

Getting up earlier by not eating late: anecdotal bodyhacking - jlees
http://www.trendpreneur.com/lifestyle/resetting-the-clock-successful-bodyhacking/

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josefresco
Try having kids you young whippersnappers. You won't have any problem waking
up when your 1 and 3 year old are awake at 5-7am looking for breakfast. You
also won't have any problem sleeping as I practically pass out every night
once the last one is tucked in for the night.

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ggruschow
Problems waking you up isn't a good solution to having a problem waking up.

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dylanz
I had to read that about 5 times. As a father of 2... I agree completely :)

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sonofjanoh
Interesting how physical activity is not showing up in any of these so called
experiments. Why is this trend to outsmart the body? Give it a bit of work and
you'll have a balance and energy that no wii fit and alarm clock can asses. No
gadget nor habit can outperform a few push-ups with an intense workout or an
energetic soccer game. Your body will tell you when it's time to sleep and
when it's time to eat and believe me it will correlate with your working day.

Mens sana in corpore sano.

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liquidben
First, the article never explicitly states that the author didn't try
exercise.

Second, getting up and exercising is a complementary behavior to changing your
eating habits. Neither negates the other and both together are best.

With luck, the author will feel more energetic after the diet change, and will
then be motivated to start an exercise program. (or just nail the early donut,
_shrugs_ )

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jlees
I do exercise, but not as much as I'd like to. Half the trouble is finding
time in a busy day when I still think of myself as horribly unfit (I recently
lost 70 pounds and am a lot fitter than I used to be!).

One of the first things I tried to get my body clock sorted out was morning
gym sessions, but I just couldn't afford the time or subscription cost.

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yef
Try morning jogs outside. Start slow. It does wonders for my energy level and
clarity of thought for the rest of the day.

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whalesalad
I am going to definitely give this a shot. As a side note... typically after a
rough night of drinking I automatically wake up super super early in the
morning... Like if my typical routine is sleeping at 4+am and getting up close
to noon every day... after a rough drinking binge I'll be up bright and early
at 8-9.

That's clearly not the answer to my problems but there have been certain
occasions where when I know that I need to be up early I'll drink a six pack
before going to bed.

This might not have anything to do with the alcohol, it might simply be
because of the fact that I really need to take a piss when I get up. Or it's
that combined with the fact that alcohol dehydrates you... so my body is
waking itself up not out of hunger but out of thirst?

Just something I thought I would point out... maybe someone else shares this
feeling?

Note: I too am writing this at 3:28 am, hah. Time for bed! I ate around...
10pm :|

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whalesalad
Note 2 of 2: Apparently others feel this sentiment as well, I should have done
a better job scanning the replies before posting.

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Estragon
The original Buddhist monastic precepts required that food be restricted to
one meal a day before noon. It's a good way to live, but I've only ever kept
it up for a couple of months at any one time. It's socially restrictive.

~~~
embeddedradical
i believe that the key is no to not be in excess, to truly be minimalistic
about it, and not a slave to impulse.

here in california, we often expend more energy in our daily routines, rest
less, and use up more mental energy doing all our problem solving and
anxieties and such, than would be the case if we were practicing mindfulness
most of the day, instead of feeding into our concerns (attachments) to the
various things we do. during mindfulness and zazen, the mind goes into a
different mode, which is in many ways, rejuvenating in itself, but this is not
the case with how we - or at least i - approach problems at work.

comprehending why a practice is done, and then being true to your
comprehensions is where it is at, and it is not in mimicking the
implementations/practices of others.

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costan
My sleeping schedule is unimpressed by my eating schedule.

On the other hand, obeying the golden rule in the article helps me lose
weight. I tracked my weight for the past 4 months with the Wii Fit, and
there's pretty good correlation between not eating 12 hours before wake-up
time and the day-to-day weight delta.

My bottom line: the rule about not eating too late helps, one way or another.

~~~
sorbits
The explanation I have heard for this is that your metabolism (which break
down molecules into smaller units and release energy) slows down some hours
before you go to bed.

