I’ve read that some people are night owls and others are morning people. For the past 22 years, I’ve always considered myself to belong to the former category. I hate waking up early. Hate, hate, hate. I never sleep better than after slamming the damn alarm clock, and going to bed again nestled in warm blankets :). As a kid, my mother used to wake me up early for studies. I would delay in bed till she had to pretty much drag me out. Then I would lay out the towel on the bathroom floor and go to sleep for another few precious minutes!
When I started freelancing, I gave up early mornings forever. There was no need in the world for me to sleep less. And for four years I did just that. I woke up nice and late. 10:00 am was my waking time and by the time I started work, it would be 12:30 pm. I would go to sleep at around 2:00 in the morning. And so the cycle continued. This had some unpleasant effects. For example on weekends Anupa would like to have breakfast together, but I wouldn’t be up and ready till around 1:00 pm. Plus there’s no denying that being awake early in the day does make you feel better in a strange sort of way. You get the feeling that you have the whole day ahead of you…you know how it is.
Three months ago, I began using a calendar tick sytem for sticking to my resolutions. Since then, I’ve developed a number of new habits that I’ve been able to keep up for months altogether. Such as:
Working on my blog everyday
Programming daily
Meditation daily
A month ago I decided to add a new habit – waking up early. Like every other late sleeper, I’ve tried this before only to fall back again. But I was hoping that my new system of crossing off days on a calendar would keep me motivated enough to carry on long enough for it to become a habit. So for every day that I woke up early, I’d mark it with a big red cross. The resulting line of crosses makes me feel good and pushes me to keep the line unbroken. After a few days, it gives me satisfaction to see the progress I’ve made.
I started on the 22nd of August. I first woke up at 9, then 8 and after a few days I started rising at 7 am. I also adjusted my sleeping time from 2:00 am to 11:00 pm. And here is my set of crosses for all of September:
Pretty impressive for a self confessed late riser huh? :D I’m enjoying my new schedule – finishing up work by 11 am and then having a lot of sunlight left. The change is mostly psychological. The total amount of time I spend awake and sleeping is still the same.
One more good habit formed :).
Ever since college I’ve always been a night owl. Staying up until 3am in the morning studying or talking with my friends from abroad. But since I’ve started working, I basically had to become a morning person. While it’s not entirely bad, I do miss my late nights. I miss sleeping in. Like you, I used to get up around 12 or 1pm in the afternoon. When I work, I have to get up around 6am to be at work 7am, but since I work partime my work days are over by 2pm. So I have the rest of the day to myself. :) It’s also good, because even on my days off, I get up early in the morning. The latest I’ll sleep in is around 9am. I also agree that waking up early means you have the day to look forward to.
In reply to RenKiss
Maybe one day I’ll grow tired of waking up early and then I’ll go back to the old routine. At least then it’ll be my choice and not because I was incapable of doing so :)
In reply to RenKiss
is it possible … my late mother could be waking me up in the morning?
I never once did use an alarm clock i just been waking up randomly every morning at the same time
i too HATE getting up early. i think this might have something to do with what time we were born. you were born at about 3.10 pm and i was born at 6.10pm. so we like to sleep late; wake up to see the sun high up in the sky or some sort of such thinng. papa was born in the morning at about 6.30am and so was Gawzy at 8.30 am – i dont know about Gawzy but papa likes to get up early.
i have on about 3 occasions tried to get up early and ” feel good ‘ about it; trotting off for that brisk morning walk only to slip back to my old schedule of getting out of bed at 8am. this is convenient for me because when i get up early i just have nothing to do ! no more having to get you kids out of bed, getting breakfast ready and seeing you off to school; papa has his own routine and so after i wake up and finish with the toiletries all i have to do is give the dogs a morning snack, take my iced coffee out of the frig, head for the terrace coffee in hand and browse through the newspaper; this goes on till 9.30 when i tell Lakshmi what to do for the day, head for the bath and am in the clinic on the dot of 10. getting up at 8 seems to be just right for me :)
In reply to tp
It’s also easier to wake up if you have the light streaming in from a window – there’s no need for an alarm clock then and you don’t feel like going back to sleep either.
In reply to tp
Actually, it seems one’s circadian rhythm is preset even before birth and “handed down” by mother to offspring rather than the time of birth. It’s interesting because I used to think all humans pretty much had the same circadian rhythm, but evidence seems to be proving otherwise. A child’s circadian rhythm seems to be controlled by the mother’s activity *sometime* way before birth. But, since most humans, especially mothers, have been dependent on light-dark cycle for sleep cycles until recently, the “early to bed and early to rise” might still hold true. If the following research holds true (link is at the end), most of us would benefit from going to bed and rising early.
Personally, I’ve always felt best waking up fairly early, between 4:30 and 5 am. I think most of us, including me, get off track mainly due to societal and professional obligations. I believe 6 hours of sleep between 10 pm and around 4:30 is enough for a normal person. If you’re an active athlete, add another hour or two. I also now believe that if one sleeps about 6 hours or even less within their circadian rhythm, it’s far better than sleeping, say 10 hours, outside of the circadian rhythm. It’s enough when one achieves his or her REM cycle. I’ve felt groggy even after sleeping 10 hours when I slept very late.
I’m just saying that the fact that most of us feel more productive and energized when waking up early could be because we like to work and mull on things when the rest of the world is not out to distract our strain of thought. It’s possible that there are other factors at play.
Anyway, I’m not going to mull over it anymore as I’m going to enjoy my Friday evening;) I’m going to break everything I’ve said above just for today: party till late and sleep after the after-party, around 6 pm.
Still, feel free to correct me if I’ve gone off the trail.. Always appreciate input.
In reply to Narayanan
So sorry, here’s the link I was referring to
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/831678.stm
In reply to Narayanan
Correction: Change the last second last sentence to end in 6 *AM* instead of 6 pm. OK guys, have fun this weekend and wish me luck on my trekking competition this Sunday!
In reply to Narayanan
Good luck on your trekking competition!
oh ! and i forgot to say ” CONGRATS ‘ ! Lots of red crosses… in fact you’ve done it for the WHOLE of September !
Thanks for sharing the calendar tick method and the inspirational post! Looks like a great way to stay motivated when forming a good habit…
Do you think waking up late is a kind of procrastinating – wake up late, do every thing late and finally delay sleeping as long as possible?
In reply to Indian Homemaker
No – I don’t think the two are connected. It’s more about habits/upbringing and some people just being able to do better in the mornings than the evenings…
In reply to Indian Homemaker
There’s also an issue of work schedules. I know some people who work late shifts like from night to early morning. With their schedule being like that, they usually spend the rest of the day sleeping until late in the day.
I am a night person myself… It takes me forever to kickstart my brain in the mornings! :D But then I try not to wake up later than 9-9.30 on weekends. And sleep not later than 1am. That way there are no huge changes in the cycle.
Waking up at noon makes me cranky… I want to see atleast some part of the morning for me to register is as a new day!
i LOVE to be awake at night. right now its 2am ! its quiet; everything finished for the day; no one to meet or disturb you; no chores to get done; no one wants to contact you for this and that. i just LOVE this time . its totally for me ! But i dont like to get out of bed later than 8am on a work day or 9am on a Sunday. Tomorrow is Sunday ..
and about the” light streaming in from the window part of it ” it may work for Bhagwad but i sleep on the terrace and no amount of sunlight bothers me till it’s 8am and time for me to open my eyes to the sun :)