Ask HN: How can I get up early in the morning?

I'd recommend sleeping in a room that gets sunlight as early as possible. As the room warms up (and gets brighter), you'll naturally wake up less groggily.<p>If your schedule can handle it, try just going to sleep when you are tired and seeing when you wake up (ie. don't use an alarm at all).<p>I tried this for about six months, and the following happened.<p>The first week or two I slept upwards of 10-11 hours a night, and woke up in the afternoon.<p>The next couple months, my schedule kind of rotated around the clock (I'd wake up about 30-45 mins later each day), but I only slept 8-9 hours.<p>By month four, I was only sleeping 7-7.5 hours at a time, and my schedule rotation had slowed to where it was only shifting about 15 mins a day.<p>The best part was that I always woke up extremely fresh and ready to go. I never felt like the walking dead, and generally was happier.<p>Before I tried this, I thought I was a night person, just because I always seem to stay up too late and dislike waking up... but I realized what I really liked was the quiet, and found that early morning quiet time (4-7am) was actually more productive, just because I wasn't worn out from a whole day of being awake.<p>Sadly I had to return to a day job for a bit before grad school, so now I survive mostly on coffee, but it was fun to try when I had the chance.

I had this problem for nearly my entire life, and I finally solved it about 3 years ago. For me, I had to fix <i>every</i> problem that was affecting my sleep at the same time. If any one of those problems crops up again, then I won't be able to sleep properly until I resolve it. Anyway, for me, it involved the following changes in my life:<p>1) No caffeine after 5-6 PM, and generally less than 100mg of caffeine per day.<p>2) Exercising for <i>at least</i> 30 minutes/day, 3-4 times/week (but not right before sleeping). Although in my case, it's closer to 5 hours total/week.<p>3) Avoiding too much artificial sugar in a given day. I limit it to one "thing" (pastry/small piece of pie/etc) per day. After that, just eat fruit.<p>4) Keeping the area in which I sleep completely free of things that would distract me from sleeping. That is, I absolutely <i>never</i> use my laptop, watch TV or do anything similar while laying in bed. At least for me, this has turned out to be really important (and something my doctor recommended).<p>Also, some things that might help:<p>* Create a routine; start each morning with something you enjoy (coffee or watching tv or catching up on your news).. You'll find it gives you an incentive to wake up, rather than if you knew you were just immediately getting ready and leaving<p>* If you feel less tired than normal on a particular day, you can drink chamomile tea, or warm milk, both of which seem to mildly increase sleepiness.<p>* If you're overweight or in bad physical shape, then you will sleep much better after getting in shape. So if this is the case, you should work to make it a priority.

Go to bed earlier at night.

I have two Rhode Island Red roosters that are both quite loud. I only need one; do you want the other?

I've had this problem forever. When I was in high school, I'd stay up all night, go to school at the end of my day, come home and sleep until midnight.<p>To the extent that I've solved it, I solved it after I had kids, and sleeping until 1PM became untenable for the family.<p>The answer for me? Wait for it: waking up early every morning.<p>I've learned that there is absolutely no way to predict when I'm going to fall asleep at night (even if I eliminate caffeine, use-bed-only-for-sleep, avoid stimulating reading before bed, etc); the only habit I've deliberately changed is that I never code after 10PM (a surefire way to look up and have it be 4AM).<p>Nope, what works for me is, whether I got to bed at 12:30A or 4:45A, I'm out of bed with the kids at 7A. If I have a bad night, I'll fall asleep the next night before 12A. Won't have any choice.<p>A day, a couple days, a week in sleep dep, not worth the life stress of starting the day in the afternoon.

Personally, I have noticed that watching tv and using the computer late at night keeps me up later. There have been studies that link tv watching and reduced melatonin levels. So don't use either before you want to go to bed.<p>Steve Pavlina has written a couple good articles.<p>Overview.<p>1. Go to bed when tired<p>2. Get up at the same time every morning. So if you don't get enough sleep one night, you'll go to bed earlier the next.<p>3. Don't do anything very stimulating late at night. Don't drink caffeine, or exercise late at night. Stimulating activities will keep you up to late.<p>4. Don't turn getting up into a problem with self-discipline, turn getting up into a habit. It's kind of corny, but practice getting out of bed during the day. Match the conditions where you get up, turn out lights, take off your work clothes, and get into bed. When your alarm goes off, jump out of bed, thrown on clothes, and do a little bit of exercise or do something else to wake you up. It doesn't matter really what you do, it just has to be consistent. After practicing a few times, it should be a habit, and you will be able to get up with your alarm when it goes off.<p>Part 1:<a href="http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/05/how-to-become-an-early-riser/" rel="nofollow">http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/05/how-to-become-an-ea...</a><p>Part 2:<a href="http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/05/how-to-become-an-early-riser-part-ii/" rel="nofollow">http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/05/how-to-become-an-ea...</a><p>Getting up with an alarm clock: <a href="http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2006/04/how-to-get-up-right-away-when-your-alarm-goes-off/" rel="nofollow">http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2006/04/how-to-get-up-right...</a>