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awolf
When you eat near bedtime you get much less restfull sleep during the first
part of the night (i.e. the most important part of the night for sleep)
because your metabolism is still active digesting the food.

Simple as that.

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trapper
I wonder if the converse may be more true: that by eating you extend your
sleep cycle for longer. I find if having to do multiple long nights, no matter
how fit I am I have to eat to keep up energy.

I find the more tired, the more sugary stuff I crave.

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jaaron
When you're pulling long days or all nighters, you need to watch your diet.
It's easy to eat too much and gain weight. At the same time, if you're really
only sleeping 4 hours a night, then you need extra calories to burn for those
extra waking hours.

~~~
trapper
Definitely. I usually up the volume of short intervals (tabata) when doing
this type of work - less time training than usual and more metabolic effect.

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kurtosis
anecdotal counterpoint: Last night was a session of midnight gluttony. I ate a
12" pizza, an order of fried calamari, lots of miscellaneous finger food, four
beers and two mojitos. I was asleep about 2:30 am and awoke about 6 am. I
drank lots of water so alcohol dehydration was not likely the cause. Usually I
go to sleep around around 2 am and wake up at 7-8 am. Make of this what you
will.

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mncaudill
Pregnant?

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kurtosis
Well I'm not sure how dangerous it really is to drink booze while gravid, but
it's one form of self-experimentation I wouldn't recommend. There's plenty of
_real_ experimentation establishing the risk of things like fetal alcohol
syndrome etc.

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JimmyL
This seems (externally) similar to the idea of drinking lots of water so that
you'll have to wake up to take a piss - except here it's being hungry that's
waking you up.

My problem with sleeping, though, is falling asleep - I can wake up when I
need to with sufficient alarms, but getting to sleep when I need to can be
tough. There is one time when I have trouble waking up, though - after flying.
However, I tend to take day flights, and doing this would end up with a day of
my fasting in a widebody air plane, which would take an already-unhappy me to
a whole new level.

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sgrove
I'm writing this at 4AM, completely off-kilter sleep schedule, so I will
definitely be giving this a try from tomorrow. Other suggestions I've heard
are to turn off the computer an hour before you sleep, but it's always very
difficult for me to tear myself away - but not eating, that's something I can
manage easily enough.

Also, step three is, in my recent experience, deadly. You'll either miss/delay
the meeting, or it will be a painful hour or so while others expect you to be
thinking hard.

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nreece

      turn off the computer an hour before you sleep, but it's 
      always very difficult for me to tear myself away - but not 
      eating, that's something I can manage easily enough.
    

You know, that's a potential health issue in its own. The key is to strike a
balance.

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sgrove
Well, of course, I didn't mean to stop eating entirely. Just after 8PM, as
suggested in the article. That seems easy enough.

I agree with you regarding the health issues of spending too much time on a
computer deeply absorbed in a problem. Ignoring one's basic needs becomes
almost the default.

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gruseom
To the people talking about alcohol: it has a well-known disruptive effect on
the second half of the sleep cycle. It makes you wake up earlier with less REM
sleep. (For example,
[http://www.websciences.org/cftemplate/NAPS/archives/indiv.cf...](http://www.websciences.org/cftemplate/NAPS/archives/indiv.cfm?ID=19972321.))

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BrentRitterbeck
The only thing that has worked for me is setting the alarm for when I want to
wake up, getting myself out of bed, getting ready for the day, then leaving.
Get away from the bed. That's the key.

I can sleep much longer than eight hours if I can just lay in the bed. Get up,
get out, get going.

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figital
I've been having success doing this for a few years. The next thing I should
try is experimenting with different fluids before sleeping. A glass of water
would be a good start ... maybe an Emergen-C packet to vary.

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jon_dahl
Anecodotally, I've experienced this too. I fast from food from time to time,
and whenever I do, I'm ready to sleep earlier at night and ready to get up
earlier the next morning.

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chrischen
I should try this strategy. I haven't woken up before 2 PM for over a month
now.

