
Ask HN: How can I get up early in the morning? - alexitosrv
The life is too short to be sleeping a major part of it. What do you do to getting up early, or do you think it is not really important at all?
======
Xichekolas
I'd recommend sleeping in a room that gets sunlight as early as possible. As
the room warms up (and gets brighter), you'll naturally wake up less groggily.

If your schedule can handle it, try just going to sleep when you are tired and
seeing when you wake up (ie. don't use an alarm at all).

I tried this for about six months, and the following happened.

The first week or two I slept upwards of 10-11 hours a night, and woke up in
the afternoon.

The next couple months, my schedule kind of rotated around the clock (I'd wake
up about 30-45 mins later each day), but I only slept 8-9 hours.

By month four, I was only sleeping 7-7.5 hours at a time, and my schedule
rotation had slowed to where it was only shifting about 15 mins a day.

The best part was that I always woke up extremely fresh and ready to go. I
never felt like the walking dead, and generally was happier.

Before I tried this, I thought I was a night person, just because I always
seem to stay up too late and dislike waking up... but I realized what I really
liked was the quiet, and found that early morning quiet time (4-7am) was
actually more productive, just because I wasn't worn out from a whole day of
being awake.

Sadly I had to return to a day job for a bit before grad school, so now I
survive mostly on coffee, but it was fun to try when I had the chance.

~~~
jwilliams
I'd recommend this as well - particularly waking with the sun. I've been in
some light-deprived places, and then I got a wake-up light (basically it
slowly lights up the room, rather than an alarm).

Instead of having an alarm _BAM_ wake up, it's much more natural - you'll find
yourself thinking "hey I'm awake". Much, much more pleasant.

I used to wake up to my nokia mobile phone alarm (which are excruciatingly
loud). I'd snooze it about 4-5 times... Terrible habit. It would totally wreck
me for the morning.

I also tend to exercise in the morning. I find this motivating. Doing this, or
taking a walk, or something similar - you hit the day in peak form.

------
sounddust
I had this problem for nearly my entire life, and I finally solved it about 3
years ago. For me, I had to fix _every_ problem that was affecting my sleep at
the same time. If any one of those problems crops up again, then I won't be
able to sleep properly until I resolve it. Anyway, for me, it involved the
following changes in my life:

1) No caffeine after 5-6 PM, and generally less than 100mg of caffeine per
day.

2) Exercising for _at least_ 30 minutes/day, 3-4 times/week (but not right
before sleeping). Although in my case, it's closer to 5 hours total/week.

3) Avoiding too much artificial sugar in a given day. I limit it to one
"thing" (pastry/small piece of pie/etc) per day. After that, just eat fruit.

4) Keeping the area in which I sleep completely free of things that would
distract me from sleeping. That is, I absolutely _never_ use my laptop, watch
TV or do anything similar while laying in bed. At least for me, this has
turned out to be really important (and something my doctor recommended).

Also, some things that might help:

* Create a routine; start each morning with something you enjoy (coffee or watching tv or catching up on your news).. You'll find it gives you an incentive to wake up, rather than if you knew you were just immediately getting ready and leaving

* If you feel less tired than normal on a particular day, you can drink chamomile tea, or warm milk, both of which seem to mildly increase sleepiness.

* If you're overweight or in bad physical shape, then you will sleep much better after getting in shape. So if this is the case, you should work to make it a priority.

------
pg
Go to bed earlier at night.

~~~
niels_olson
To go to bed earlier

1) get up earlier

2) You can only shift your schedule about 1 hour per day. You can try shifting
it more, but you're going to have sweater-head, nausea and hot flashes. If you
go from getting up at 11 to getting up at 5, expect five days of feeling like
crap.

3) The pineal gland is activated by light incident on the retina. So calculate
when you need to go to sleep based on when you get up, and stop using the
computer one hour prior. _AND_ use Flux, or do something to turn down the
absolute amount of light coming from your screen(s).

4) The sleep-wake cycle is naturally about 25 hours. It takes discipline to go
to sleep at the same time every night. Or exhaustion.

5) Recent findings suggest that starvation can suspend the diurnal cycle 12
hours or more. So eat a good dinner.

6) Additionally, fats, proteins, warmth, and bulk activate the parasympathetic
nervous system (rest and digest). Simple carbs offer none of these things. So
fatty snacks are better. Unsalted nuts are a great snack (salt stimulated the
cephalic phase of eating. So, sorry, but bacon is not a good snack).

