Converting a night owl into a morning person

[Critterfixer]

Can it be done? I don't mean teaching a person to go to bed early and get up early. I mean teaching them to like it!

The conversion is needed for me, not a child or the dh, so you can be as draconian as you like.:D I've been a night owl for as long as I can remember. It's served me well, but it's time to make the change. I married a morning person and my two children are up and down with the chickens. And I've got to do it, so I would like to learn how to like it.

[Stratford]

I don't think so, but I'm only speaking from my own experience. I would like to be a happier person when I wake up. I am NOT a morning person, but I did marry one and I have birthed a couple of them to boot. I have tried and tried to enjoy waking up in the morning, but I just don't. I usually feel tired or sick or achy for the first half hour or so, it is never enjoyable or easy for me.

 

That said, I can get up in the morning, even very early if needs be. I worked an early shift for five or so years, waking up at 5am. My biggest problem now is that I work nights on the weekends but have to stick with the early-riser schedule during the week. That mismatch is really rough for me.

 

So, this was a useless post, I apologize. I have no real advice, other than that I do think that the whole morning/night person thing is hardwired. I'm interested to hear what other people say....

[Catwoman]

:lurk5:

 

I wish I could be more of a morning person, too. I'm a laugh riot at 2am, but nobody had better mess with me at 7:00 in the morning. ;)

[Parrothead]

I've been trying for almost 30 years. It isn't something I can do.

 

I'm waiting for the day that dd is old enough to take care of herself most of the day so I can sleep on my body's schedule instead of what society deems a normal schedule.

[elfgivas]

i was a night owl. twenty years ago, i moved myself to early mornings. i like it now.

 

however, if left to my own devices, i "drift" back later and later.

 

i too married a morning person, and have sun up/sun down kids. there are a few things that helped a lot.

 

1. no curtains on the windows, so that light happens.

2. setting the thermostat to mimic outdoor temperature rises and falls. ie. our house gets warm as the sun comes up, and cool as the sun goes down.

3. limiting media time in the evenings.

4. spending time sleeping outside, with or without a tent.

5. living in the desert, where summer mornings are magical.

6. lots of daytime outdoor exercise time.

7. no eating after 7pm.

8. and then sheer determination.

 

dh brought me coffee in bed the first few years, and that helped a lot, too.

 

fwiw,

ann

[KungFuPanda]

I think civil, or even just quiet, is all they can ask for. I wouldn't run around at 11 p.m. Expecting the early birds to be awake, conversive, and happy about it. They should just be happy that I'm not biting their heads off in the morning.

[cin]

i was a night owl. twenty years ago, i moved myself to early mornings. i like it now.

 

however, if left to my own devices, i "drift" back later and later.

 

i too married a morning person, and have sun up/sun down kids. there are a few things that helped a lot.

 

1. no curtains on the windows, so that light happens.

2. setting the thermostat to mimic outdoor temperature rises and falls. ie. our house gets warm as the sun comes up, and cool as the sun goes down.

3. limiting media time in the evenings.

4. spending time sleeping outside, with or without a tent.

5. living in the desert, where summer mornings are magical.

6. lots of daytime outdoor exercise time.

7. no eating after 7pm.

8. and then sheer determination.

 

dh brought me coffee in bed the first few years, and that helped a lot, too.

 

fwiw,

ann

 

Ann, I have had this preached to me for years! Every vacation we ever take, DH wants me to get up and see the sunrise because it's BEEYOUTIFUL! Uh huh. If I could open my eyes enough to see it, I'm sure it would be. Or, if I could focus on the sunrise, instead of pretending to be awake and alert....

 

I am struggling with this too, right now. The aerobics class I want/need to take is 9-10 AM. Ain't gonna happen. I can take it in the evenings, but they only offer it 3/wk in the evening. Mornings classes are 6/wk. My girls are not super early morning people, but around 9 AM they are BOUNDING out of bed. And I'm still sucking down the coffee. Left to myself, I usually arise around 10. I am pushing myself right now to get up at 8 AM and be ready for the little tiggers. I'm hoping someone posts a magical cure.:tongue_smilie:

[justamouse]

Speaking from my own experience-nope, you can't do it. You can alter it a bit, you can manipulate it to work better for you all, but you'll never change it and jump out of bed singing early in the morning. I tried for two years. I can get up early easier, now, but I am still painfully slow in the morning.

