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Ask HN: Has anyone switched from being a night owl to being a morning person?

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41–50 of 71 posts

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone switched from being a night owl to being a morning person?

#41
In college, I went to bed around 2-3:30am every weeknight because that's what the people around me were doing. Also, I was regularly staying out at least that late on weekends.

In the last few years, I've been forced to get to work by 9:45am due to team standups. Also, my girlfriend-at-the-time was waking up around 6:30-7am to exercise almost every weekday. And I don't really go out partying at night anymore so waking up at 7:30am and not feeling miserable is doable.

Keeping the consistent weekend schedule is the key. I've been pretty driven to continue my CS education and self-teaching and so having more time in the day to continue that goal motivates me to get up early.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone switched from being a night owl to being a morning person?

#42

While I have not, I have made an interesting realization. I used to like being a night person and hate being a morning person. My like of being a night person comes from rare nights where I feel alive working on projects and it's amazing, but rare. However, I've realized my hate of being a morning person is incorrect. It all stems from a single thing - the alarm. When I wake up from an alarm, I feel a bit blah all da…

> One thing that's helped me in general is a light alarm - 30 minutes before the alarm, it gradually starts turning a light on.

I can’t recommend this enough. I suffer from horrible seasonal depression which only makes getting out of bed during the darker months that much more difficult. I bought a light alarm last Winter and it was an amazing switch. Rather than waking up in an awful mood from a blaring alarm I wake up a few minutes before due to the light about 95% of the time and feel a lot less cranky and depressed in the morning.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone switched from being a night owl to being a morning person?

#43

I think my first question would be "why do you want to switch to being a morning person?" I suspect there is a deeper underlying objective, and becoming a morning person may or may not be the best path to success. That said, I made the switch from night owl to morning person. Like many lifestyle changes, I think the biggest part is establishing the habit, after which it becomes your standard existence. Create a regul…

When I need to adjust my sleep pattern for work or travel, melatonin has been a big help. Food and light exposure also seem to play a big role in my recovery time. If you haven't already enable Night Light / Red shift to cut out evening blue light.

None of these will turn a night owl into a early riser but they will help you adjust when needed.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone switched from being a night owl to being a morning person?

#45

I think my first question would be "why do you want to switch to being a morning person?" I suspect there is a deeper underlying objective, and becoming a morning person may or may not be the best path to success. That said, I made the switch from night owl to morning person. Like many lifestyle changes, I think the biggest part is establishing the habit, after which it becomes your standard existence. Create a regul…

I agree with the establishing the habit. And I think all of the steps are important - exercise, caffeine, screen time. And alarm clocks! I personally found giving up the alarm clock was the biggest thing. (Also it giving it up gave me the feeling that my quality of life improved. For the curious I wake up at 6am, when it's plenty dark, but the habit alone is enough to get me up on time.)

After the switch I found (for me) caffeine wasn't much of a problem, I can drink an after dinner espresso. And it wasn't so much the screens - with flux installed, and all the lights in the house off, I can code till about ½ an hour before bedtime.

So although the transition can be rough - you are not necessarily giving everything up permanently, just doing so to make the habit. And once the habit has stuck, you can try adding things back in.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone switched from being a night owl to being a morning person?

#46

While I have not, I have made an interesting realization. I used to like being a night person and hate being a morning person. My like of being a night person comes from rare nights where I feel alive working on projects and it's amazing, but rare. However, I've realized my hate of being a morning person is incorrect. It all stems from a single thing - the alarm. When I wake up from an alarm, I feel a bit blah all da…

A total human sleep cycle is about 90 to 110 minutes. Most important is that you'll feel most groggy if you wake up during the deep sleep parts of a cycle.

I've found trying to set my alarm in about 90 minute increments (from when I think I'll fall asleep) helps a lot. For me, that means basically either 6 or 7.5 hours of sleep on weekdays.

I also agree on the alarm. I use my phone, and have it set to gradually increase volume with a gentle noise - I change it occasionally, but typically choose something like birds chirping or piano music.. so long as it doesn't have abrupt loud sounds.

These two things have helped me significantly with feeling decent when I first wake up. I'm still not a "morning person" but I'm at my, let's say, "average" level of productive by the time I'm at work in the morning.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone switched from being a night owl to being a morning person?

#47
Some of the advice amounts to "just do it" or "insert inconvenient forcing function" like spending a week backpacking, which would be difficult if your sleep schedule is affecting your energy and mood.

I've tried forcing myself, but it tends to be fragile. Go to sleep late just 1 night, have trouble forcing yourself to sleep the next day, sleep schedule gets worse again, get frustrated, give up.

What I've been having success with is a full spectrum LED light, which I use for an hour in the morning, and a blue light filtering goggles, which I wear from sunset. I can literally feel the goggles working as my eyes grow heavier a few hours from sunset, resulting in my falling asleep around 11-12 and waking up around 6-7.