7) Caffeine. Metabolized in the liver at a second-order decay rate by CYP1A2.
Effective half-life is 3-7 hours.

Coffee: 30-170 mg/8oz Espresso: 30-50 mg/oz Tea: 10-50 mg/8oz (more with black
teas) Soda: 30-60 mg/12oz Dark chocolate: 20mg/oz

Minimum effective concentration is around 0.05 mg/dL. Total body water is 40L
for a 5'10" male (5'10" male has about a 70kg lean body mass regardless of
total body weight and 40L of that is water. The 70kg and 40L vary linearly
with height for adults). So those two cups of French pressed Sumatra you
stopped drinking at 8:30 after a 7pm pasta dinner could easily keep you wired
until 1 or 2 in the morning. Go on, have that chocolate ice cream, too.

8) Calculate when you want to get up (remember, you need to phase in the
change, one hour a day). Establish a routine that starts at dinner. Eat. No
more caffeine. Work. Have a small, fatty snack. Work until an hour before you
need to go to sleep. Brush your teeth, change; lay down. Read something good.
I recommend the classics. Doesn't really engage the problem-solving areas of
your brain, but you've been meaning to start reading those things. Start with
Plato. Very readable.

9) If you just absolutely have to go to sleep with noise, I recommend white
noise. A beat, rhythm, or lyric will capture your conscious mind.

As for getting up, the only thing I've found that definitely will get me up
without relying on sunrise is a social commitment. If surgery starts at 7 am
and I need to round on patients before then, it's relatively easy to get up at
4:15. If I'm on a "research month", um, yeah.

~~~
radu_floricica
The starvation study I remember said _don't_ eat 16 hours before you wake up,
and then eat well. Then the body will remember the time you got food, and make
sure you're awake for it.

Also, this is the least useful comment by pg i've seen in a long while. It's
not even funny if you happen to be a late sleeper.

~~~
jhancock
The description by niels_olson is thorough and in large part amounts to "how
to get to sleep earlier". The pg comment simple cuts to the point and says
"get to sleep earlier" without the medical explanations of "how and why".

The are both very useful and correct answers to the OP. I don't think it needs
to be funny. Its simply correct. Most of us have far too much to do every day
and end up working too late. If you want to wake up earlier, you have to stop
doing that.

I'll leave with this one (also not meant to be funny):

"Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise."

~~~
radu_floricica
If you are a late sleeper, you've gone through a long time, usually many
years, trying to do exactly that. Knowing you need to go to sleep earlier is
trivial.. scraping all those pieces of information and making countless
adjustments to your schedule in order to actually do it is not.

Somewhat off topic, you realize it's a real disservice to pg to upvote and
defend any comment he makes indiscriminately? Or even with less discretion
then normal.

------
HeyLaughingBoy
I have two Rhode Island Red roosters that are both quite loud. I only need
one; do you want the other?

~~~
tptacek
Can I slaughter and eat it?

~~~
nitrogen
I wouldn't recommend it -- from what I've heard, rooster meat is really tough.

~~~
ninguem2
You have to boil the shit out of it. Try Coq au Vin.

------
chris11
Personally, I have noticed that watching tv and using the computer late at
night keeps me up later. There have been studies that link tv watching and
reduced melatonin levels. So don't use either before you want to go to bed.

Steve Pavlina has written a couple good articles.

Overview.

1\. Go to bed when tired

2\. Get up at the same time every morning. So if you don't get enough sleep
one night, you'll go to bed earlier the next.

3\. Don't do anything very stimulating late at night. Don't drink caffeine, or
exercise late at night. Stimulating activities will keep you up to late.

4\. Don't turn getting up into a problem with self-discipline, turn getting up
into a habit. It's kind of corny, but practice getting out of bed during the
day. Match the conditions where you get up, turn out lights, take off your
work clothes, and get into bed. When your alarm goes off, jump out of bed,
thrown on clothes, and do a little bit of exercise or do something else to
wake you up. It doesn't matter really what you do, it just has to be
consistent. After practicing a few times, it should be a habit, and you will
be able to get up with your alarm when it goes off.

