Has anyone here successfully made themselves a "morning person"?

[Atom Smasher]

I'm a night owl by nature, but I would love to become a "morning person". My mind is at its best at night, until the wee hours, and in the morning I am groggy until about eleven or noon. It's not an age thing. I've always been this way.

I envy morning people who can get up at the crack o' dawn and be at the top of their game.

If anyone here has switched from one to the other, how about some tips?

 

[EyeOnThePrize]

Best way to switch back and forth is to follow a strict sleep schedule and adjust it 30 min every day(or as often as you can). So if you go to bed at 14:00 start practicing to go to bed at 13:30. Once that becomes easy start going to bed at 13:00. Go on until you're going to bed at 21:00-22:00 and waking up at 5:00-6:00 without an alarm. It's pretty healthy if you can maintain it.

 

[Black Widow Void]

Great topic and I sure wish I could offer some advice. You'll note that it's 12:20 AM as I type and it takes a melatonin to get to sleep before 1:30 AM.

I've had jobs that 'forced' me to sleep more (so-called) 'normal' hours, but given the freedom, I am much more 'alive' at night.

I think there's more to this than meets the eye. For instance; if I slept 6 hrs (from midnight to 6:00 AM) I'm no good for the half the day. However, if I went to bed at 4:00 AM and got up at 10:00 PM (six hours) I function a whole lot better.

Funny thing about 'morning people' is ... their attention span falls off sharply after about 9:00 PM - which is about the equivalent of mine at 9:00 AM

Like yourself, Atom Smasher, I'd also welcome a remedy to be more of a morning person. Melatonin has helped, but I still prefer nights over early mornings.,

 

[Vantagepoint34]

I'm a night owl by nature, but I would love to become a "morning person". My mind is at its best at night, until the wee hours, and in the morning I am groggy until about eleven or noon. It's not an age thing. I've always been this way.

I envy morning people who can get up at the crack o' dawn and be at the top of their game.

If anyone here has switched from one to the other, how about some tips?

bro to have an alarm clock with iphone 4s. Top iphones of all time with a basic alarm clock with 12 pin. I still use apple tv, imac globe, and mac mini. I'm looking to upgrade to a mac mini server edition. Which does help. Also use an automatic timer set to 2pm which keeps my computer skills saavy... Oh how it helps if I spend an all nighter usefull to remember my laptop automatically starts at 2pm. Also my morning 4s keeps me awake in morning. So to "switch" you'll need some alarm clocks with obsolete technology LOL

 

[2Rocky]

get a girl who likes to have morning sex...

 

[Who Dares Win]

Great topic and I sure wish I could offer some advice. You'll note that it's 12:20 AM as I type and it takes a melatonin to get to sleep before 1:30 AM.

I've had jobs that 'forced' me to sleep more (so-called) 'normal' hours, but given the freedom, I am much more 'alive' at night.

I think there's more to this than meets the eye. For instance; if I slept 6 hrs (from midnight to 6:00 AM) I'm no good for the half the day. However, if I went to bed at 4:00 AM and got up at 10:00 PM (six hours) I function a whole lot better.

Funny thing about 'morning people' is ... their attention span falls off sharply after about 9:00 PM - which is about the equivalent of mine at 9:00 AM

Like yourself, Atom Smasher, I'd also welcome a remedy to be more of a morning person. Melatonin has helped, but I still prefer nights over early mornings.,

Same here, sleeping 8 hours midnight to 8 I'm productive but if I sit on a sofa I fall asleep.

Sleeping from 3am till 11am gets me a much better sleep and much more energy.

However I cant tell if its because of our bio clock or for the fact that in order to have proper restful sleep one needs to be tired.

 

[zekko]

Same here, sleeping 8 hours midnight to 8 I'm productive but if I sit on a sofa I fall asleep.

Sleeping from 3am till 11am gets me a much better sleep and much more energy.

That's my experience as well. It's hard to describe but I just feel more alive and energetic at night, always have.

I envy people who wake up energized and ready to go at it. Those are the people who wake up and do their workout first thing. That's always seemed crazy to me, because I've read that in the morning your blood is stickier and more likely to clot. I always feel groggy when I first wake up and kind of slowly ramp up from there.

 

[andreihaha]

get a girl who likes to have morning sex...

To be honest, morning sex girls was the only remedy for me so far. But I don't do it very often.
I salute all my night owl buddies!

 

[Kotaix]

It's funny this comes up now because I just came to the realization yesterday that my night owl schedule is very much to do with having grown up in a latin country where life is phased forward a few hours. Lunch is at 2 and dinner is at 9-10. I'm visiting now and I found myself shocked that lunch is way later than what I'm used to back in the states. But no matter where I am I'm always going to sleep at midnight if left to my own devices.

Buckminster Fuller had a system where he was able to induce sleep at will, he could literally count down from 10 and be asleep. Whenever he felt tired, he would fall asleep for short stretches and then wake up rested. I don't recall the details because it's been a long time since I read it, but this regimen of micronaps allowed him to be far more productive and need less sleep overall, but unless you're a genius inventor without a job schedule to keep, this isn't really doable.