[justamouse]

I've been trying for almost 30 years. It isn't something I can do.

 

I'm waiting for the day that dd is old enough to take care of herself most of the day so I can sleep on my body's schedule instead of what society deems a normal schedule.

:iagree:

 

It's the same with me, I can do it to an extent, but I've truly come to believe that your body has a schedule that you'll never 'fix'. You're either a morning person or you're not.

 

Before Dd17 went to PS, we were lucky enough to alter our work schedules to suit ourselves. Dh went in at 10am and got home at 11-11:30, we'd stay up till one and all was right with the world. :001_smile: No, the kids wouldn't see him for dinner, but we had big breakfasts together. AND, Dh will tell you himself that he was much more productive working those hours. Heck, I was, too.

Edited January 5, 2012 by justamouse

[Guest]

 

dh brought me coffee in bed the first few years, and that helped a lot, too.

 

 

 

I don't know that I have the willpower to work on this for a few years!:tongue_smilie:

[Paige]

I've done it in the past so that I could be up, be cheerful, and be happy that I got up early. It was when my children (all morning people) were too little to take care of themselves for even a little bit. It took concentrated effort every morning to do it, however. It never came easy and like the PP, it didn't take much to cause me to drift back to what my body clock wants to do. I also could not force myself to go to bed earlier than 12 ever. So, I was up and functional and cheerful, but not getting as much sleep each night. At the time, it didn't matter because my kids all took naps and I could get a little nap too sometimes, but now that they are older and not napping anymore it is much harder. I liked being a morning person and want to be more like that but I don't think it is who I am. It did feel great to be up and leaving the gym at 8:30am with my kids the only ones in the childcare room- exercising really helps with the mood and I felt so accomplished and energized. I'm trying to get up and workout in the mornings again as a New Year's Resolution but so far at 7am when the alarm goes off I have been changing my mind and deciding to work out after lunch instead.

[Alte Veste Academy]

Can it be done? I don't mean teaching a person to go to bed early and get up early. I mean teaching them to like it!

The conversion is needed for me, not a child or the dh, so you can be as draconian as you like.:D I've been a night owl for as long as I can remember. It's served me well, but it's time to make the change. I married a morning person and my two children are up and down with the chickens. And I've got to do it, so I would like to learn how to like it.

 

I think a conversion can be made under your circumstances. You are a willing subject, not getting up against your will, just against your nature. :) I am a natural night owl but have successfully become a morning person a few times in my life out of necessity. The key, I think, is to not expect to feel perfectly fresh and happy at the point of waking up. Maybe you'll get there and maybe you won't. Your DH and kids might wake up happy as a lark, but you can't necessarily expect to transition to that extent. I think Ann's list is perfect, mostly because it makes allowances for how to improve your awakening experience itself. The light and temperature are crucial to me. Having the light stream into the room in the morning is essential. DH also wakes me with coffee when he kisses me goodbye as he leaves for work. This is perfect, as he goes to work very early. I'm up sipping my coffee and allowed to slowly wake up before the kids, who wake up going 100 mph. I don't want anyone who can move 100 mph anywhere near me when I first wake up...whether that is 5:30 am or noon. :lol: Limiting caffeine after lunchtime so I can go to sleep at a decent hour is the most important thing for me though.

 

i was a night owl. twenty years ago, i moved myself to early mornings. i like it now.

 

however, if left to my own devices, i "drift" back later and later.

 

i too married a morning person, and have sun up/sun down kids. there are a few things that helped a lot.

 

1. no curtains on the windows, so that light happens.

2. setting the thermostat to mimic outdoor temperature rises and falls. ie. our house gets warm as the sun comes up, and cool as the sun goes down.

3. limiting media time in the evenings.

4. spending time sleeping outside, with or without a tent.

5. living in the desert, where summer mornings are magical.

6. lots of daytime outdoor exercise time.

7. no eating after 7pm.

8. and then sheer determination.

 

dh brought me coffee in bed the first few years, and that helped a lot, too.

 

fwiw,

ann

[elfgivas]

I don't know that I have the willpower to work on this for a few years!:tongue_smilie:

 

:lol::lol:

 

:lol::lol:

 

 

its a step by step process, just like most things, and it takes time.

first step is altering our environment and going to bed, and then to sleep, earlier and earlier.

if we're getting enough sleep, then we automatically wake rested earlier and earlier.

if we aren't getting enough sleep, then our bodies will resist our efforts to get up early.