Part 1:[http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/05/how-to-become-an-
ea...](http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/05/how-to-become-an-early-riser/)

Part 2:[http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/05/how-to-become-an-
ea...](http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/05/how-to-become-an-early-riser-
part-ii/)

Getting up with an alarm clock: [http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2006/04/how-
to-get-up-right...](http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2006/04/how-to-get-up-
right-away-when-your-alarm-goes-off/)

------
tptacek
I've had this problem forever. When I was in high school, I'd stay up all
night, go to school at the end of my day, come home and sleep until midnight.

To the extent that I've solved it, I solved it after I had kids, and sleeping
until 1PM became untenable for the family.

The answer for me? Wait for it: waking up early every morning.

I've learned that there is absolutely no way to predict when I'm going to fall
asleep at night (even if I eliminate caffeine, use-bed-only-for-sleep, avoid
stimulating reading before bed, etc); the only habit I've deliberately changed
is that I never code after 10PM (a surefire way to look up and have it be
4AM).

Nope, what works for me is, whether I got to bed at 12:30A or 4:45A, I'm out
of bed with the kids at 7A. If I have a bad night, I'll fall asleep the next
night before 12A. Won't have any choice.

A day, a couple days, a week in sleep dep, not worth the life stress of
starting the day in the afternoon.

------
ryanwaggoner
Getting up in the morning used to be one of the central struggles of my life
(seriously), but I rarely think about it now and I'm almost always up by
430am, which is something I never thought would happen. Here's my story, if
anyone is interested.

I've struggled with getting up my entire life, and so has my entire family,
immediate and extended. My 18-year-old brother regularly sleeps until 1pm, as
do many of my cousins and their parents. I was homeschooled growing up and the
day didn't typically start until 11am. In high school, I got suspended
numerous times for missing my first few classes. I joined the Navy out of HS
and I pretty rarely had issues with being late because I overslept, because
the military is very effective at putting the fear of God in you regarding the
consequences. I still always slept until the last possible minute before
getting up. After the Navy, I went back to finish college and ended up taking
about 30 hours worth of classes every semester, which helped some, but I still
overslept and was always jumping out of bed and rushing to class at the last
second. I very often would sit down in class about 5-10 mins after having been
sound asleep before. My wife was very frustrated, and I was frustrated with
myself. I was sure that I had some kind of sleep disorder, especially since my
whole family is like this.

So what changed? Mostly what changed is that I realized what you've realized:
life is too short to sleep it away. My central problem has always been the
actual act of getting up; once I'm up and awake, I'm fine. So I started
looking around and I found this article by Steve Pavlina:

[http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/05/how-to-become-an-
ea...](http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/05/how-to-become-an-early-riser/)

Basically, his method is to practice getting up, in the middle of the day.
Bizarre (and embarrassing), but it works. I did this every day for a few
weeks, and I immediately noticed a difference.

The other big thing I did was go to bed early. Not earlier, as I typically
went to bed at 1am or 2am, but _early_. Like 8pm. I'd go to bed at 8pm for a
week and get up at 5am. That was more sleep than I usually got, and since I
was doing it consistently, it got easier over time. Then I started going to
bed a little later and now I usually get to bed between 9pm and 10pm. Because
I'm consistent, I get better quality sleep and I can get by on 7 hours
consistently.

I know it's frustrating to have someone tell you to just go to bed early, but
I found that it's a lot harder than it looks, especially because you've almost
always got way more to do than you have time for and it feels like you should
work on some of it rather than go to bed. The key for me was realizing (after
some "split-testing") that I get probably 2-3x more accomplished in the four
hours from 5am - 9am that I do from 10pm - 2am.

A few other things that I found vital: \- no caffeine after noon \- no
computer or tv within an hour of bed \- keep room as dark and quiet as
possible while sleeping \- try to keep the same schedule on weekends \- alarm
clock in different room \- once you're up, immediately splash water in your
face \- exercise several times per week \- track your progress!

