowly.
Get a smart light. Schedule it to turn on before your alarm. The best is gradual over 30-60 minutes, ending at full brightness, but just turning it on halfway five minutes before your alarm is also way better than nothing.
Placement is key. You want to make sure it’s close enough to still wake you, while far enough that you can’t turn it off without getting out of bed.
Other things helped–like drinking half a liter of water before going to bed so biology forces the issue–but the sunrise light was the key for me too. I set it to fade in over 10 minutes, ending 10 minutes before my alarm goes off. I used to set alarms in three minute increments and still take an hour to get up. Now I’m usually up with the first alarm, and much more alert.
Other things helped–like drinking half a liter of water before going to bed so biology forces the issue
Unfortunately this stops working as you get older and your bladder decides 3:30am is a good time to wake up.
Get at least 8 hours sleep. Note that this means “sleep” and not “8 hours in bed” so if you read or do other activities in bed, add extra time for that stuff. I usually give extra time for my brain to stop running a mile a minute
Go to bed at the same time every night. Wake up at the same time every morning. Avoid caffeine. Caffeine can cause sleep disruptions you may not notice, even if consumed early in the day.
Get tested for sleep apnea.
Good sleep hygiene to start. After that, always go to sleep and get up at the same time (or as close to it as possible). do not use snooze and get out of bed when your alarm goes off.
That’s what helped me, anyway.
I’d avoid it if at all possible. Waking up slowly and taking your time to adjust can be beneficial. There’s no way a sudden jolt of adrenaline and caffeine is good for you in the long run.
There have been studies stating that when daylight saving is rolled back one hour there’s a spike in coronary accidents. That may or may not be true, but I do feel better when doing my slow start routine.
As others have stated, good sleep hygiene. Are you putting in good hours for sleep, 7-8 hrs? That will help keep you healthy over the years and make it easier to get up.
When a certain time hits, don’t stare at your phone in bed. I put on a simple podcast before bed with a sleep timer; it’s perfect for me.
DO NOT consume caffeine for the first 30 mins of wakefulness; this is not helpful & it will train your body to need that caffeine/stimulant in order to wake up. No. Wake up naturally, after some good sleep, throw on some music & start your day…allow your body to “boot up”. As it were. I slam caffeine after being awake for at least 30 mins, if not an hour.
The wake up lights work really well. They’re designed not to interrupt deep sleep (which results in grogginess). I’ve had one for years. But regular circadian rithms work best, always go to bed between the same ~ 30 min. Try to hit snooze only a set amount of times. Morning walks and cold showers if you can handle it. Note that one (or all)of these implementations won’t give results overnight, you need to give your body some time to change hormone cycles.