 

this really reminds me of the marriage councelling thread. there is no magic bullet. it is work. it is change. it takes time. and we have to want it more than we want late nights....

 

changing myself in specific ways has invariably taken years to become truly appreciated by me.

 

fwiw,

ann

[Critterfixer]

I don't expect to be singing. Just not crabby about the whole thing.

 

1. no curtains on the windows, so that light happens.

2. setting the thermostat to mimic outdoor temperature rises and falls. ie. our house gets warm as the sun comes up, and cool as the sun goes down.

3. limiting media time in the evenings.

4. spending time sleeping outside, with or without a tent.

5. living in the desert, where summer mornings are magical.

6. lots of daytime outdoor exercise time.

7. no eating after 7pm.

8. and then sheer determination.

 

 

1. I don't have curtains on the windows. The sun could wake me up if I didn't turn over and burrow deeper.

2. I do think I keep it far too warm in the house during the winter. We have wood heat and it's sort of hard to finesse that. It's either baking or freezing. But I have noticed that when the birds wake me up in the spring and early summer I am more cheerful.

3. This is a big thing for me. Between the hours of nine pm and 3 am my mind is most active, so if I get started on the computer late I am tempted to stay up to late. The same thing happens if I start reading or writing. So I should probably make sure that I stop all communication activity before nine pm. Thinking about it, I wonder if I would actually increase my REM sleep by not expending all my mental energies in waking activity.

4. Ticks, chiggers, mosquitoes, snakes, various creepy crawlies sharing my sleeping bag is not going to happen. I do get up earlier when we are camping, but it's not with a joyful disposition.

5. No desert here, but I would compare the mornings here in the summer to a picnic at the gates of the hot place.

6. I don't do enough outdoors, and that's a fact.

7. I could handle that. As a rule I don't eat much after 7, but I seem to drink a lot of water. I am nearly always thirsty at night, and not at all thirsty during the day.

8. I'd be more determined if I could be more positive about the whole situation. I just hate mornings. I think if I had something to look forward to that was pleasant I could be more positive. Maybe that's the key, because in general the only reward for getting up early is to get a head-start on the laundry or dishes, or to lay out the day's homeschooling activities. I don't mind doing those things at night--in fact, I actually enjoy it. But I don't like doing them in the morning.

[elfgivas]

I think a conversion can be made under your circumstances. You are a willing subject, not getting up against your will, just against your nature. :) I am a natural night owl but have successfully become a morning person a few times in my life out of necessity. The key, I think, is to not expect to feel perfectly fresh and happy at the point of waking up. Maybe you'll get there and maybe you won't. Your DH and kids might wake up happy as a lark, but you can't necessarily expect to transition to that extent. I think Ann's list is perfect, mostly because it makes allowances for how to improve your awakening experience itself. The light and temperature are crucial to me. Having the light stream into the room in the morning is essential. DH also wakes me with coffee when he kisses me goodbye as he leaves for work. This is perfect, as he goes to work very early. I'm up sipping my coffee and allowed to slowly wake up before the kids, who wake up going 100 mph. I don't want anyone who can move 100 mph anywhere near me when I first wake up...whether that is 5:30 am or noon. :lol: Limiting caffeine after lunchtime so I can go to sleep at a decent hour is the most important thing for me though.

 

this post was an "ahha" moment for me. i get up early (by 6am most days), wakening on my own BUT my bright morning people function from the moment they are awake. i am still a "slow" wakening person, and my brain and body don't connect for about 30 minutes after i'm up. even though i love mornings now, and don't want to go back to evenings, everyone in my house knows that if there is an early morning crisis, dh is the go-to person. that really hasn't changed, and my hunch is that it isn't likely to.

[TranquilMind]

Can it be done? I don't mean teaching a person to go to bed early and get up early. I mean teaching them to like it!

The conversion is needed for me, not a child or the dh, so you can be as draconian as you like.:D I've been a night owl for as long as I can remember. It's served me well, but it's time to make the change. I married a morning person and my two children are up and down with the chickens. And I've got to do it, so I would like to learn how to like it.

Not really. You can do it for awhile, but when you are free of obligation, you will generally revert to your natural pattern (50+ years of experience here!).