Getting up in the morning used to be one of the central struggles of my life (seriously), but I rarely think about it now and I'm almost always up by 430am, which is something I never thought would happen. Here's my story, if anyone is interested.<p>I've struggled with getting up my entire life, and so has my entire family, immediate and extended. My 18-year-old brother regularly sleeps until 1pm, as do many of my cousins and their parents. I was homeschooled growing up and the day didn't typically start until 11am. In high school, I got suspended numerous times for missing my first few classes. I joined the Navy out of HS and I pretty rarely had issues with being late because I overslept, because the military is very effective at putting the fear of God in you regarding the consequences. I still always slept until the last possible minute before getting up. After the Navy, I went back to finish college and ended up taking about 30 hours worth of classes every semester, which helped some, but I still overslept and was always jumping out of bed and rushing to class at the last second. I very often would sit down in class about 5-10 mins after having been sound asleep before. My wife was very frustrated, and I was frustrated with myself. I was sure that I had some kind of sleep disorder, especially since my whole family is like this.<p>So what changed? Mostly what changed is that I realized what you've realized: life is too short to sleep it away. My central problem has always been the actual act of getting up; once I'm up and awake, I'm fine. So I started looking around and I found this article by Steve Pavlina:<p><a href="http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/05/how-to-become-an-early-riser/" rel="nofollow">http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/05/how-to-become-an-ea...</a><p>Basically, his method is to practice getting up, in the middle of the day. Bizarre (and embarrassing), but it works. I did this every day for a few weeks, and I immediately noticed a difference.<p>The other big thing I did was go to bed early. Not earlier, as I typically went to bed at 1am or 2am, but <i>early</i>. Like 8pm. I'd go to bed at 8pm for a week and get up at 5am. That was more sleep than I usually got, and since I was doing it consistently, it got easier over time. Then I started going to bed a little later and now I usually get to bed between 9pm and 10pm. Because I'm consistent, I get better quality sleep and I can get by on 7 hours consistently.<p>I know it's frustrating to have someone tell you to just go to bed early, but I found that it's a lot harder than it looks, especially because you've almost always got way more to do than you have time for and it feels like you should work on some of it rather than go to bed. The key for me was realizing (after some "split-testing") that I get probably 2-3x more accomplished in the four hours from 5am - 9am that I do from 10pm - 2am.<p>A few other things that I found vital: - no caffeine after noon - no computer or tv within an hour of bed - keep room as dark and quiet as possible while sleeping - try to keep the same schedule on weekends - alarm clock in different room - once you're up, immediately splash water in your face - exercise several times per week - track your progress!<p>Try this for a month. Most people I know who have become early risers would never go back. There's something incredibly rewarding about hitting 8am having already had breakfast, worked out, showered, knocked out a bunch of emails, read all your blogs, and built two new features. In San Francisco, that means you're about two hours from when most folks even start working :)<p>Good luck!

Wake up early. Go to bed when you're tired. Don't work on a computer past "X" at night (X varies for a lot of people, but usually an hour- from when you want to sleep).<p>Not sure what it is, might just be not winding down -- but the light of the screen probably doesn't help imho.

If you’re able, you should do what comes naturally. Are you a night-owl or a morning person? If you’re asking about how to wake up earlier, I’d guess the former.<p>I’m simply more productive and creative in the AM, so I rise each day at 5:30. For me, knowing when I'm the most please with my own production is my motivation. But, by the time 2 or 3 rolls around in the afternoon I’m all out of juice. And truth be told if I wasn’t in a corporate environment I would likely take a nap at this time to recharge.

It depends on your biochemistry to a large degree. Some people need hardly any sleep, some do _much_ better work if they sleep a full night's sleep, which can be defined anywhere between 6 and 10 hours. Some people do well on a 24-hour clock, some don't. Minor sleep disorders are common and often not diagnosed.<p>Don't worry about anyone else (one of the luxuries of a lot of tech jobs), find the schedule that leaves you feeling alert and awake and able to get things done. If you need 8 hours of sleep to be able to code the next day and not walk through the day in a haze - that's you. If you do well keeping a fixed schedule and not deviating, that's great. But if not, don't fight it, listen to your body.<p>Similarly, some people can code for 10, 12 hour stretches. Some people stop doing useful things after 4 hours without a serious break. Experiment, find what works for you, and _do not_ expect other people to work like you do. Focus on end goals, not processes.

have children - you will quickly become an early riser ;)

Sleep is a important component of health, along with nutrition and exercise. Life's too short to be unhealthy for a major part of it. You should get all the sleep your body needs.

