
How to Get Out of Bed - kafkaesq
http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2016/03/24/how-to-get-out-of-bed/
======
hashkb
So many comments about how to wake up early... the article is about
depression, right? The author makes a distinction between lazy-trouble-
getting-out-of-bed (which is what all the comments here are discussing, and,
of course, something most of us experience) and the much more serious problem
she's struggling with.

~~~
rasengan
These days people seem to read only a title and begin writing their comments
about it.

~~~
alextgordon
The comment system on HN discourages discussion of the article, because
threads cannot be collapsed and so there is only space for 2 or 3 top-level
comments to get much attention.

The top comment is often a poor quality one, expressing some controversial
view that gets replies, starving the lower top-level comments of upvotes, and
cementing its place at the top.

It would be better to collapse replies to all top-level comments, and allow
people to expand the replies to the comments they find interesting.

~~~
pavel_lishin
What about randomizing comment order for the first N minutes of a submission's
life?

Although I do agree that built-in comment collapse functionality would be
great; I'm using a Chrome extension right now.

~~~
dave2000
I'm a fan of experimenting with voting systems, and as this never happens, i'm
always disappointed. I think it would be great if the order of comments was
always random and scores were never shown (I don't care what people think of
other people's comments; how can an opinion have a score? the very idea is
preposterous). It would encourage people reading more comments, and not being
either fearful of losing points or posting comments just to get a higher
score.

~~~
grrowl
Worth noting, the score is intended to be an objective measure of correctness
— well sourced, clear, and reasonable comments aught to add to the score,
rudeness, questionable sourcing/factualness should not. Ideally.

~~~
ethbro
The problem is, given the current strict comment ordering system & the fact
that many (myself included) read comments top to bottom, a 15 in the top
position for two hours may in fact be equal to a 3 that's farther below.

I hadn't thought about it when I started writing this, but I'd be curious what
comment ordering results a points/time value function would produce. Although
a fuzzy random ordering would still be needed to ensure that lower comments
got enough viability. So maybe points/time/position-at-vote-time

PS: That said, collapsing comments to promote more equality between highly
rated level 1 comments would be an excellent idea.

------
randomsearch
Not advice, but some good news for those who struggle.

I always had problems getting up early. I hated it. It was a running joke
amongst my friends, any time we had to take an early flight or set off early
on a road trip, they had to drag me out of bed. And it wasn't laziness - I
just felt awful, really sick, terrible, early in the morning. One day I met
someone who told me she was exactly the same when she was younger, but that it
gets easier. She was right.

Now, I can get up earlier than my friends. I'm more of a morning person. I
don't know what happened, but it changed quite suddenly, maybe in the space of
a few months, sometime in my early 30s. Nowadays I get up early and hit the
gym most days, which a younger me would simply have believed impossible.

I don't know if this applies to everyone, but I can tell you that none of my
friends over 30 have the same difficulty I did when I was younger, but plenty
of those in their 20s do.

~~~
jwdunne
I used to be a night owl - used to sleep in past 12pm. I switched over time.

Full time work shifted the pattern mostly. Weekends I still got up later.

Children who wake at 7am sharp was the final step. 8am feels like a lie in
after years of a daily ritual of 7am rise. No matter if I go to bed at 10pm or
2am, there isn't compromise in the morning.

I guess one way of doing it is to give yourself no choice. Without children, I
imagine an alarm in another room, perhaps next to a phone or computer where
you need to press a button or it'll bill you for each 15 mins late.
Unfortunately, these are things you can turn off.

~~~
fapjacks
It reminds me of one of the more beautiful pieces of cyberware available in
the Shadowrun RPG: The little device hooked into your meatware that sends a
harmless electric shock to your brain at a prescribed time (or some other
event), immediately bringing you from a sleep state to a wakeful state. The
company that invents that would be worth a lot of money.

------
jib
Most people don't have a problem with getting out of bed, they have a problem
of getting into it.

There is certainly some who have genuine medical problems and so who struggle.
An order of magnitude just don't sleep enough though. Go to bed at 10 and it's
easy to get up at 6, or whatever your actual sleep need is (it varies by
individual and over time, right now mine is a hair under 8h I think).

~~~
cylinder
Problem is I'm getting home from work 7-8pm. Housekeeping, food, then rest,
and I need to let my mind decompress before going to bed. That takes me past
midnight. The only people I've seen do this over decades are very type A
and/or they finish every night with a few drinks of alcohol. I don't drink.