[BeachGirl]

:lurk5:

 

I wish I could be more of a morning person, too. I'm a laugh riot at 2am, but nobody had better mess with me at 7:00 in the morning. ;)

 

:iagree:

I wish I could learn to like mornings but I just cannot. In elementary school I was on a swim team that practiced at 6:00 am each morning. I also had a paper route and had to get up early to deliver papers after I quit the team. In high school, I left the house daily at 6:30 am to walk to school. Now I have to leave early to get to work.

 

I am at my best at 10:00 pm and later. I can function in the morning. There just hasn't ever been anything I could do to make me like mornings though. My daughter is exactly the same way. We suffer mornings. We don't enjoy them.

 

Good luck finding an answer.

[Tammy (TX)]

This topic really interests me. I've tried for years to go to bed early and get up early. I'm married to an early riser who would love nothing more than me to be on his schedule. I have kids that wake with the sun. I WANT to, I TRY to, and then before you know it, I'm up until 1am or later (usually because that's when I actually remember all the important things I need to do.)

 

I'm torn between saying "this is who I am" and trying to change. It may seem silly to some people, but it's really a stress to be on a different schedule than everyone else! It's hard to explain the situation to early risers - I just love the night-time quiet, everything is so still and I can get so much done! But if it makes the family miserable, I need to try to change it. Ugh.

[Tammyla]

It can be done, but you will have to work hard to get there. I've moved overseas twice and the adjustment time was a continual battle for weeks.

 

I agree with Ann's list, but will add to eat breakfast when you get up to get your body going, and plan something you love first thing.

[Julie Smith]

I know someone who did this conversion because he has had to. He now likes it and even though he is older and retired he still gets up at 5 or 6am when he use to go to bed at 2 to 3am if given a choice.

 

He says he likes it a lot better, and has no desire want or need to go back to being a night owl.

[scrapbabe]

This topic really interests me. I've tried for years to go to bed early and get up early. I'm married to an early riser who would love nothing more than me to be on his schedule. I have kids that wake with the sun. I WANT to, I TRY to, and then before you know it, I'm up until 1am or later (usually because that's when I actually remember all the important things I need to do.)

 

I'm torn between saying "this is who I am" and trying to change. It may seem silly to some people, but it's really a stress to be on a different schedule than everyone else! It's hard to explain the situation to early risers - I just love the night-time quiet, everything is so still and I can get so much done! But if it makes the family miserable, I need to try to change it. Ugh.

 

 

I feel the same stress about it too. My teenager wants me to be up and moving when he is...but it is so hard for me. My hubby works evenings and isn't home until 10..so we usually stay up late talking or watching tv. I also had my thyroid removed two years ago and I now have the energy of a wet noodle, so it makes it all the harder. I feel tremendous guilt over it. But I can.not.get.up. in the morning!

[MamaT]

I make myself go to bed at 10:00 so I can get up at 5:30, but I don't think I will ever like it. I don't have to interact with anyone until 7:00, and I usually can be cheerful by then. My dh, who also gets up early, knows not to talk to me.

[Night Elf]

My current sleep schedule is approximately 2:30am - 10:00am. I am so very thankful my children are not early risers. DH wakes up at 6:15am and starts work (from home) at 7:00am so he doesn't mind us not being awake.

 

There was a time I went to bed early and woke up super early. I would naturally wake at 5:30am, sometimes earlier. I absolutely adored my early morning time alone. It was quiet. I would sit in my kitchen with a cup of coffee, my laptop, and my backdoor open to enjoy the spring and summer weather. I especially loved the rain. So yes, at that time, I really did enjoy waking up early.

 

I don't think I could do that now. I had to wake up at 7:00am this morning to take my dog to the vet (teeth brushing). It's almost 1:00pm and I'm dragging heavily. I'm seriously contemplating going back to bed and starting schoolwork with ds15 after 3:00pm. I'm irritable and even my morning coffee that I usually adore in the mornings didn't rouse any joy from me.

 

I hate going to bed early. I feel like I'm missing such a large portion of productive time! But I'll admit that I sure do prefer being finished with school by 2:30pm or 3:00pm instead of just starting which is our norm these days. After dinner break, we get back to it and we aren't finishing until 8:00pm, sometimes even later. It's not pleasant.

[Stayseeliz]

Good luck. I have tried and tried and tried! I've given up and just go with it.

[desertmum]

i was a night owl. twenty years ago, i moved myself to early mornings. i like it now.