Do it consistently. I just started rising at 9:30 (this is <i>early</i> for me) every day a few weeks ago, and I now wake up naturally without the alarm, and usually by 9. It only took about four or five days with the alarm and going to bed at a reasonably consistent time (between 1AM and 2AM) every day before I was comfortable waking at this time. I even "slept in" this morning after waking naturally at about 7:30...I rolled over and went back to sleep and got up again at 9:15 feeling pretty well rested. I often take a 20 minute nap between 4 and 6 in the afternoon.<p>I'm a lifetime overachiever in the field of sleep. If I can convert to a 7-8 hour sleep schedule, anybody can. And I've found that consistency is about the only way I can do it without feeling like crap during the day...so no more all-nighters, no matter how awesome whatever I'm working on is.

Well you all may missing the point. It's not important at what hour You get up. The matter is how long did You sleep. Normal person needs up to 4 circadian cycles. We make one every 1.5h, it varies individually. Here is real catch, if You sleep over this four cycles. Your brain starts to use some proteins produced during sleep. Its big waste because catecholamine is produced only during sleep. So if You over sleep, You loose energy, and You may wake up tired.<p>To start wake up earlier, this was tested by myself. You need to reset your brain. So don't sleep for night or two. And after go sleep on proper time. For 6-6.5h. You will be fresh as new born.<p>Interesting about the sleeps starts when You have idea about, training polyphasic sleep :-). Well its different story.

1. Plan in the evening what exact tasks you are going to do in the morning. Come up with detailed tasks - code this function, debug this issue, write follow-up emails, etc. If the tasks are not defined, then it's hard to push yourself to wake up early in the morning.<p>Basically you need a reason to wake up in the morning. If we don't have reason, then even if alarm rings, we snooze it and procrastinate waking up at the decided time.<p>Do all brainstorming, planning, HN/news/blogs reading in the night. And decide a clear action plan for the morning.<p>2. Sleep early. One of my advisers sleeps at 10-10:30 in the night, and wakes up at 4am. I tried following same pattern, and it worked flawlessly. I used to get solid work done in 4am-8am before I go to my day job.

I love the way my mom's younger brother wakes me up. This is a memory of my kid time. He softly talk to me saying "it's better to wake up" while providing some dim light with his little torch. It gives me a comfortable wake up.<p>I wish I can have that smooth wake up all the time but now he has his own kids to worry about and he's so far away from me. It'll be good if there's something emulates that feeling.<p>My story won't mean you anything. But I enjoyed reminiscing those nice wake ups &#38; if I ever have to wake some one up I'll definitely do it my uncles way.

Do something you enjoy. Look forward to the next day. Sometimes I find myself going to sleep earlier just so the next day will arrive ( :

These things work for me:<p>Go to bed earlier at night. Leave your blinds open to let natural light come in in the morning. Have a deadline due the next day.

I wonder how Paul Buchheit (the guy who started GMail) got around this problem. He mentioned that he's not an early riser in the book "Founders at Work".<p>When searching more on the subject, I found this interesting text:<p>"This sort of smugness is prevalent among morning people, who count among their ranks Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, nearly every American president, and even Jesus. (See Mark 1:35: "And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.") Night people are stuck with psychopaths like Adolf Hitler and Juan Arreola, the guy in Pennsylvania who nearly killed his girlfriend's 2-year-old last year, explaining to a judge, "I'm not a morning person."" <a href="http://friendfeed.com/e/cc0e9eb4-39ff-11dd-9d6f-003048343a40/Can-a-night-owl-become-a-morning-person-A-Slate/" rel="nofollow">http://friendfeed.com/e/cc0e9eb4-39ff-11dd-9d6f-003048343a40...</a>

Have something to do once you get up, a reason to get up. I had the same issues before I started to go to the gym in the morning. This has really fixed my sleeping routine.<p>If I don't have a reason to get up in the morning, I'm much more likely to stay in bed before I go to sleep again.

Life is too short to be muttering through the day like a zombie, either, so you're going to need to sleep as much as you need.<p>Keep going to be earlier until you wake up when you want. Stop using an alarm clock. Be consistent.<p>I haven't used an alarm clock in years, and when I need to get up at 3:30 to hit the gym, its not a problem. Of course, I'm going to bed 8 hours before that too.<p>You can't cheat the math. If you want to get up earlier, as pg and others said, go to bed earlier.<p>EDIT: By nature, I have the damnedest time going to bed. I'm always immersing myself in a programming problem or a TV show or some other time sink (worthwhile or not). To fix this, I started taking melatonin an hour or so before I plan to go to sleep. I know its helped me adjust my sleep/wake cycle.