Try this for a month. Most people I know who have become early risers would
never go back. There's something incredibly rewarding about hitting 8am having
already had breakfast, worked out, showered, knocked out a bunch of emails,
read all your blogs, and built two new features. In San Francisco, that means
you're about two hours from when most folks even start working :)

Good luck!

~~~
domdelimar
_Listen to that man!_ I was about to suggest the same thing. Take Steve
Pavlina's advice as seriously as you can. That should be enough for starters.
You should notice a great improvement just like Ryan and myself have.

I was known as somebody who's completely alarms-any alarms-"resistant". I'd
set my alarm so loud and so annoying that I used to wake up my whole family
and then they had to wake me up... this just couldn't go forever.

I read Steve Pavlina's article and applied his suggestion. Wow, what a
difference... I experienced great results even after a couple of days of
practicing.

As for the rest of the advices Ryan gives, I should probably listen to a
couple of them (I already ditched coffee completely, don't watch TV before
bed, but I do work on computer...) for better quality sleep, but I never
really had problems sleeping - just waking up ;)

------
jwilliams
Wake up early. Go to bed when you're tired. Don't work on a computer past "X"
at night (X varies for a lot of people, but usually an hour- from when you
want to sleep).

Not sure what it is, might just be not winding down -- but the light of the
screen probably doesn't help imho.

------
csuper
If you’re able, you should do what comes naturally. Are you a night-owl or a
morning person? If you’re asking about how to wake up earlier, I’d guess the
former.

I’m simply more productive and creative in the AM, so I rise each day at 5:30.
For me, knowing when I'm the most please with my own production is my
motivation. But, by the time 2 or 3 rolls around in the afternoon I’m all out
of juice. And truth be told if I wasn’t in a corporate environment I would
likely take a nap at this time to recharge.

~~~
jwilliams
_If you’re able, you should do what comes naturally_

Not sure I agree with this - For me, sleeping is just a habit. I get into the
habit of staying up late, or the habit of getting up early.

This makes it sound trivial - but it's not - habits take work to form and work
to change.

Naturally everyone is different. I'm sure there is research that disagrees
with me :-) But that's my experience anyway.

~~~
ciupicri
You might find this interesting:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_sleep_phase_syndrome>

~~~
jwilliams
Absolutely. e.g. I know there is a lot of research around teenagers having
distinct sleep patterns/requirements.

I guess my point was - don't necessarily pigeon-hole yourself as a "night owl"
or "morning person".

------
Kirby
It depends on your biochemistry to a large degree. Some people need hardly any
sleep, some do _much_ better work if they sleep a full night's sleep, which
can be defined anywhere between 6 and 10 hours. Some people do well on a
24-hour clock, some don't. Minor sleep disorders are common and often not
diagnosed.

Don't worry about anyone else (one of the luxuries of a lot of tech jobs),
find the schedule that leaves you feeling alert and awake and able to get
things done. If you need 8 hours of sleep to be able to code the next day and
not walk through the day in a haze - that's you. If you do well keeping a
fixed schedule and not deviating, that's great. But if not, don't fight it,
listen to your body.

Similarly, some people can code for 10, 12 hour stretches. Some people stop
doing useful things after 4 hours without a serious break. Experiment, find
what works for you, and _do not_ expect other people to work like you do.
Focus on end goals, not processes.

~~~
eru
What do you mean by "Some people do well on a 24-hour clock, some don't."?

~~~
hollerith
He means that some people do well going to sleep and getting up around the
same time every day and some don't. (My hackers go to bed later every day, so
their bedtime wraps around the clock often.)

------
jamroom
have children - you will quickly become an early riser ;)

~~~
eru
Or find an early rising spouse. Works for me.

~~~
massa
My case is the exact opposite: I have a late-rising espouse and two kids (10
and 3). The younger one wakes at 6am and I have to take care of her. :-P

~~~
eru
We don't have kids, yet. My fiancée just nags me until I get up.

~~~
ralph
As someone who has to nag someone else to wake up and get up, can I just say
how disruptive it is to what I'm trying to do. Instead of concentrating I'm
constantly checking back to see if they need another nag. So the sleeper isn't
just consuming their own time, they're affecting the quality of mine too.

------
shard
Sleep is a important component of health, along with nutrition and exercise.
Life's too short to be unhealthy for a major part of it. You should get all
the sleep your body needs.

------
SwellJoe
Do it consistently. I just started rising at 9:30 (this is _early_ for me)
every day a few weeks ago, and I now wake up naturally without the alarm, and
usually by 9. It only took about four or five days with the alarm and going to
bed at a reasonably consistent time (between 1AM and 2AM) every day before I
was comfortable waking at this time. I even "slept in" this morning after
waking naturally at about 7:30...I rolled over and went back to sleep and got
up again at 9:15 feeling pretty well rested. I often take a 20 minute nap
between 4 and 6 in the afternoon.

