Ask HN: how to become a morning person? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: how to become a morning person?

#101

Post by blacksqr » Tue, Apr 19, 2011, 5:02 AM UTC

I was just like OP for a long time. If I couldn't sleep until 10 or 11AM I was just desperately groggy until mid-afternoon. It just didn't matter how early I went to bed. At the same time I could happily function on seven hours or so of sleep, as long as those seven hours were between 3-10AM. Trying to work a day job with regular office hours was hellish.

What finally saved me was a combination of herbal sleep aids and caffeine pills. Every evening I put a caffeine pill on my nightstand and popped it the second the alarm clock went off. Mid-way through my shower, I would actually start to wake up. (For some reason, just drinking coffee in the morning never helped much). I can't tell you how good it felt actually to be awake in the morning, I can't imagine heroin feels any better.

My body still wanted to stay up past midnight many nights... I found that taking kava or valerian before bed would allow me to get enough restful sleep before the alarm went off.

This regimen changed my life and made it possible to be a much more productive and creative person. After about five years, my internal clock finally adjusted somewhat, and I was able to do away with the pills and function normally in the mornings without them. I still keep some around for backup, but I find I can now make reasonable choices of sleep and wake time without recourse to drugs.

I don't know if it's wise to recommend such a plan to another, but if I could go back 20 years and tell myself one sentence, "valerian" and "caffeine pills" would be in it.

Re: Ask HN: how to become a morning person?

#102

Post by smhinsey » Tue, Apr 19, 2011, 6:24 AM UTC

jtheory wrote: post #91

pg wrote: post #3

Getting lots of exercise makes it easier to fall asleep at night. The ultimate solution, however, is to have a small child.

What time does your small child go to bed? (Not your point, really -- having lots to do, including lots of physical play, does a great job exhausting you... but I'm looking at many of the responses to your comment.) I can't tell you how many parents I know that complain (sometimes bitterly) about how early their kids wake them up, and I find out they put the kid in bed at 7pm. Or 6pm, even. My wife works best in the…

This has always confused me. I have memories of some vague but very young age of me being put to bed when it was still light outside.

Re: Ask HN: how to become a morning person?

#103

Post by scotty79 » Tue, Apr 19, 2011, 3:47 PM UTC

Jarred wrote: post #87

scotty79 wrote: post #84

Take a 5 mg of melatonine at 21:30 and after thirty minutes turn off the lights and the computer, lay down in bed and close your eyes. After few days of such treatment you'll be more morning person than you've ever been. Don't try to stop taking melatonine unless you are very strong willed (which you are probably not). You may want to reduce the dose to 1 mg and 3 mg if you notice it's enough.

Melatonin's nice, but I can't sleep any more than 8 hours on it (I need around 9.5), and if you sleep less than 8 hours it makes the individual groggy.

I also sleep shorter after melatonine, but I feel more awaken then after more sleep without melatonine. Of course that's only after week or two of taking melatonine. First few days when your body clock adjusts might be rough.

Re: Ask HN: how to become a morning person?

#104

Post by Jem » Thu, Apr 28, 2011, 1:24 PM UTC

jtheory wrote: post #91

pg wrote: post #3

Getting lots of exercise makes it easier to fall asleep at night. The ultimate solution, however, is to have a small child.

What time does your small child go to bed? (Not your point, really -- having lots to do, including lots of physical play, does a great job exhausting you... but I'm looking at many of the responses to your comment.) I can't tell you how many parents I know that complain (sometimes bitterly) about how early their kids wake them up, and I find out they put the kid in bed at 7pm. Or 6pm, even. My wife works best in the…

Because not all kids work this way. If I put my daughter (17.5 months) to bed any later, not only would she wake earlier but she would wake up in the night more too.

I do know of another couple who have a similar system to you though; Dad works all day so they keep their boy up later and let him sleep in to get more family time.