 

however, if left to my own devices, i "drift" back later and later.

 

i too married a morning person, and have sun up/sun down kids. there are a few things that helped a lot.

 

1. no curtains on the windows, so that light happens.

2. setting the thermostat to mimic outdoor temperature rises and falls. ie. our house gets warm as the sun comes up, and cool as the sun goes down.

3. limiting media time in the evenings.

4. spending time sleeping outside, with or without a tent.

5. living in the desert, where summer mornings are magical.

6. lots of daytime outdoor exercise time.

7. no eating after 7pm.

8. and then sheer determination.

 

dh brought me coffee in bed the first few years, and that helped a lot, too.

 

fwiw,

ann

 

I LIVE in the desert and I couldn't care less for the magical mornings!

 

My husband is an early riser and is my son. I am grumpy until about 10am.

[joannqn]

I haven't been successful with it either.

 

I've been in two accidents on the freeway...my fault because I rear-ended someone...in the morning on the way to work. One of them was a four car collision with me going to the hospital strapped to a backboard. A third accident was a bump in the parking lot at church when we went at 8am. I try not to drive in the morning because I'm obviously not awake enough to do so safely.

 

I've tried going to be early. Regardless of when I go to bed, I don't fall asleep until the same time. I just lay awake in bed that much longer. Total waste of time!

[CalicoKat]

Being an early riser doesn't equal smarter or better than the night owl who wakes at later!

 

My brother's in law's wife has tried for years to imply that somehow she's better than I because she wakes at 5 a.m.

[elfgivas]

:iagree:

I wish I could learn to like mornings but I just cannot. In elementary school I was on a swim team that practiced at 6:00 am each morning. I also had a paper route and had to get up early to deliver papers after I quit the team. In high school, I left the house daily at 6:30 am to walk to school. Now I have to leave early to get to work.

 

I am at my best at 10:00 pm and later. I can function in the morning. There just hasn't ever been anything I could do to make me like mornings though. My daughter is exactly the same way. We suffer mornings. We don't enjoy them.

 

Good luck finding an answer.

 

funny story:

i was on a swim team in high school. we practiced at 6 am each morning, too. sometime around 9:00am each morning, i would "wake up" in math class in a complete panic, touch my hair and realize it was wet and that meant i had made it to swim practice after all, and wouldn't be kicked off the team..... it was like that pretty much every morning. i was getting up, dressed, to school, changed for swim practice, two hours in the pool, showered dressed, to class.... all without remembering much of it at all.... rituals are my friend ;)

[twoxcell]

I have been trying this on myself for awhile, but I find even if I do get up early I just do not get much done. If I make any noise the kids get up. In the evening I can do whatever including vacuum and they are out like logs. My 2 year old will get right up and plop on my lap then I can't move anyways.;)

[5kidsforME]

Being an early riser doesn't equal smarter or better than the night owl who wakes at later!

 

My brother's in law's wife has tried for years to imply that somehow she's better than I because she wakes at 5 a.m.

 

My dh's entire family believes this. They believe it is more Godly.

[5kidsforME]

FTR I am a night owl. I was reading this thread HOPING someone had the answer, thanks a lot people. :glare:

 

Mentally I can't help but think if i just go to bed earlier and make myself get up early and NOT take a nap during the day then surely I will want to go to bed early and repeat the cycle. (Sorry major run on sentence there.) BUT it isn't happening.

 

I have to change to become a morning person. My house is falling apart. I have to change the times I go to bed and get up. I KNOW though, that it won't change the fact that when I see any time on the clock from 5-7am I think "Oh crap", no matter how early I go to bed at night.

 

It won't change that I feel tired and crappy.

 

 

But, I must do it anyway.

[CalicoKat]

FTR I am a night owl. I was reading this thread HOPING someone had the answer, thanks a lot people. :glare:

 

Mentally I can't help but think if i just go to bed earlier and make myself get up early and NOT take a nap during the day then surely I will want to go to bed early and repeat the cycle. (Sorry major run on sentence there.) BUT it isn't happening.

 

I have to change to become a morning person. My house is falling apart. I have to change the times I go to bed and get up. I KNOW though, that it won't change the fact that when I see any time on the clock from 5-7am I think "Oh crap", no matter how early I go to bed at night.

 

It won't change that I feel tired and crappy. But, I must do it anyway.

