Converting from night owl to early bird. How?

[joannqn]

No matter what time I go to bed, I won't fall asleep until late. I literally lay awake tossing in turning between 1-3 hours every night, sometimes more. There was only one time in my life where I passed out at night, and that was a time when I worked a temp job as a receptionist at a place where I had 6 lines coming in or on hold all day, couriers arriving with packages all throughout the day, and paperwork to do on top of all that. It was an 8 hour marathon with no breaks or down times except the scheduled ones.

 

When I try to wake up early, I feel completely out of it for hours. I find it hard to function or think coherently. Even when I sleep in, it takes me a while to wake up. My husband pops out of bed at 4-6am ready to go. I drag my sorry bottom out of bed at 7:30 (summer) or 8:30 (winter) and spend the next two hours trying to wake up. I don't drive before 9am if at all possible because I feel that I'm too unsafe...too many accidents or near accidents in the past.

 

I hate mornings. I've always been this way. It used to take multiple attempts and more than an hour to get me out of bed when I was in school. When I worked, I was a zombie for the first couple of hours of the day.

 

Has anyone successfully switched without relying on caffeine? How did you do it? If exercise is part of the solution, how do you do it with a bum knee and four kids in tow?

[Starr]

:bigear:

[milovany]

There was an article in Yankee magazine a dozen years ago or more about how to use the time change in the fall to help re-set your internal clock. I haven't been able to find it again, but maybe you'd have more luck than I. From what I recall, it was something like a 6-week process.

 

Aside from that, I've changed into a morning person by setting my alarm and getting up to walk in the mornings. I used to get up at 8 or 8:30 and now I'm up by 6:30 or 7 every morning. I've gotten sort of addicted to my morning power walk (I do 3.5 to 4.5 miles). I do still stay up too late (11 or 11:30), so want to change that too but for now this is working.

[Mom in High Heels]

You can try to reset your body clock (which we have to do every time we travel trans-Atlantic). We take 3mg of Melatonin for about 4 or 5 days and it helps us get used to the timezone change. It would do the same to help you change your sleep patterns. I always feel refreshed when I wake up after taking it. Now, there are some brands that give people nightmares or strange dreams, and it seems to be different brands for different people, so be aware.

[Sputterduck]

Dig fence post holes every 6 feet around your whole property and then dig a 200 foot long trench using nothing but a shovel and your own body. It has worked wonders for me.

[Parrothead]

In 20 years I haven't found anything that works long term.

[joannqn]

As much as I would love to get in the habit of walking daily (it's the most effect exercise for weight loss for me), I can't figure out how to do it with a skinny but out of shape 11 yo, a 4 yo, and a 2 yo old. My 9 yo can keep up but the others can't. I've been thinking about leaving the kids home with the 11 year old in charge, but I don't think she is up to it yet.

 

Melatonin: Do you know which brands don't cause nightmares? I don't take anything with codeine because it causes nightmares and hallucinations. I wonder if I'd be one of those people with nightmares from melatonin?

 

haha Sputterduck! We already have a fenced backyard. Not sure what the owners would think if I started digging trenches on their property.

[eternalknot]

I'm a night-owl by nature, too. I once read that we take on the habits of our biological mothers, and that certain habits such as this are determined by experiences in the womb. I don't know if that's true or not, but my mom is also a night-owl LOL.

 

I'm also a shift-worker, and can be in four different time zones over four different days - trying to keep to a normal sleep schedule in each. It's a losing battle. I have the eye bags and Starbucks cards to prove it.

 

I do find that when I take long stretches of time off of work, one thing has consistently worked for me - more over the fall/winter than summer/spring. That is going to bed roughly two hours after the sunsets. Seems so early. Seems so hard. Ironically enough, though, I'll lay there in bed thinking about how it's, like, six hours earlier than I normally would try to go to bed and I'm so not even tired, ... and bam. Next thing I know it's about 4am and I've had a solid eight plus hours of good, quality, restful sleep. Mind you, 4am is usually an hour or so after I go to bed LOL.

 

It's the coolest, weirdest feeling to wake up feeling so refreshed. I do find myself needing a 30 minute siesta mid-day on those days -- not a nap, though, which I normally feel like I need on my (ir)regular usual sleep pattern. I take 30 minutes to sit on the sofa and put my feet up ... maybe read a book ... shut my eyes for 10 minutes (which -if I try that on my usual sleep pattern- I'd wake up 4 hours later feeling totally groggy and ruined for the rest of the day/night.)