I'm a lifetime overachiever in the field of sleep. If I can convert to a 7-8
hour sleep schedule, anybody can. And I've found that consistency is about the
only way I can do it without feeling like crap during the day...so no more
all-nighters, no matter how awesome whatever I'm working on is.

------
p47
Well you all may missing the point. It's not important at what hour You get
up. The matter is how long did You sleep. Normal person needs up to 4
circadian cycles. We make one every 1.5h, it varies individually. Here is real
catch, if You sleep over this four cycles. Your brain starts to use some
proteins produced during sleep. Its big waste because catecholamine is
produced only during sleep. So if You over sleep, You loose energy, and You
may wake up tired.

To start wake up earlier, this was tested by myself. You need to reset your
brain. So don't sleep for night or two. And after go sleep on proper time. For
6-6.5h. You will be fresh as new born.

Interesting about the sleeps starts when You have idea about, training
polyphasic sleep :-). Well its different story.

------
adityakothadiya
1\. Plan in the evening what exact tasks you are going to do in the morning.
Come up with detailed tasks - code this function, debug this issue, write
follow-up emails, etc. If the tasks are not defined, then it's hard to push
yourself to wake up early in the morning.

Basically you need a reason to wake up in the morning. If we don't have
reason, then even if alarm rings, we snooze it and procrastinate waking up at
the decided time.

Do all brainstorming, planning, HN/news/blogs reading in the night. And decide
a clear action plan for the morning.

2\. Sleep early. One of my advisers sleeps at 10-10:30 in the night, and wakes
up at 4am. I tried following same pattern, and it worked flawlessly. I used to
get solid work done in 4am-8am before I go to my day job.

------
chanux
I love the way my mom's younger brother wakes me up. This is a memory of my
kid time. He softly talk to me saying "it's better to wake up" while providing
some dim light with his little torch. It gives me a comfortable wake up.

I wish I can have that smooth wake up all the time but now he has his own kids
to worry about and he's so far away from me. It'll be good if there's
something emulates that feeling.

My story won't mean you anything. But I enjoyed reminiscing those nice wake
ups & if I ever have to wake some one up I'll definitely do it my uncles way.

------
FreeRadical
Do something you enjoy. Look forward to the next day. Sometimes I find myself
going to sleep earlier just so the next day will arrive ( :

------
jacoblyles
These things work for me:

Go to bed earlier at night. Leave your blinds open to let natural light come
in in the morning. Have a deadline due the next day.

~~~
SwellJoe
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, if I open a
bug on a project that I need for my work...and I think about it some the night
before, I'll wake up excitedly thinking, "I wonder if my bug has been
answered?" Likewise if I email someone about some work I need done; requesting
quotes, whatever, for projects that I'm enthusiastic about. Today I woke up
thinking about the RFQs I sent out to three designers yesterday (nothing! this
is why crowdsourced design is winning...), and a bug I opened about the Drupal
Project module.

~~~
jacoblyles
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.

~~~
mannicken
I think I'm starting to sweat up as I'm thinking about that pressure. _Hate_
the pressure.

------
ciupicri
I wonder how Paul Buchheit (the guy who started GMail) got around this
problem. He mentioned that he's not an early riser in the book "Founders at
Work".

When searching more on the subject, I found this interesting text:

"This sort of smugness is prevalent among morning people, who count among
their ranks Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, nearly every American president,
and even Jesus. (See Mark 1:35: "And in the morning, rising up a great while
before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there
prayed.") Night people are stuck with psychopaths like Adolf Hitler and Juan
Arreola, the guy in Pennsylvania who nearly killed his girlfriend's 2-year-old
last year, explaining to a judge, "I'm not a morning person.""
[http://friendfeed.com/e/cc0e9eb4-39ff-11dd-9d6f-003048343a40...](http://friendfeed.com/e/cc0e9eb4-39ff-11dd-9d6f-003048343a40/Can-
a-night-owl-become-a-morning-person-A-Slate/)

------
sjs382
Have something to do once you get up, a reason to get up. I had the same
issues before I started to go to the gym in the morning. This has really fixed
my sleeping routine.

If I don't have a reason to get up in the morning, I'm much more likely to
stay in bed before I go to sleep again.

~~~
jlees
Yes, this is my biggest tip as well. All the best intentions in the world
won't help you change for good - in my experience. Though having said that,
even something voluntary like going to the gym might not be enough...