~~~
reledi
What does type A mean?

~~~
CardenB
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_A_and_Type_B_personalit...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_A_and_Type_B_personality_theory)

------
CephalopodMD
So... Does anybody have any actual advice for getting out of bed?

~~~
themodelplumber
I'll give it a shot. I've been getting out of bed at 4-5 am for the past 5
months when I have no need to other than to accomplish more personal stuff.

1\. If you need to get up early for work, leave a good handle on it the night
before. Like leave detailed notes on how to accomplish the next step or steps.
Detailed enough that your first half hour to hour will be brainless peace and
harmony.

2\. Leave an exciting reveal for the morning. Say you finished building a cool
new feature. Don't try it out until you wake up. I like to leave a 3D image or
animation rendering overnight.

3\. If possible change your schedule so that the early morning can just be
full of fun stuff.

4\. Plan to lay in bed for about an hour before you fall asleep. Incentivize
it with a bedtime-only iPad or a pile of good books for bedtime only.

5\. Lay out your clothes for the morning, the night before.

6\. Do not get out of bed cold unless you find that invigorating. I bought 5
long-sleeve cotton shirts and sleep in those and some comfy pants and short
socks. If I get hot, I use fewer blankets. I also keep a coat ready to put on.

7\. Make breakfast or a cup of tea/water beforehand.

8\. Make a fun routine. I bought a nice radio for early morning use. It picks
up stations far away and I listen to it while I work.

9\. Plan to take a nap later whenever needed. Schedule in the downtime.

10\. Lay out a plan for your entire tomorrow. I do a mind map on paper. With
this done the evening before, there should be nothing left to avoid thinking
about in the morning, making it easier to consider getting out of bed.

Edit: And yes, it will change your life and people will wonder how you do it.
Also I consider this practice a great burnout-prevention tool if you can keep
work out of it (or out of the rest of your day).

~~~
oxplot
I'd like to emphasize the first point. For about six months, I woke up at 4am
Monday of every other week to catch a plane to another city to start work at
9am till 6pm. I would not only get everything ready to pack in the morning,
but I'd leave notes throughout the apartment listing what I needed to do
before leaving, things like "take this or that item", "turn the power off",
etc. I'd put the notes on door handles, to the toilet, main entry door and the
only way I could forget something was if I had a stroke and couldn't read.

So as parent said, it was "brainless peace and harmony" all the way to the
airport.

~~~
wahnfrieden
Just curious, what sort of work situation led to that arrangement?

~~~
oxplot
It was a contract and I didn't want to move so it was agreed that I work one
week remotely and one week onsite every fortnight.

------
iamben
I've always struggled with mornings. I've never had any problem working late,
but I just always figured I was a night owl.

Maybe I still am, but this year I decided I needed to mix it up. I tried to
get myself in bed before midnight, then up at 7 for the gym before work. The
reason being the gym is much harder in the evening, as is work (if you have
offers to go out, meetups, whatever). If I don't start until midday, it
removes any options I get during the day for a lazy (/alcoholic) lunch, or for
socialising in the evening, because I have to work or work out.

I was moderately successful at this, but I've had a breakthrough in the last 8
or 9 weeks by getting up at 5.50 for meditation and qigong at 6am, before
leaving just after 7 for the gym. Not only has the meditation helped me
immensely, but I'm feeling more _alive_ during the day. And I can leave work
(or not!) in the evening with zero guilt about not having done enough, knowing
I can do whatever I want with my evening (be that work, or play).

For me, and particularly when I was working for someone else, I got up because
I set an alarm and _had_ to get up. If I didn't, I'd get fired (probably).
I've found over the last few months the key (mentally) has been doing
something for _me_. If you have to get up at 7am to work for someone else,
getting up at 5am or 6am means you're not getting up for them, you're getting
up for _you_. It's harder to resent getting up and getting moving because
you're owning it - it's your choice.

Anyway. I may just be getting older... Just my 2c.

------
japhyr
The only thing that ever really helped me get up early was to ditch my alarm
clock. I used to snooze for over an hour every morning. Once I got rid of my
alarm clock I started getting out of bed the first time I woke up each
morning.

I got up a little later than I used to set my alarm for, but much earlier than
I actually got up with an alarm clock.

~~~
ChrisDutrow
The no stress way:

When alarm goes off, I take 1/3 of a caffeine pill (66mg - Im pretty sensitive
to caffeine). Then I turn my alarm off and let myself drift back to sleep....
15 minutes later I'm up and starting the day.

On rare occasions that this doesn't get me up, I really needed the extra
sleep.

~~~
rorykoehler
This sounds like it might be worth a shot. Are you aware of the "coffee nap"?