Exercise, get to bed earlier, and move someplace where it's not 20 degrees in the morning.

My wife is out the door very early in the morning. I make sure I get out of bed when she comes in to say goodbye for the day.<p>My alarm clock has proven ineffective. I'll wake up an hour after it should have woken me up and realize I turned it off in my sleep

Get a kid, particularly the infant kind. They'll wake up at 5am without fail everyday for the first several years and are <i>impossible</i> to ignore when they're awake. When they start sleeping in late, get a another one.

I swear by this concept: <a href="http://www.homedics.com/products/soundspa-sunrise.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.homedics.com/products/soundspa-sunrise.html</a> Even just a simple timer on a lightswitch or lamp works for starters. I find the natural sunrise effect to be less jarring however. I used to use an X10-type system as well, controlled by a server to dim lights at night and brighten them in the am. This was ideal but X10 was flaky so I'm using the SoundSpa Sunrise until I can upgrade to something more reliable.

Drink lots of water a few hours before you go to bed, and use an alarm clock. I often find that I'm up before it goes off, but if for some reason that doesn't happen, the alarm clock wakes me up.

I fast to reset my sleep cycle. I can only tolerate 10-12 hours of no calories, but longer supposedly works better. I try to maintain it by not eating during my desired sleep schedule. So if I'm up all night coding, no calories are allowed.<p>Story about it was even posted here almost a year ago. <a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=199394" rel="nofollow">http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=199394</a>

These help me with early wake-ups (3:00am):<p>* My pre-alarm goes off 15 minutes early. After this alarm, I start thinking and worrying about what I need to do. When the real alarm sounds I'm ready to jump out of bed.<p>* I don't use the bathroom in the morning when I'm sleepy. A full bladder helps me stay awake.<p>* I nap whenever I can't work.<p>* Also, drink some water before you go to bed and don't use the bathroom, this will help you wake up in the morning.

I will be more flippant than pg: Just get up already.<p>Now I will explain my reaction so I don't just get downvoted and if you disagree with me, reply.<p>Most people in the world have responsibilities. Kids to feed and to take to school, chores and errands to do plus a (sometimes long) commute to a job where they cannot afford to be late (responsibilities, a boss, or both). Yet, they all manage just fine.

Do something interesting. My project consumes the whole of me. I go to bed thinking about it, sometimes I get ideas in my sleep, and I wake up eager to implement or research whatever I "dreamed" up :-)<p>It also helps that my girlfriend is on a different time zone and calls me early in the morning for her good-night kiss and chit chat.

Its not like somebody will pay me if i get up early :)<p>I say stay up as long as required and try to get as much done as possible. But one important thing is to maintain atleast a 12 hour overlap with other people in your team if you are in a startup. An added advantage is, there is somebody to monitor the servers round the clock ;).

If I go to bed at midnight, I wake up after 10 hours of sleep. If I go to bed at 5am, I wake up after 7. If you're really looking to maximize your waking time, it's not about getting up early, it's about finding your most productive pattern. My work output doubled once I realized this and stopped setting alarms.

I've always been the kind of person who loves sleeping in.<p>I've got several alarm clocks strategically placed in my room so that I can't simply turn them off without having to actually get out of bed and because there are several of them, the resulting dissonant noise is usually enough to wake me up.

I recommend using the "screaming meanie", this 120db alarm will wake both you and your neighbors in the morning, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Screaming-Meanie-220/dp/B000RZLWR8" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/Screaming-Meanie-220/dp/B000RZLWR8</a>

Exercise at least 1 hour per day, 4-5 days per week. You may begrudge the time in the gym, but I've found that an hour of exercise can replace an hour of sleep -- so you're not really out any time, you're just in pain for that hour ;).

I'll let you borrow my cat.

Travel to a country that shifts your waking up time by the correct amount, and stay there for a couple of months. It's the most painless method, but it's a bit expensive.

Find people to work out with and establish a time to meet early in the morning. Make sure they will be pissed off if you don't show up. Rowing is ideal for this.

I'm thinking the real answer is "Do whatever it is that your so fired up about, it makes you get up at 5am."

Find something cool to do the next day. Regulate your body and mind so you can sleep well and wake up early.

The alarm device should play pleasant music you enjoy, but not too soft. And placed out of reach.

Have kids.

My wife and I had a baby. Now I get up at 7 every day.

If you do not sleep enough, your life will be shorter!

One word:<p>Modafinil

set an alarm and be disciplined enough to get up and not hit snooze.

Sleep on the couch...you will be uncomfortable and definately get up early.

wrap around.

There's no reason to get up early in the morning. This is one of those things like marathon running and vegetarianism. For totally irrational reasons people think they're doing something worthwhile just because doing it sucks.