What time do you wake up?

I'm a junior in college right now and I wake up around 10:30 every day. On the weekends I wake up really late like 12 PM. What time did you wake up in college and what time do you wake up now for work? Any tips on getting out of bed? I always hear my alarm but I close my eyes for those "2 more minutes" and end up sleeping for another hour

 

Don’t hit snooze and just be disciplined. Go to bed at the same time every night, and wake up at the same time every morning with as few exceptions as possible, even on weekends (this is important). Id recommend cutting out caffeine if possible; not huge, but I’ve heard it can mess with your sleep and make you feel more drowsy throughout the day. Don’t take adderall past 2-3pm unless you’re ripping an all nighter. Eat well, hydrate well, get exercise and don’t use screens before bed. All of that has helped me get used to 12pm to 7am sleep schedule.

 

If you want to wake up earlier and not so late everyday you will need to drastically change your schedule. For example, minimize and or cut caffeine out entirely (yes it's possible), workout at least 3x a week, try not to get to drunk if you drink, by waking up at different times throughout the week your circadian rhythm has trouble stabilizing.

For reference I get up at 8:30 every day of the week except Mondays (have an 8:15am class).

 

I can't really say a lot in regards getting out of bed, there really is no secret, you really just have to force yourself to do it. One thing though that I will say in addition to getting on a routine, limiting alcohol consumption, no blue light an hour before bed (pretty much everything you've ever heard, but there's a reason those are always the first recommendations: they work) that will help you with natural energy is organic B vitamins (specifically B6, B9, and B12). These are some of the main players in the conversion of food to energy, so as long as you're eating remotely enough (theoretically doesn't even have to be "healthy", just has to have adequate macronutrients, but obviously healthy is better), it will keep you going throughout the day. I always had trouble staying 100% alert if I didn't get to sleep in, and such a simple addition has pretty much fixed that. Just make sure that they're B vitamins in their natural form, as the synthetic forms are not recognized well by the body and therefore have a much lower rate of absorption and utilization. I use Mind Lab Pro which gets their B vitamins from certain plant extracts (as opposed to manufactured artificially in a lab), and it works great. I know it isn't exactly what you asked, but I hope this can help you have more energy as you start to improve your sleep schedule. In my personal experience, it also reduces the time necessary to feel "fully rested"; before, if I slept in with no alarms, I would sleep 9-10 hours. Now, I wake up naturally after just 8 hours or so, and I actually feel better than I did sleeping 9-10. So it can also help if you're busy and don't have time to get a full nights sleep. However, it's not like a sleep aid in the sense that it works immediately, these have to be taken on a consistent basis for at least a week to start seeing improvement, but once you do you'll be blown away by the difference. And for reference, I wake up at 5:30 AM on weekdays and sleep in until 7:30 or so on weekends. I also don't take caffeine or any other supplements that would have an effect on energy/sleep besides those B vitamins. Along with the vitamins just make sure to hydrate a lot (extremely huge influence on sleep and energy) and try to eat at least semi-decently.

 
Most Helpful

What helped me getting out of in the morning was having a goal and then doing everything I could to stick to a plan that would help me achieve that. For me, that was fitness and the feeling of being productive. Also setting 2 alarms (might not be the best if this will get you used to hitting snooze, but in my mind the first was “ok you have 5 minutes to get your mind right” and the second was “you better get tf up if you want to have time for a workout.”

As others have mentioned, nutrition is also a major factor in feeling healthy and trying to get to bed early to have enough rest (might not be feasible as you enter the workforce but during college it definitely is).

With most habits, just have to start doing it consistently and you’ll become accustomed to it. The morning workout routine for me helped and I kept to it even when I was rotated to a west coast office working ET hours (waking up at 4:30am to get an hour of exercise). Even if it’s just rolling out of bed to do some push-ups, might help to get the blood pumping!

 

For those recommending cutting out coffee, why is that? Is that aimed towards people who drink 3+ cups? Someone on here posted a thread about a study that showed that drinking a cup was beneficial when cortisol (or something else idk) levels were low, generally around 10am on average. I only drink 1-2 cups of black coffee, but roughly the same time everyday around 10-10:30am, but would it be good to cut it out entirely, or limit it further to maybe just a weekend thing?

Quant (ˈkwänt) n: An expert, someone who knows more and more about less and less until they know everything about nothing.
 

If you need to drink coffee because you're pulling 70/80+ hour weeks then keep doing it. But if you have no real reason aside from just wanting to for school or whatever it may be then cut it out. It doesn't matter if you drink it at 8am, by the time you go to sleep you will still have caffeine in you and it will affect your sleep. Not drinking caffeine after 12pm will minimise its effects but thats not to say drinking it at 10am is suddenly not going to affect you at all. Take a few weeks off and see what happens. 

 

I typically drink 1 cup of coffee a day to help get me going, but if i had a good night's sleep already, i try to switch to something lighter in caffeine like green tea. I might drink two of those in one day, at separate times, but I'm still able to sleep well later that night. I think varying the caffeine levels really helps me manage my energy and helps me get a better night's rest.

 

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