 

I also take super hot baths right before I go to bed - especially if I'm trying to go to bed at a "good" hour (for me, that's before 1am). Hot as I can tolerate it, add some epsom salts or seaweed and maybe an essential oil, along with some baking soda. You'll fall right into bed, and into a restful sleep. Bring a tall glass of water with you into the tub, and sip throughout to keep hydrated.

 

Lots of my colleagues take melatonin and other sleep-aids, but I've never wanted to start that. I do my baths, and I also have a hypnosis CD to help me get to sleep. It works most of the time, and was fairly cheap IIRC (it came with my hypnosis childbirth CDs). It did take a few tries before I wasn't still awake at the end, though :)

[mom2myboys]

Since your yard is fenced in, could you walk laps around the yard while the kids play?

[elfgivas]

here goes....

 

things i did that worked:

i) married a morning person

ii) walking videos so that i could exercise while the kids played. different times worked better than others.... 4pm being the best for me.

iii) having no curtains

iv) not turning on electronics after dinner

v) getting up with the sun (using an alarm initially if necessary), no naps, going to bed with the sun

vi) sleeping outside without flashlights, etc.

vii) making sure my body has enough outdoor time to know what time zone it is in

viii) eating on a schedule, having a routine for the evenings and mornings.

 

so worth the effort : )

ann

[Liz CA]

This is me exactly. I can be up until midnight and sleep till 7:30 and even with cold water in the face, it's not easy waking up. I stick to one cup of coffee (okay, may more like 16oz since it's a tall one) but no more during the rest of the day.

I think it is my rhythm and I am now okay with it.

Why do you want to change?

[Alice]

I'm naturally a night owl but have had to become a morning person. For work I get up at 5 am every day and over time I've adjusted so that even on a weekend sleeping to 7:30 to 8 am would feel very very late to me.

 

What's worked:

1) Just doing it. I didn't have a choice. I set my alarm and did it.

2) Going to bed very early so that I still got 8-9 hours of sleep. I find that for me if I stay up until 10ish I begin to feel energized. I think that I'm not tired and I can get in another few hours of whatever I want to do. But then if I have to get up after 5 hours of sleep it's not good. It's much tougher for me to fall asleep in the 10-midnight time frame than from say 8-9:30. For many years I went to bed at 8:30 or 9 and got up at 5. Now I find that my clock has somewhat reset that I can stay up later and still fall asleep, but I still get that energized feeling when I stay up late and have to make myself fall asleep.

3) Sticking with the same schedule as much as possible on weekends. If you let yourself sleep in than your natural clock will never reset.

 

For exercise, if I get up and walk at 5 am dh is still here so that takes care of the kids issue. The other thing I have enjoyed for exercise is Leslie Sansone's walking videos. I was very skeptical as I don't typically like exercise videos but I do like hers.

[Danestress]

but this summer, my swimmer has 7:00 am practice, and I am getting up at 6:00 every morning. After a while, it was just fine. It's amazing what we will do when it is best for our child, that we would not do if it were merely best for Mom (or even Dad!).

 

I can't choose what time to go to sleep, so I don't try. I keep relatively easy, compelling but not anxiety producing reading by my bed, and a little reading light so I won't bug DH. I get in bed around 10:00 and set my alarm for 6:00, and then I read until I am starting to doze off. When I am dozing off in a serious way, I turn of the light and try to sleep. 7 hours of sleep is okay for me, so this seems to work.

 

Three months ago, I would have sworn on a stack of bibles that I absolutely could not go to bed before 12:00.

[sbgrace]

You could look at what they use to help those with a delayed sleep phase syndrome. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_sleep_phase_syndrome

 

My best suggestion is melatonin and adhering to the schedule you set including on week-ends. It won't be easy and you'll probably always find it easy to fall back to your old patterns. So staying on your "new" schedule on week-ends and holidays will be important.

 

I think this stuff is very much "hard wired" in people.

[Terabith]

If you have always been a night owl, then it's unlikely that you will be able to really change. There is a clear cut gene for true night owls and true early birds.

 

My husband is a night owl, but he has to get up at 5 am for work. He can get used to it, but it's never EASY or natural for him, and if he's off for more than a few days, he creeps back into his late night routine, even without meaning to.

 

Sorry.

[Stacie Leigh]

I've always been sharper after I get over the first hump of sleepiness in the evening than any other time of day. Making a grocery list at 4pm takes me an hour or more. Doing it at 2am, and I have recipes and a list in 15 min.