The two things that worked best for me were:

Organise every meeting you possibly can to be in the morning, and don't allow
yourself to cancel.

Go to bed with something unfinished, i.e. have something to do that really
propels you out of bed. An example would be leaving a piece of code not quite
done, but with a good idea of how to finish it (if you haven't got a clue,
it's more likely to make you want to stay in bed and make it go away, no?).
Thinking about the problem while dropping off and waking up makes me just want
to leap up and fix it.

Other tips, potentially irrelevant to most commenters, but that worked for me:

Give up WoW. Or at least stop playing it late at night. Seriously. The
difference in sleep quality, for me, is night and day.

Hack your nutrition. Eat low-GI. Cut out soda and junk food. Let caffeine be a
treat, not a staple.

Have a flatmate or loved one poke you awake. Even if they're not
geographically present, having someone you love call you or tuning yourself to
wake up to the sound of an incoming IM can help you boot up faster in the
morning.

Read in bed, but don't read anything too interesting. I still have this
backfire when I open a new book at 11pm and don't sleep 'til it's finished.
Others love to journal instead, which can be a great relaxer, but I end up
making todo lists which has the opposite effect.

------
DanielBMarkham
Life is too short to be muttering through the day like a zombie, either, so
you're going to need to sleep as much as you need.

Keep going to be earlier until you wake up when you want. Stop using an alarm
clock. Be consistent.

I haven't used an alarm clock in years, and when I need to get up at 3:30 to
hit the gym, its not a problem. Of course, I'm going to bed 8 hours before
that too.

You can't cheat the math. If you want to get up earlier, as pg and others
said, go to bed earlier.

EDIT: By nature, I have the damnedest time going to bed. I'm always immersing
myself in a programming problem or a TV show or some other time sink
(worthwhile or not). To fix this, I started taking melatonin an hour or so
before I plan to go to sleep. I know its helped me adjust my sleep/wake cycle.

------
breck
Exercise, get to bed earlier, and move someplace where it's not 20 degrees in
the morning.

------
sprsquish
My wife is out the door very early in the morning. I make sure I get out of
bed when she comes in to say goodbye for the day.

My alarm clock has proven ineffective. I'll wake up an hour after it should
have woken me up and realize I turned it off in my sleep

------
hugs
Get a kid, particularly the infant kind. They'll wake up at 5am without fail
everyday for the first several years and are _impossible_ to ignore when
they're awake. When they start sleeping in late, get a another one.

------
datico
I swear by this concept: <http://www.homedics.com/products/soundspa-
sunrise.html> Even just a simple timer on a lightswitch or lamp works for
starters. I find the natural sunrise effect to be less jarring however. I used
to use an X10-type system as well, controlled by a server to dim lights at
night and brighten them in the am. This was ideal but X10 was flaky so I'm
using the SoundSpa Sunrise until I can upgrade to something more reliable.

~~~
datico
I forgot to mention...for those occasional must-get-up-very-early mornings, I
drink a coke before bed (usually I'm tired enough it doesn't phase me) and
sleep with the light on. 4-5 hours later, I'm up.

------
apgwoz
Drink lots of water a few hours before you go to bed, and use an alarm clock.
I often find that I'm up before it goes off, but if for some reason that
doesn't happen, the alarm clock wakes me up.

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hairic
I fast to reset my sleep cycle. I can only tolerate 10-12 hours of no
calories, but longer supposedly works better. I try to maintain it by not
eating during my desired sleep schedule. So if I'm up all night coding, no
calories are allowed.

Story about it was even posted here almost a year ago.
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=199394>

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DTrejo
These help me with early wake-ups (3:00am):

* My pre-alarm goes off 15 minutes early. After this alarm, I start thinking and worrying about what I need to do. When the real alarm sounds I'm ready to jump out of bed.

* I don't use the bathroom in the morning when I'm sleepy. A full bladder helps me stay awake.

* I nap whenever I can't work.

* Also, drink some water before you go to bed and don't use the bathroom, this will help you wake up in the morning.

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ninguem2
I will be more flippant than pg: Just get up already.

Now I will explain my reaction so I don't just get downvoted and if you
disagree with me, reply.

Most people in the world have responsibilities. Kids to feed and to take to
school, chores and errands to do plus a (sometimes long) commute to a job
where they cannot afford to be late (responsibilities, a boss, or both). Yet,
they all manage just fine.

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mahmud
Do something interesting. My project consumes the whole of me. I go to bed
thinking about it, sometimes I get ideas in my sleep, and I wake up eager to
implement or research whatever I "dreamed" up :-)

It also helps that my girlfriend is on a different time zone and calls me
early in the morning for her good-night kiss and chit chat.

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frosty
Its not like somebody will pay me if i get up early :)

I say stay up as long as required and try to get as much done as possible. But
one important thing is to maintain atleast a 12 hour overlap with other people
in your team if you are in a startup. An added advantage is, there is somebody
to monitor the servers round the clock ;).

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zaius
If 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.

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froo
I'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.

------
asnyder
I recommend using the "screaming meanie", this 120db alarm will wake both you
and your neighbors in the morning, <http://www.amazon.com/Screaming-
Meanie-220/dp/B000RZLWR8>

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Killjoy
Exercise at least 1 hour per day, 4-5 days per week. You may begrudge the time
in the gym, but I've found that an hour of exercise can replace an hour of
sleep -- so you're not really out any time, you're just in pain for that hour
;).

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PonyGumbo
I'll let you borrow my cat.