 

How many waking hours a day do you have? Is it more, less, or equal to your waking hours if you get up earlier or later? I rather suspect it will be about the same amount of time.

 

Instead of waking earlier to clean why don't you clean at night instead of reading, watching TV, hobbying, etc. :D Rearrange your activities and not your clock.

[swellmomma]

I think civil, or even just quiet, is all they can ask for. I wouldn't run around at 11 p.m. Expecting the early birds to be awake, conversive, and happy about it. They should just be happy that I'm not biting their heads off in the morning.

 

:iagree: :lol: I have been a night owl for 34 years, nothing has changed it. I can't even get my rhythms to change to walking and sleeping earlier to work towards being happy about it.

[swellmomma]

How many waking hours a day do you have? Is it more, less, or equal to your waking hours if you get up earlier or later? I rather suspect it will be about the same amount of time.

 

Instead of waking earlier to clean why don't you clean at night instead of reading, watching TV, hobbying, etc. :D Rearrange your activities and not your clock.

 

:iagree: That is what I do here. I get teh energy to clean right around 11 pm. I am usually up until at least 2 am sometimes 3, so once the kids go to bed (my bigs go to bed between 1030-11pm) I start my cleaning, preparing for the next day, relaxing etc. The kids are so used to me doing things this way I can vacuum their bedrooms at 2am without them waking up at all.

[In2why]

I don't think so. I can and do force myself to get up in the morning, but I will never be able to function well.

[jewellsmommy]

In short, No. There is now evidence to suggest that morning or night tendencies are even genetically determined :lol:.

[mlbuchina]

I think civil, or even just quiet, is all they can ask for. I wouldn't run around at 11 p.m. Expecting the early birds to be awake, conversive, and happy about it. They should just be happy that I'm not biting their heads off in the morning.

 

:iagree::iagree::iagree: Bless this post.

[Critterfixer]

Well, I'm going to try it anyway. I already know, based on how long I sleep naturally that I need around nine hours of sleep a night to be at my best. I can manage with much less, and have, many times.

As it stands I tend to go to bed around midnight, and be up by 7:30, because that's when the children are up, dressing and ready to hit the ground running. I don't need to beat them by much. I just need about 45 minutes prior to go tend the fire in the winter so that the house will be warm, I need to put on the kettle, let the dogs out for their morning constitutional and go feed the chickens. And maybe get a shower, although mostly that's a night-time thing for me.

I've made some changes in my habits that will now enable me to eat breakfast (gone gluten free--now breakfast won't make me feel like throwing up!)

 

So here's my sixty-day trial plan:

Flex waking time of 6:30 am. (I've got at least one day that I must be up by 5:15 to get to work, and one day that I could get up at 7:00 or a little later. Based on the time estimated for getting up I will have to go to bed earlier. I'm not doing well tonight because I had to work late and just now got something to eat for lunch.:glare:

No caffeine after-noon.

I do have to take some Benedryl at night to sleep because of my cat allergies, but they are so much better of late, that I may try nights without it. It does have a tendency to make me very foggy in the mornings.

I plan to limit my reading, writing and computer work in the evenings. My mind is very active in the evenings. I wouldn't mind that brain energy being put toward REM sleep.

 

We'll see how this works. I'll post a report in 30 days on how it's going, eh?

[5kidsforME]

How many waking hours a day do you have? Is it more, less, or equal to your waking hours if you get up earlier or later? I rather suspect it will be about the same amount of time.

 

Instead of waking earlier to clean why don't you clean at night instead of reading, watching TV, hobbying, etc. :D Rearrange your activities and not your clock.

 

The problem is, is that my kids get up early. Left unsupervised all my efforts from teh night before are shot. 3 of them are too young.

 

Someday I may do this but for now, I must rearrange my clock.

[alpidarkomama]

I've given up. If I have to get up early, it ruins my whole day. I can stay up until 3, get up at 8 (9?) and I'm fine. But if I go to bed at 10 and get up at 6, I'm toast. :)

[fraidycat]

Oh, I wish somebody had the magic formula for this (as I type this at 2:10 a.m.)

 

I believe it is genetic. Passed down from my grandma (and some of her siblings) to my Dad (and 2/4 sisters) to all three of us kids, and 3/4 of the grandkids. One of mine is a night owl, the other is early to bed, early to rise.