~~~
ChrisDutrow
Its the only way I wake up these days. I used to take a whole caffeine pill
(200mg equivalent to one cup of coffee, but it was too much - I would crash in
the afternoon and when I stopped taking it, I got headaches. The 1/3 dose
hasn't been a problem though)

The coffee nap sounds like a great idea.

------
flavor8
I used to be pretty bad at getting up, and fixed it (for me) by keeping the
same (morning) schedule on weekdays and weekends. The rationale is that your
body has a rhythm, and if you laze around on weekend mornings but get up at a
different time on weekdays, it gets out of sync, and you have all sorts of
sleep issues. So, pick a time, and get up at that time every day whether or
not you feel rested; soon enough your schedule will adjust so that you feel
tired enough to sleep 7 or 8 hours before that.

For anybody who needs some help with sleep, take a look at cognitive
behavioral therapy (e.g. [http://shuti.me/](http://shuti.me/)), which is
reportedly much more effective than ambien et al.

------
gexla
My secret for getting out of bed is that over the years I have lived an worked
such bat- __* crazy hours that morning has lost its meaning. Oh, and I don 't
have a bed to get out of. I sleep on a hard floor with no blankets.

I sleep on the floor because it's more comfortable for me than a cushy
mattress. I learned this from my migraines at an early age. If I'm in a bed
when a migraine strikes I can't get into a position that makes me comfortable
for enduring the pain. I always ended up on the floor. I think this is because
the floor give me the solid support to allow me full control over the position
of my body. Years later, I just decided to ditch the bed altogether as it
seemed like a waste.

I have no blankets because I live in the tropics.

~~~
afarrell
> morning has lost its meaning

This is a bad idea for most people. Inconsistent sleep times will lead to
poorer quality of sleep in most (but not absolutely all) people.

~~~
agumonkey
Even poorer quality of everything. Some density in your sense of time seems
like a very important trait in one's life.

~~~
gexla
Agree with the two replies here. It's not for everyone. Not for anyone. It's
just something I felt like a had to do for a while to keep up with my workload
ad it blew away my sense of categorizing time.

That said, I do feel that the sun is extremely important in the benefits that
it gives you. So I do try not to spend plenty of time in the rays.

~~~
agumonkey
Sun interacts with your system a lot. But more generally I believe in rhythm
as a source of economy. Whenever that makes sense.

------
robhack
I've tried so many things, and most of the things I read here in the comments
sounds like fairy tales (just do it, go to bed earlier, ..). I'll spare you
the details (I should make a blog post about it), but here's what worked for
me:

\- get a dawn simulation device (doesn't work on its own, but still helps
waking up more gently) // the more powerful/lumen, the better

\- likewise for audio: volume going up slowly (I use AlarmDroid), for this,
use a gentle non-continuous sound (knock knock, _pause_ , knock knock, _pause_
) the idea is that a continuous sound is too much annoying, forces you to go
turn it off asap and go back to sleep. You may use a more brutal sound for
your real wake-up time (so, at the end of the dawn simulation), the idea is
that you'll have a gentle alarm beforehand and hopefully fear the brutal alarm
and just get into a habit of getting up before the brutal alarm.

\- best for the end: padlock your alarm in a solid case, and put the key in
your mailbox the night before (hopefully not too close to your bedroom, in my
case, I may meet neighbors, so it forces me to fully clothes on). A key-less
alarm at the other side of the rooms does NOT work and you will just get up,
shut it down and go back to sleep.

\- bonus : use a very bright light (at least 5000+ lumen) on a programmable
plug for the end of the dawn simulation (or just get a really powerful dawn
simulation one, not sure if that exists though)

edit: added bonus

edit2: everyone is different, I just wanted to add my part to the overall list
of ideas, please check out all the other comments, different stuff works for
different people! (the coffee one sounds interesting, I would have tried it if
I was a coffee drinker)

edit3: This should be common sense, but please don't use this as a way to
sleep less. I use this because even when I sleep a fair amount (9+ hours for
multiple days, I still struggle to wake up).

~~~
horsecaptin
The only thing that works for me: go to sleep early enough that I'll get my
full eight hours of sleep. Leave some room for those times when I'm more
exhausted than usual. This means falling asleep by 10pm to wake up by 6:30am
on weekdays.