~~~
indiejade
I was going to suggest: get a cat.
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0ffwDYo00Q>

~~~
sketerpot
The problem is that cats will wake you up when _they_ feel like it. Sometimes
that means 4:00 AM.

------
markessien
Travel to a country that shifts your waking up time by the correct amount, and
stay there for a couple of months. It's the most painless method, but it's a
bit expensive.

------
mhb
Find people to work out with and establish a time to meet early in the
morning. Make sure they will be pissed off if you don't show up. Rowing is
ideal for this.

------
gord
I'm thinking the real answer is "Do whatever it is that your so fired up
about, it makes you get up at 5am."

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mping
Find something cool to do the next day. Regulate your body and mind so you can
sleep well and wake up early.

------
bandris
The alarm device should play pleasant music you enjoy, but not too soft. And
placed out of reach.

------
axod
Have kids.

------
davidw
My wife and I had a baby. Now I get up at 7 every day.

------
codeodor
If you do not sleep enough, your life will be shorter!

~~~
axod
Is there real evidence for this?

~~~
eru
At least in the extreme. If you do not sleep at all.

~~~
axod
In the extreme, eating can kill you also :/

------
ktharavaad
One word:

Modafinil

------
djahng
set an alarm and be disciplined enough to get up and not hit snooze.

~~~
thenduks
Unfortunately I sometimes wake up with no alarm going off, think to myself
"hmm, where's the alarm? what time is it?", look at the clock and realize that
it's 4 hours later than I intended and the alarm has been turned off. Since I
have no recollection of turning off the alarm, it isn't really a matter of
discipline :(

Edit: Of course, I'm not suggesting that this is a deal breaker, or that I've
'given up', just that it's not always as simple as "just get up when the alarm
goes off." I also have been known to pass the turing test in my sleep. I once
convinced my wife that I had the day off when she tried to wake me up... Yea,
I was _really late_ that day.

~~~
boundlessdreamz
that's the case with me too. I can talk sense even while I'm fast asleep.

~~~
thenduks
I once got up, ready, into the elevator, down to the street, bought a coffee
and took a sip, looked around (dark, busy intersection not so busy), swore and
then went back to bed. As far as I know I was totally coherent the whole time
to everyone around (wife, doorman, coffee-shop-girl, etc).

Stress factors a lot into it for me. If I'm having a good week hardly anything
strange happens in my sleep.

------
andhapp
Sleep on the couch...you will be uncomfortable and definately get up early.

~~~
ryanwaggoner
You laugh, but I've done this when I stayed up way too late and really wanted
to be up early the next morning. When I started my first company, I spent many
nights sleeping on the floor with just a small blanket that was too small for
me. Miserable, but pretty easy to get up when my alarm went off.

------
danbmil99
wrap around.

------
kingkongrevenge
There'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.

~~~
mannicken
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.

~~~
kingkongrevenge
> run a lap in under 1:45

A 1:45 400m is fucking pathetic. I only criticized the absurdity that is long
distance running.

~~~
mannicken
I'm not talking about an all-out 400m, I just said how it's pretty fun to run
that fast while not getting out of breath for 6-7 miles.

