I'm thinking the real answer is "Do whatever it is that your so fired up about, it makes you get up at 5am."
Ask HN: How can I get up early in the morning?
101–110 of 138 posts
Re: Ask HN: How can I get up early in the morning?
#102Go to bed earlier at night.
I think you just lost your right to complain about comments that are shallow, flippant and/or do not bring any useful knowledge or argument to the table. Sleep is a serious subject with many intricacies and hacking one's sleep can have far-reaching consequences. By reducing it to a short soundbite you set out a bad example, and it will be followed with zeal - already it's been modded to 55. Sad.
Actually, the question has a simple and correct answer which is what PG provided. Just because sleep is a serious matter does not mean the advice/answer to the question must be complicated.
Re: Ask HN: How can I get up early in the morning?
#103Earlier quoted context omitted.
Try melatonin. They usually come in 3mg pills, and I find that a quarter pill will do me fine, triggering a drowsy phase in about half an hour lasting for about half an hour. If I am in bed with the lights out, I will sleep the rest of the night. I am a night owl. When I'm not working, I naturally phase shift until I go to sleep at 5AM. When my workplace instituted a less flexible flex time so that I had to get there…
I would prefer not to use any kind of pills/drugs. I have tried drinking some tea made from lime/tilia-tree blossoms and some other plants, but it wasn't quite enough. It makes me sleepy, but just a bit and for a very short time. If I don't go to bed in the next 5 minutes or so, its effect seems to vanish in thin air.
Your body naturally produces melatonin to make you sleepy.
Re: Ask HN: How can I get up early in the morning?
#104Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would prefer not to use any kind of pills/drugs. I have tried drinking some tea made from lime/tilia-tree blossoms and some other plants, but it wasn't quite enough. It makes me sleepy, but just a bit and for a very short time. If I don't go to bed in the next 5 minutes or so, its effect seems to vanish in thin air.
5 minutes seems like plenty of time, assuming you place the tea right next to your bed and drink it once you've gotten into bed. Natural ways to induce drowsiness include sex and turkey. A good workout and a hot shower a couple of hours before bed also makes it easier for me to fall asleep.
+1 for sex. I remember the nights when I slept at my girlfriend. They didn't necessarily made me an early riser, but they sure made me an early sleeper. But again, if I didn't sleep in the first minutes, the drowsiness would disappear.
Re: Ask HN: How can I get up early in the morning?
#105wrap around.
Re: Ask HN: How can I get up early in the morning?
#106If 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.
Re: Ask HN: How can I get up early in the morning?
#107I've always been the kind of person who loves sleeping in.
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.
Re: Ask HN: How can I get up early in the morning?
#108There'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.
I disagree. Running is pretty damn exciting, even more than video games. Don't believe me?
Go on track, run a lap in under 1:45. Now imagine you can run at that speed for a long long time, without getting tired, in the trails, near lakes, on the tiny bridges -- running rules.
Once you actually can run (not jog like many do: took me a year or so) it is great.
Re: Ask HN: How can I get up early in the morning?
#109Earlier quoted context omitted.
Deadlines work the opposite for me. Procrastinators can do anything other than what they're supposed to be doing...including sleep. At least, I can. The less I want to do something, the more exhausted I feel; and deadlines damage my desire to do something more than just about anything. On the other hand, if I'm excited about something, and feeling really interested in what will happen that day it definitely helps. So…
I am totally different. I am a horrible procrastinator, but give me a deadline every day and I will move the world. Need that pressure. Love that pressure. I'll probably have a heart attack when I'm 40.
I think I'm starting to sweat up as I'm thinking about that pressure. Hate the pressure.
Re: Ask HN: How can I get up early in the morning?
#110I'll let you borrow my cat.
I was going to suggest: get a cat. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0ffwDYo00Q