~~~
robhack
Yeah, please do try this also. Everyone is different. Personally, When I try
just going to bed early, I just end up fully conscious for hours in my bed not
falling asleep. (edit: and yes I tried with using f.lux, not using a computer
screen, reading on a passive Kindle, just listening to music beforehand).

~~~
horsecaptin
I have a couple of suggestions for your sleeplessness for those times when you
try to fall asleep earlier:

Definitely, it helps to be tired enough to sleep. But to be tired enough, you
need to wake up early.. kind of circular. A heavy workout earlier in the day
often does the trick too. If you're trying to make it a habit, then doing it
gradually is probably the way to go: fall asleep earlier by 15 minutes each
day.

There are also times when there are just too many thoughts in your head that
won't go away - it helps to close the eyes, roll them up, do one of two
techniques:

1) Consciously don't hold onto any particular thought. This is a meditation
technique. Oddly enough, I think we do this naturally when we're really tired
and sleepy.

2) Take yourself back to an activity that required total presence of mind and
body: for me it's sky diving. I'm just falling, adjusting... and pretty soon
I'm asleep and dreaming. I guess this is more of a visualization technique.

Both of those work to take the mind off attention grabbing thoughts and moving
you to a more relaxed state.

------
Disruptive_Dave
> It’s a beautiful passage, and a good introduction to the Stoic philosophy
> that follows. For an emperor, too, it seems very sound counsel. But for
> anyone under the pall of depression, it’s some of the stupidest advice ever
> written.

I disagree. If you read between the lines, much of his message is "just
fucking move, do something, get out of your current state" and from my
experience, that is very sound advice for when you find yourself in a rut.
(For the trolls - obviously it's not the one and only way to handle down
times, nor is it "that simple" for true sufferers of depression.)

------
iofj
Marcus Aurelius is a funny guy. A caesar "teaching" people to be humble, stoic
and productive ... but of course that sounds really thin coming from literally
the richest guy of his time on the planet. Granted, he certainly was one of
the better and more capable emperors of the Roman Empire (given the list of
screwups, that's not as high praise as you might think), but way he found
power and richess certainly had less to do with productivity, humbleness and
stoic behavior, and rather more with his family's accomplishments. Also he is
famous for his hobbies, whilst he was no disaster, he certainly was no Julius
Caesar either.

On occasion that leaks through in his writings. For instance he is usually far
more concerned with "explaining" a slave's fate than with doing anything about
it. Why is anyone a slave because of Marcus Aurelius ? Well, it's their own
fault. They are the slave of their emotions, they drink and dance and don't
think of tomorrow (slaves in Rome, especially the more skilled ones were
treated very well. It is muslims that gave a bad name to the term slavery
(although some Roman provinces contributed as well). In the Roman Empire,
around Rome itself, it was not that different from being an employee. Sure
there were bad jobs, and allowing employers to trade employees was
horrifyingly bad for the power relationship, but if you compare to poor-rich
relationships elsewhere in the same time, Rome comes out far ahead).

Marcus Aurelius sounds about as fair and balanced as the American Enterprise
Institute explaining why there are so many poor. It seems to boil down to not
being entrepreneurial enough. Never mind the obvious fact that being an
entrepreneur is only common in the top 0.1% (and there, only in name, I've yet
to see examples of companies started by the 0.1% that really introduced a new
product. Somebody who takes over part of a bank into an independant company is
not an entrepreneur in my opinion). In the bottom 50% being an entrepreneur,
an independent businessman is actually far more common than in the top-50%,
mostly out of necessity. I doubt any explanation for this will be forthcoming
from our libertarian think tanks.

But Marcus' opinion of others is similar : if they aren't successful, that
must be their own doing. If you didn't own half the farms around Rome,
apparently it was because you drink too much (never mind that the Roman rich,
not the poor are absolutely famous for just how elaborate their debauchery
became).

------
tyleo
I bought a few Phillips Hue Lightbulbs for my room which turn on at 4:00AM,
right when I get out of bed. So far, any night I haven't been out past my
usual bed-time, 9:00PM, I have had no trouble waking up and staying alert the
rest of the day.

Unfortunately I'm on travel right now so this system isn't accessible to me. I
am now frequently finding myself sleeping in until 5:00AM.

~~~
tempestn
OK, I'll bite: why do you need to get up at 4am, and consider 5am sleeping in?

------
jensen123
I've found it absolutely essential to spend some time outside in the middle of
the day. I usually take a 1 hour walk outside around noon. If I don't do this,
my circadian rhythm will get out of whack: I won't be tired in the evening,
but I will be very tired in the morning. In other words it will be extremely
difficult to get up from bed at a sensible time.