I would go the route of adjusting your schedule slowly (this is something I need to start doing). Gradual change and 100% discipline is the only way I've ever really had anything change in my life.

Also, stay away from all kinds of screens for at least 2 hours before bed.

 

[Ohso-Phresh]

I'm a night owl by nature, but I would love to become a "morning person". My mind is at its best at night, until the wee hours, and in the morning I am groggy until about eleven or noon. It's not an age thing. I've always been this way.

I envy morning people who can get up at the crack o' dawn and be at the top of their game.

If anyone here has switched from one to the other, how about some tips?

It’s a lifestyle shift. Go to bed earlier, you’ll wake up earlier without an alarm. It has to be consistent for an easier transition.

It’s helpful to have an eastern window in the bedroom and no electronic devices. Even unused outlets radiate about a 3’ field, with plugged in devices even more. A tri-field meter will demonstrate this.

Experiment with different orientations. For me my sleep is more restful when my head is toward the east or north.

You can also play with naps and having two shorter sleep periods. The important thing is to awaken at the end of a rem cycle which are about 1-1/2hr long. With a daily meditation practice your sleep will become even deeper and more restful.

Abstaining from substances will help a lot, decalcifying your pineal gland even more.

Something interesting to try is aperiodic sleep cycles. Basically sleeping anytime you are tired. This can put you up at odds times but it also creates more synchronicity in one life. Life takes on a dreamy magical quality that is difficult to put into words for any whom not experienced it.

If you have trouble getting to sleep try gaba supplementation, powder is better to get the dosage right.

 

[zekko]

It’s helpful to have an eastern window in the bedroom and no electronic devices.

I've considered experimenting with light therapy to feel more awake in the morning, that might be something to think about.
You have to do a little research to make sure you get the right kind of bulbs though.

 

[Atom Smasher]

Thanks guys, I'll reply in more detail shortly. Haven't been feeling too well for the past few days, but getting better.

@zekko , you reminded me that I actually do have a light therapy light and I forgot all about it. It's for just such a purpose. I know exactly where it is and I will dig it out tomorrow and start experimenting with it.

 

[zekko]

you reminded me that I actually do have a light therapy light and I forgot all about it. It's for just such a purpose. I know exactly where it is and I will dig it out tomorrow and start experimenting with it.

If you have good luck with it, let me know, I wouldn't mind getting one.

 

[Atom Smasher]

I just found it and I will try it in the morning. Of course, it will likely take a few days to observe a difference. I'll keep you in the loop.

 

[EyeOnThePrize]

If you really want to be a beast check out the uberman polyphasic sleep cycle. You can adapt your body to live well on a 20 min nap every 4 hours, indefinitely.

 

[andreihaha]

If you really want to be a beast check out the uberman polyphasic sleep cycle. You can adapt your body to live well on a 20 min nap every 4 hours, indefinitely.

Heard about it but it doesn't sound fun at all. And I doubt someone gets to live over 40-50 y.o. with methods like this.

 

[bcude]

I went from night owl to morning person, or better said. Time and getting older did it naturally for me. I'm a complete opposite of my younger self nowadays but i would say i reverted back into what suited me best from birth.
Our natural circadian rhythm tells us to sleep when it's dark and be active during daylight, so everything that goes against that induces bad health and sickness (look how miserable shift workers and police are for example) which tells me nature intended it to be this way.
It also differs some between people, some people are functioning better at night and considering your age i suspect you've tried everything by now and that you're definately a person who thrives at night, which makes it hard for you to change into something that's not naturally, for you.
However, as usual exercise is the best tip i can give you. Everytime i've been active with some kind of cardio i become sleepy and shut down at 9-10pm already, it's just impossible to fight this physical exhaustion once you get into the habit of it. Routine is so important.
You could also try some indian ashwaganda in the beginning, which lowers stress and makes you wind down better and according to many enhances the quality of your sleep.

I suspect you can't just change 360 degrees, but you can stretch into healthier areas by practicing good habits.

 

[EyeBRollin]

No. Your body is wired the way it is. My body and mind perform best in the early afternoon. I’ve learned to live with it.

 

[zekko]

No. Your body is wired the way it is. My body and mind perform best in the early afternoon. I’ve learned to live with it.

I've always been a night owl type, even going back to when I was a kid. I never wanted to go to bed at night, and I never wanted to get up in the morning. As I've gotten older, I've learned there are advantages to getting up early, especially since I don't really follow the nightlife anymore.

I live in a fairly small town, and there are a limited amount of activities that are available. Some of them I am very interested in, but so many take place pretty early in the morning, before 10 a.m. at least. I would like to attend some of these, but it would mean getting up earlier and shaking myself out of my morning grogginess. I'm just not naturally very energetic that early or feel like going out and doing things then.

 

[EyeOnThePrize]

Heard about it but it doesn't sound fun at all. And I doubt someone gets to live over 40-50 y.o. with methods like this.

the transition is terrible but once you adjust it's very manageable. it doesn't jive with most people's work schedules though. the people that do it and stop usually do so because they get super bored at night.

your sleep cycles normally last around two hours but even if you take a 30 min nap at the same time every day your body will adjust and learn to jump straight into REM for that nap rather than slowly going through the first two phases first.