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Waking up at 5am to code

mattgreer.org

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Re: Waking up at 5am to code

#181

Post by notJim »

My problem doing this is the weekend. I like to go out to concerts and occasionally bars with friends, which has me out until 1 AM on an early night. Then I sleep in the following day, which destroys the whole schedule, since it's the complete opposite of what I need to do during the week.

Compare my current schedule, which has me going to bed around 2AM most nights—even if I go to bed at 5 AM on Friday, that's only 3 hours off from my usual schedule, so it's much easier to recover by Monday.

Re: Waking up at 5am to code

#183

Post by nkoren »

hopeseekr wrote: post #154
nkoren wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm the same way, and my friends had the same reaction as you. They suggested that if I cut out caffeine and sugar then my body's own natural energy would resurface, and I'd stop being so groggy until the mid-afternoon. So, I listened to them, and for 9 months I consumed no stimulants at all. After 9 months of this experiment, I was -- and I know the story isn't supposed to work this way, but it did -- consistently g…

I say with conviction (having the same experience) that this is because your endocrine hormonal system is seriously out of whack. Probably hypothyroidism, but possibly hypopituitiarism or even lack of testosterone. Go see an endocrinologist, stat! Your quality of life, and even longevity, could be at serious peril.

Hm. You may have a point. This was back when I lived in America, and seeing an endocrinologist would have required winning the lottery or something. Now that I'm living in a more civilised country, perhaps I'll give it a try...

Re: Waking up at 5am to code

#185

Post by bitops »

derekp7 wrote: post #173
polyfractal wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Definitely install F.lux: http://stereopsis.com/flux/ It adjusts the color temperature of your monitor as the sun goes down. As the sun sets, your monitor becomes more red/pink. It takes a little while to get used to it, but I absolutely cannot stand normal monitors at night time now. When I occasionally disable F.lux to watch a movie at night, I'm blinded by the bright blue glow.

I've recently done this, and it helps when I'm on-call and get woke up in the night. I can now fall back asleep faster. Another item that helped, I've put oil lanterns up on the walls in my home office. I just got to remember to light them instead of flipping on a light switch, and all is good.

That's a nice touch I hadn't thought of. Any ones you like in particular?

Re: Waking up at 5am to code

#186

Post by eof013 »

kabdib wrote: post #27

In the last six or seven years I've been up regularly at 5am or so. I can get an hour of work done before the rest of the household wakes up. It's great. My inspiration was Gene Wolfe, who wrote _The Book of the New Sun_ in the wee hours, and held down a day job as a technical magazine editor. [I'm not claiming my code is anywhere near as great as the wonderful writing that Wolfe did, but the early hours are definite…

I've been waking up at 5am for the past three years. I found that, by 9am when my colleagues started arriving at work, I had already managed to finish a large chunk of the work I had planned for that day. I tend to do the actual work during these hours and reply to emails later on in the day. This helps me stay focused and I found it to be quite productive. I don't drink coffee though, I have never felt the need for it.

Re: Waking up at 5am to code

#188

Post by jlembeck »

I find that with the insane amount of meetings and interruptions I might face in any given day that don't contribute to "coding time," this works really well to ensure that I'm getting things done and to keep my mind fresh. I can then engage on the business side of things later without having that nagging feeling in the back of my head that something needs to get done.

Re: Waking up at 5am to code

#189

Post by GigabyteCoin »

brown9-2 wrote: post #150
GigabyteCoin wrote: post #72

I have been doing the exact opposite of this strategy for some time now. Going to bed at 5am. Those 6 hours of coding between 11pm and 5am are some of the quietest you will ever experience in Toronto where I live at least. If I woke up at 5am, I would b HORN e cons HORN ta HORN ntly distrube HORNNNNNNNN d.

Is the noise there so bad that noise-cancelling headphones wouldn't help? You can get a pretty good pair from Bose for $200-300. It might be a steep investment at first, but if it improvements your working conditions and you use them for a few years...

They might help, as earplugs do, but then I have to work with something on my head the entire time...

There is just something about an 18 wheeler's honk that is next to impossible to cancel out, unfortunately. It literally rumbles the ground beneath my feet.

I'm a modern day Beethoven.

Re: Waking up at 5am to code

#190

Post by whimsy »

polyfractal wrote: post #165
pstuart wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My sleep doctor advised taking less, and earlier (1.5 mg around 5 or 6 pm).

This is good advice. Taking melatonin when you go to bed will help you sleep, but taking it a few hours before you want to go to bed helps retrain your circadian cycle (which is the goal, not just going to sleep easily)

Do you have a source you can cite for this? I'm keenly interested in how this works.
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