Admittedly I've only done this for the past 3 weeks after reading about the full spectrum LED light from https://blog.samaltman.com/productivity. But it doesn't get easier than turn on light, put on goggles.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone switched from being a night owl to being a morning person?

#48
Control your light exposure. Open the blinds during the day, invite in the daylight or get outside as soon as the sun is up. At night, ruthlessly purge lights inside your house. Shut off devices, tape over blinky lights. Cut way back on your screen time after the sun has gone down. (screen time during the day is kosher) Use only dim "mood" lighting around the house at night, except maybe if you're reading or cooking.

The rest will basically take care of itself.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone switched from being a night owl to being a morning person?

#49
I have. Kind of. My solution might not work for you, or it might be unacceptable for other reasons.

I've always been a night owl, and by always I mean that I remember anecdotes about getting up in the middle of the night of a Saturday to read or to do something, going back to when I was like 8 years old. Like you, I've realized that my mind just works better at night (but my mood is better during the day. YMMV).

When I was studying my first degree, and during my first job after that, I had a horrible sleep schedule. More like I didn't have a real sleep schedule. I would sleep an indefinite amount of time, between 4 and 7 hours, and then have a mini-crash each weekend, sleeping until 1 or 2 pm. During my first (part-time, mornings) job, for a few months I slept twice from 4 to 8: once at 4-8 am, then again at 4-8 pm. It was way worse than it sounds.

About 6 years ago I decided that I had to take care of my sleep, and I devised my life hack: I would sleep just after work, instead of just before work. I've been successfully doing this since then. So, the guidelines are:

1) go to sleep as soon as possible. This means going to sleep at an apparently insane time. Lately I'm going to the bed at about 6 pm.

2) sleep as much as you want without looking at any clock. Sometimes I get up at 1am, sometimes I get up at 3:30. Get up only when you are confident that you don't need more sleep. Don't worry, you will still have a few hours with three juicy bonuses to mental activity (completely rested + night time + silence). If you're anything like me, your productivity be tremendous.

3) Most chores can be done during this night time. Most notably, it's a great time to cook; just be careful about noise (avoid blenders, and if you're cleaning, avoid the vacuum cleaner). Other chores, like buying groceries or anything noisy, will have to wait until the weekend.

4) For obvious reasons, social life will also have to wait until weekends. You might not get a lot, with this schedule; I've never had much and I'm accustomed to that, so this is not a problem for me. But this is probably the greatest deal breaker for most people.

5) Follow the same sleep schedule every day, including Saturdays and Sundays. This is very important, and it requires discipline.

6) Ideally you should also have a job with sane hours (and finishing at the same time every day), which again is not available to everyone. Plan your meals accordingly. I have two meals a day, one just before work and another one, lighter, just after work and before going to bed. You might have a different plan, like eating once when you get up and then have lunch halfway during your work.

The key is: regardless of whether you are a lark or an owl, go to the bed at the same time every day, try to sleep 8 hours, and try to make them continuous. There is this myth about people having a noncontinuous schedule during the middle ages. I'm a little sceptical; but above that, I've realized that, for me, the only thing that really works is a continuous sleep.

Other tips:

1) Avoid caffeine. If you follow this schedule, getting up and needing coffee immediately will be a thing of the past. In fact, if you are still tired after 8 hours, you can just sleep 1 or 2 more, since work is still a few hours away. I've found that an excess of sugar also works against this schedule, but again, YMMV.

2) No alarm clocks either. You will wake up naturally when you are fully rested. Also, turn off your phone just as you arrive home.

3) Melatonin is your friend. You might notice that some days your body is not ready to sleep. If this happens to you, start taking melatonin about 1h before going to bed.

4) As much as I dislike it, exercise helps a lot. Something as simple as walking around your house with the blinds closed might be good enough; the ideal condition would be to do something during the day that tires you a little, like an 1h walk or a short visit to the gym.

The biggest problem is setting up the schedule. In order to do this, go to bed two or three hours later each day, until you are going to sleep at the desired time. I usually reserve the latest 4 or 5 days of each vacation period to do this, but of course this might not work if you don't have many days off during the year. I live in Europe, so I can afford three 10-15 periods during the year (mind your bank holidays and weekends and plan accordingly, of course).

I always say that the cons of this schedule are obvious, but the pros, while not obvious, are also there and they are great. No alarm clock; sleep as much as you want every day; the best hours of the day are for myself and not for the job (but you will still be very productive at work since you will be well rested); and I get easy access to some underrated pleasures like going to the beach just before dawn.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone switched from being a night owl to being a morning person?

#50
I used to drink a cup of coffee at 7PM every day and regularly stay up until 2AM - 4AM. Now, my partner is a huge night owl and I work regular daytime hours, so the morning is the time I enjoy to myself. I also drink significantly less caffeine (2 cups of black tea max vs 6+ cups of coffee). I feel less crazy in general these days and like the time I have to myself in the mornings. I still don't like having to be someplace really early and usually get to work around 9:30AM. Even if I wake up early I usually do a little house work and take my time getting ready.
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