Also, I avoid sitting in front of a computer or TV within 3 hours of bedtime.
If there is something that I absolutely need to do on my computer, I use
glasses that block the blue part of the light (it's the blue part of the light
the influences melatonin, which again regulates sleep).

~~~
gitaarik
What are these glasses called? Do you also know flux [0] / redshift [1] /
twilight?

[0] [https://justgetflux.com/](https://justgetflux.com/)

[1] [http://jonls.dk/redshift/](http://jonls.dk/redshift/)

[2]
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.urbandroid...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.urbandroid.lux)

~~~
Qerub
This model is quite popular: [http://www.amazon.com/Uvex-S1933X-Eyewear-SCT-
Orange-Anti-Fo...](http://www.amazon.com/Uvex-S1933X-Eyewear-SCT-Orange-Anti-
Fog/dp/B000USRG90)

~~~
jensen123
Those are the ones I have :-)

------
Attrill
I have a dog that gets me up at 6 every morning, but that dog is also asleep
again by 9 or 10, and doesn't get up again until 3 or 4 in the afternoon.
While there's no way I can do that (even if I had the free time to do so) I do
make a point to schedule an hour or two in the afternoon to rest if I need to.
Knowing that I can rest for a bit if needed makes getting out of bed less of a
burden. I realize that few jobs allow for that, but they absolutely should. I
probably get more done before 9 than many people do before noon.

------
fapjacks
I love how Marcus Aurelius' thoughts echo across thousands of years and
enormous class stratification with the kinds of things that every single human
can identify with. His is easily one of my favorite books of all time.

------
wapapaloobop
Even if you're _not_ depressed there are several reasons to spend more time in
bed.

(1) get more sleep, (2) develop the faculty of imagination, (3) meditate (it
doesn't matter if you fall asleep; you're in bed after all).

------
stanislavb
Actual advice for getting out of bed? Well, I presume it would be different
for different people as most often it comes down to motivation, and different
people need different motivation. However, you can take a look at
[http://www.earlyrisershub.com/](http://www.earlyrisershub.com/) . I have
tried to introduce different gamification techniques to try to motivate you to
get out of bed. For example - competition, tracking progress and some small
rewards. Also, any feedback is welcome. Thanks!

~~~
muzani
This is nice! I almost want to steal the idea and make an app out of it :p

~~~
stanislavb
Cheers! Go for it :) .

Btw, there are some benefits of it being a website. For example, you earn
bonus points if you check from a non-mobile device - this implies that you are
out of bed ;)

------
lizzard
It's helpful to have small practical tips on coping and how to be kind to
yourself when you are too depressed or ill to get out of bed. Sometimes that
self care is more useful than trying to go instantly from 0 to 60, sad to
happy. Or, than what Marcus Aurelius is doing, beating himself up emotionally
and feeling shame and guilt.

While I like Stoicism, I wish I could go back and time and give Marcus
Aurelius a day off!

------
746F7475
I've never minded mornings. I mean if I woke up I can be out the door in 5
minutes and be ready for the day. At times it can be odd if I just get few
hours of sleep, I can deal with a work day, but after that 6-10 hours I crash
pretty hard.

------
shin_lao
To get up well, you need to go to bed well. Going to sleep at roughly the same
time every day is good. Physical activity also greatly increases the quality
of the sleep.

------
gitaarik
Reading this on Sunday morning/afternoon after a good night, I'm like: "yeah
whatever, I'll just get my laptop and work from here!" ;)

------
extravagrant
If you are going to diss Aurelius on his advice dispensing (calling the
classics 'stupid'?), you had best have profoundly insightful alternative to
propose. The author did not. I bin this in with 'more patricidal (elder
disrespecting) rubbish' seeking to overthrow the tables of the greats who got
us here and usurp it with presumably more salient and/or pertinent 'recent
findings' or what have you. Such endeavors usually fail miserably.

~~~
tempestn
The author does _not_ say the advice is stupid. She says that it is stupid for
people suffering from depression, which she acknowledges is not likely the
target audience of the original piece. (In fact, the target audience was
Aurelius himself, since his Meditations were more of a personal journal than a
work intended for public consumption.) This article is not in any way
criticizing the writing of Marcus Aurelius; it is simply using it to point out
an unhelpful mindset when dealing with depression.

------
Absentinsomniac
I just down an energy drink that's sitting by my alarm clock every morning.
Not healthy maybe but oh well.

------
taksintikk
Every time start having doubt creep in I think and act on one mantra.. Do the
work.

It really is that simple.