 

*I* do not get up before 10:30 a.m. unless absolutely necessary - it doesn't matter what time I get to sleep, and even if I'm up and moving before that so as to appear awake to the rest of the world, my brain does not kick in until then anyway. I need at least 30 minutes of nobody talking to me once get up.

 

All that said, I do enjoy very early mornings if have to get up in the morning. I'd much rather wake in the dark and have my quiet time to slowly wake up with the sun. But, I'm usually up too late at night to do this often unless forced. :lol:

[LizzyBee]

I'm a night owl. I would love to be a morning person, but it's just not possible ime. I've had jobs that forced me to get up earlier than natural, but I never got past the point of being bleary eyed and foggy for the first couple hours I was up.

[kewb]

My dh is a night owl. It takes a lot of effort on his part to shift his body clock so he can get to bed early and be up in time for work. When left to his own devices he happily stays up all night and sleeps most of the day.

 

With me being a morning person, well, lets just say sometimes we only see each other a few minutes a day.

 

My dd shows all of his night owl tendencies. She is happy as a clam listening to him explain weather patterns at one in the morning.

[meggie]

I don't know if it's possible to change and like it. I know for me, going to bed at 930 is pure torture. Getting up at 7 is still torture. But it's the only way I can stay sane. With baby girl waking 5 times a night, I don't get enough sleep otherwise.

 

When I was a Mary Kay consultant, I went to a conference and a guy talked about how if you don't like to do something, learn to find the joy in the results. So for me, I absolutely hate doing dishes, but I love having all of them clean when I need them and I love having a clean sink. So I focus on the result and not how much I hate the actual doing.

 

Same is true for going to bed early. I hate going to bed early, but I like not yelling at my children and I like not being grumpy all day and I like being able to get out of bed when they wake up instead of trying to bribe them to go back to sleep.

[Abeth78]

I haven't read the other replies but after 34 years it just hasn't worked for this woman... seriously...I wish. I worked in Health Care Nutrition for a year or more and other various jobs that required early rising... nope...nada... sorry!

 

Now I will go read the replies and see if anyone has any good advice :D :lurk5:

[BamaTanya]

I was a night owl, but I became a school teacher. I had to be up and on duty before the kiddos arrived. It was hard the first year!

 

If I have a project on my mind, sometimes I drift back. I may want to wait until the dc get to sleep before I start focusing on my writing, for instance. However, I find that now my bio clock won't allow me to sleep late. If I have to stay up for something, I'll still awaken early but may crash for a power nap in the early p.m.

 

Our present schedule means up at 5:30 and out the door (a couple of shifts) at 6:30 and 6:50.

 

On the weekends I may sleep til 6:30. Dh, however, shifts back and sleeps hours longer. Maybe he's catching up on a sleep deficit from the work week?

Edited January 6, 2012 by BamaTanya

[theYoungerMrsWarde]

I've been wanting to switch from a night owl to an early bird for years. But after reading the first 10 comments, I'm giving up on that thought :tongue_smilie: I should probably buy stock in coffee....

[twoxcell]

My dh's entire family believes this. They believe it is more Godly.

Yikes! How rude. I do my cleaning, and quiet time in the evenings. I have tried mornings but I just end up sitting there like a lump, and if I try to do anything the kids wake up so it ruins the quite time theory.

[Lacie]

I am not a morning person, never have been. I don't think it's changing.

[TranquilMind]

This topic really interests me. I've tried for years to go to bed early and get up early. I'm married to an early riser who would love nothing more than me to be on his schedule. I have kids that wake with the sun. I WANT to, I TRY to, and then before you know it, I'm up until 1am or later (usually because that's when I actually remember all the important things I need to do.)

 

I'm torn between saying "this is who I am" and trying to change. It may seem silly to some people, but it's really a stress to be on a different schedule than everyone else! It's hard to explain the situation to early risers - I just love the night-time quiet, everything is so still and I can get so much done! But if it makes the family miserable, I need to try to change it. Ugh.

Why do you need to change it? Says who?

 

I accepted long ago that my husband and I were always going to be different on this. That man (alien) springs up with a smile on his face at 3 a.m. He's gone to work as early as 1 a.m. Yes, 1 in the morning! I'm still up half the time!

 

It's fine. He does his best work early. I do mine later. Neither of us is wrong.

 

I am getting up earlier these days, as the kids make noise, but I sleep in when I can, without apology.