 

I know I NEED to get up by 6:30 or so this school year but ever since I had babies, I cannot drag myself out of bed without feeling like I'm going to pass out. It's ridiculous. I am usually up by 7:30, but it's not enough. Even if I go to bed early, I'm still a blob in the am.

 

I have difficulty with my knees and I'm supposed to be in PT, but again, they want me there 3x a week in the middle of the day. I'd like to see them find me a sitter that'll drop in for 1.5 hours 3x a week and wants to be paid in peanuts, lol!

[mommymilkies]

My mom and my youngest two are early birds. I am definitely a night owl and have been my whole life. Two summers ago we moved and I became an early bird for a month. I liked it, but my body could not stuck with it. I love sunrise, but my body just won't go to sleep before midnight.

[Dana]

I'm naturally a night owl but have had to become a morning person. For work I get up at 5 am every day and over time I've adjusted so that even on a weekend sleeping to 7:30 to 8 am would feel very very late to me.

 

What's worked:

1) Just doing it. I didn't have a choice. I set my alarm and did it.

2) Going to bed very early so that I still got 8-9 hours of sleep. I find that for me if I stay up until 10ish I begin to feel energized. I think that I'm not tired and I can get in another few hours of whatever I want to do. But then if I have to get up after 5 hours of sleep it's not good. It's much tougher for me to fall asleep in the 10-midnight time frame than from say 8-9:30. For many years I went to bed at 8:30 or 9 and got up at 5. Now I find that my clock has somewhat reset that I can stay up later and still fall asleep, but I still get that energized feeling when I stay up late and have to make myself fall asleep.

3) Sticking with the same schedule as much as possible on weekends. If you let yourself sleep in than your natural clock will never reset.

 

 

:iagree:

 

I'm a night person. For a time, I worked in a location where I had to be in the car at 7am or I'd miss my first class. I wasn't happy about it, and I didn't change to a morning person, but I was able to function. The key for me was that I had to go to bed about 10pm and keep the same schedule. No sleeping in on the weekend. :glare:

 

Unfortunately, my son's a morning person. I'm still getting up earlier than I'd like now (8-9). I'm hoping I'll get to sleep when he's in high school :)

 

Consistent routines were what worked. No "just five more minutes" with the snooze. It's tough to motivate yourself enough when there isn't the job sense of urgency.

[m0mmaBuck]

DD and I are early birds. DH and the boys are night owls and will sleep until noon if allowed. I actually like the fact that I get the morning to myself.... I go to the gym and leave my sleeping DH at home with the kids. DD is perfectly capable of getting her own breakfast and playing until I get home. Therefore I do not want to convert any of my late risers....

 

But if I did, I would say the only way to do it would be to force yourself to get up, no snooze... and then slowly work toward putting yourself to bed earlier. That's the only way DH can get up in time for work and be slightly less of a bear.

[Peela]

I think if you make it a clear intention you will be able to do it. If you think you can't, you won't be able to. You need to change a long term habit- it is possible but at the beginning, the pull towards your past habit will be strong.

 

I agree with getting outside more and getting your body used to natural light. It does something when you tune into natural light and the natural rhythm of day and night.

 

If you just get up early you will after a while start to fall asleep earlier. I wouldn't lie there tossing and turning. I would read until I could no longer keep my eyes open. But it's the getting up early that is the key to changing the habit, if you can't fall to sleep easily.

 

Do you really want to change the habit? Write down the reasons why you want to- the benefits of waking up early, such as getting more done. You have to be convinced it's worth it or you will just make excuses for yourself and to others as to why you can't do it. For me, getting up before my kids gives me me time, and a window of time between getting up and needing to deal with people.

[sbgrace]

Melatonin: Do you know which brands don't cause nightmares? I don't take anything with codeine because it causes nightmares and hallucinations. I wonder if I'd be one of those people with nightmares from melatonin?

 

 

Have you had issues with it before? I think there has been talk on here about brands better for nightmares but I don't remember as I don't have that issue.

 

I will say that generally you will have less issues if you do the lowest effective dose. Most pills are just much more than people really need. So take a small dose if you want to try it (small like .5 mg small to start). You want the lowest dose that helps you fall asleep.

 

An alternative would be to try these glasses--see the improved sleep section where they talk about insomonia and delayed sleep phase syndrome. https://www.lowbluelights.com/index.asp? I've not tried them because of cost and melatonin works for me.

 

But I really struggle to stay on a reasonable sleep schedule. My body is just really wired for late night. One week-end will put me right back to square one. Off to take my melatonin.... :tongue_smilie: