I have a confession to make. These past three mornings after the snooze button has been successfully found and pounded, I’ve told myself that I would get up with Evan and have breakfast and then go back to bed after he leaves for work. I’ve had every intention of following through. But I’ve found that once I’m up, I stay up and get through the day. So, I’m guilty of the intention, but have yet to commit the crime. This is how I’ve begun the third week of the experiment.
Also, since we’re being honest here, I haven’t actually ever been out of bed by 5:00 a.m. this whole month. I push/smack/punch the snooze button everyday. This week, my new “thing” is to stay in bed while Evan’s in the shower so I don’t have to deal with the strange 15-20 minutes in the dark house all alone. But I swear, I’ve been up before 5:30.
Here we are at the halfway point. Fifteen wake-ups (minus two Sunday sleep-ins) and this household has already formed some definite opinions. First, in general, both Evan and I have enjoyed the early mornings. We both like having the time at the beginning of the day to eat breakfast together and talk. I can’t say we’re spending extra time together, because we have been losing time at the end of the day by going to bed early or simply because we are both zombies. But it is nice to start the day together rather than have him wake me up to kiss me good-bye – an event I may or may not remember. Saturdays are great, too, because we have so much time to accomplish our to-do lists and to also be lazy if we choose. Plus, it gives us an excuse to go out for a large breakfast, which, next to naps, is one of my favorite things to do in life. Another bonus for the early mornings is that I’ve finally had practice making the perfect cup of coffee. I have the ability to drink coffee in any concentration and therefore never really paid attention to measuring the correct amount of grounds for brewing. Evan’s tastes, however, are a little more discriminating and by Day 4, I had finally learned the correct proportions to make something we are both happy with.
What are the negatives? For Evan, the struggle mostly lies in the initial minutes of the day. He struggles getting out of bed and usually gets poked and prodded more than he would like until his feet hit the ground. Also, lunchtime feels like a long way off because he eats breakfast so early. We try to balance that out by making bigger breakfasts, but sometimes he just doesn’t like to eat a lot of food in the morning. For me, I have a weird period during the time that Evan is in the shower to fill. It’s too short of a time to start anything significant, watching TV/reading doesn’t help in the waking-up process and usually all I can think about it food, but I postpone eating so we can do it together. Also, my non-work days at home are SOOOO long. I’ve had to come up with new ways to fill the hours. I’ve started a new vacation-photo organization project; I work on the garden (on the very few days it doesn’t rain); I get through books much faster; and I spend a bit more money because I have an even stronger need to get out of the house. In general, I don’t mind the extra time, but if I didn’t work three out of the five days of the week, I would probably go a little crazy.
What does the future hold? I’ve found that at the end of experimonths, participants make these grand plans to continue the experiment to some degree and while I can’t speak for anyone else, my goals tend to be a little lofty and get dropped. January’s raw food diet specifically ended with goals that I never really followed through on. So, I’m making ”in the future” plans a little early and allowing the remaining experimonth weeks to help modify the goals as I continue the experience. Both Evan and I have really enjoyed our time together in the mornings, so in the future I’d like to continue to get up a few days during the week and at least have coffee with him. Going back to bed after that would not be out of the question. We also both like our Saturdays so we have been thinking that we might set the alarm on Saturday mornings for earlier (6:30/7:30?) so that we can continue to have long, productive days. So there you have it, the two goals we are keeping in mind for the second half of the month. As the month progresses and the early mornings get easier or harder, we shall see if these goals will stay intact or are modified to a less binding version.
My routine has been to set my alarm at 4:51, with the intention of getting out of bed at 5:00 when the alarm rings for the second time. But for the past couple of days I have not gotten out of bed until 5:18, after the alarm goes off for the fourth time. Even though I have hit the snooze button 3 times before finally getting up and turning off the alarm, I still consider these successful days. Because I have woken up on time and stayed fully awake, thinking about the day ahead, and just so happened to be still laying comfortably in bed. For example, this morning I laid there listening to the wind and rain outside and disappointed that I wouldn’t be able to go outside for the morning run I had planned.
I would really like to get to the point where I can wake up and actually get up without using the snooze button so much!!
I already confessed I started this month off on the wrong foot and didn’t do very well for the first 10 days. And now I have to admit that I am still struggling to adjust to the 5am routine.
I have slept later than 5 o’clock on 3 of the past 6 days. There have been two main reasons I have not gotten up at 5:00 on those days:
- If there is nothing for me to do first thing in the morning, it’s hard to find motivation to get up that early. For instance, on Day 12, I was visiting my brother in Richmond. I didn’t have internet access so couldn’t do work or email on the computer, and I didn’t need to go for a run because I was resting my legs to run in a 5K the next morning. So I decided to “sleep in” (until 6:30).
- If I wasn’t able to go to bed early enough the night before. I have been valuing staying up late and spending time with friends on weekend nights over my dedication to this experimonth. I just haven’t been willing to not go out and do something fun or to make myself go home early just so I can get up at 5am. Which connects back to the first point. Why go home early on a Saturday night just so you can make sure to get enough sleep that night when there isn’t really anything to do so early on a Sunday morning anyway?
I do like the idea of getting up at 5 on weekday mornings though. I like going out for a walk or run first thing to get energized for the day. And I have been finding that I do have more time to make breakfast and lunch and watch the news before I have to leave for work. I think I am starting to establish a good morning routine, which I plan to continue for at least each of the remaining weekdays this month, and hopefully longer as well. But I think I’m going to have to play it by ear on the weekends and probably sleep in at least one weekend morning each week, so that I can continue on with my normal social life without making myself exhausted by the end of the month. 15 days and counting…
As noted in my first entry, while hubby and I are taking part whole-heartedly in this experimonth, we are allowing ourselves to sleep-in every Sunday. This was meant to act both as an incentive to get us through the week and also as a gift of a non-alarm wake up to our bodies. But, as our second Sunday has come and gone, I’m beginning to rethink our decision. In theory, it would seem that sleeping in would be welcome after six days in a row of 5 a.m. wake ups, but I’m not too sure.
The night before our first Sunday we both went to bed fairly early, maybe around 10:30 or 11:00. We were both beat from working all day in the sun/at our job and, obviously, from waking up early that morning. As the sun rose on Sunday morning we slept…and slept…and didn’t get out of be until close to 10 a.m. I was exhausted the entire day and Evan was a little slow moving (though he accomplished much more in the yard than I did). I took two short naps that day and would have gladly slept more. I think we both fell into bed that night at 9:00, and didn’t spend too much time wishing for sleep. Now, there are a few circumstances that could have played into our fatigue – allergies found Evan and had been rocking him for the past 24-hours and I was beginning to suffer from my week-of-exhaustion that rears its head this time each month – so it is hard to determine if getting the extra sleep actually made us more tired.
We found ourselves in more or less the same situation this Sunday. There were a few out of the ordinary factors that could have contributed to our fatigue, but we both seemed just as tired, if not more, as on a 5 a.m. morning. This time, Saturday found us on a five hour drive, eating like crap (donuts were our Saturday incentive to get out of bed and then on to a graduation party…), staying up until midnight hanging out with family, and then we woke up on Sunday at 7:30 a.m. (not by choice, though we were both starting to stir anyway). But again, the day was very wearing on us despite the extra sleep. And we had a four hour drive home, which also makes me very tired.
At this point, it is hard to figure out what is causing our Sunday funk. Could it be the later mornings and extra sleep? (I know it’s a strange concept, but that’s how mom always explained our tiredness on the days we slept until the afternoon as teenagers.) Or is it just the odd circumstances that keep popping up on the Saturdays prior? I suppose now our experiment has the added element of figuring out this mystery. We’ll see what happens on Day 21…
Thirteen successful 5:00am wakings so far and only two nights ago was my first full night of sleep. Every other night in June I’ve startled awake once or twice, usually sometime in the 10 o’clock hour (NOT COOL) and sometime again in the 4 o’clock hour.
But on Thursday night, I stayed up until 10 and went to bed and slept the night through. And last night I did the same. I am so grateful for a full night’s sleep.
As for this experimonth, much like last month’s, I’m loving it. The extra time I have is so rewarding, waking up early feels effortless.
That said, last Sunday was a low day where I was wonky and tired nearly all day and as a result, I’ll be following Erin’s lead and wake naturally tomorrow.
I think one of the first questions on many of our minds this month is where naps should fit in to our day. When Elizabeth was visiting, I remember that was one of the concerns we had for this month. And I noticed Beck tweeted a similar question last week. So here I am, the first (but probably not the last) to address the issue.
Let me begin by outlining my relationship with naps. I’m a fan…an aficionado, if I may. Short naps, long naps, day naps, night naps, car naps, bed naps, couch naps… I’m not picky. My in-laws make fun of my ability to fall asleep anywhere. My parents are intrigued that the childhood habit never left me. Evan knows when it’s about time to “put me down” because I get ornery. And, if I may toot my own horn, I do naps well. Without setting an alarm, I can lay down and pop up exactly 19.5 minutes later feeling rested and energized. Yes, that is the sound of me patting my own back.
With no further ado, here is today’s lesson: When is it a nap v. “going back to bed”? My answer is that if it is under a half hour, you can take a nap anytime after waking up – even if the alarm went off an hour ago. If the nap is to go longer than that, I you should wait at least two hours, or achieve something monumental (like running a 5K or chopping down a tree) for it to be considered not going back to bed. I tested my rule out this morning when, after my biggest achievement was eating too many pancakes, I decided at 6:30 that I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I crawled back into bed and slept for an hour. As well as feeling wonderful and much needed, the sleep session definitely felt more like “going back to bed”, confirming my theory. Brilliant conclusion, eh? They should give me a PhD in nap-ology.
And it is here where I will leave you in suspence as I compose Part 2. Napping is such a fascinating subject, I know you will be eagerly awaiting the next installment…!
I was basking in the blessed, rare silence of an early morning all to myself yesterday when I suddenly heard from the next room, “Hey there, little one, why are you walking around naked with a can of beans?” I’m not sure which was more disconcerting – that my toddler had managed to get into the walk-in pantry all by herself (the nakedness was no shocker – she’s 2 ½, so that’s just the way she rolls), or that she and my husband were up so early in the first place. And it also made me wonder – how often does he let her have baked beans for breakfast?
I’ll have to admit I haven’t done very well so far. I’ve only been successful 6.5 out of 10 days.
As an excuse, I was on vacation (a cross-country road trip to California) for the first 4 days, so I was pretty proud of myself that I even attempted waking up at 5am while out of town. For the first 3 days, I had some long days driving and sight-seeing, didn’t do a good job of going to bed early, and was dealing with time changes, but still managed to get up at 5am each day. However, none of those days were satisfying or enjoyable at all, because I spent my early morning hours in a dark hotel room trying not to wake my friend and just catching up on work emails. I was in California by Day 4 but accidentally overslept (I woke up at 6:30am and went out for a run).
I was home by Day 5 and committed to the idea of getting up at 5am after failing on Day 4. But I didn’t get home from the airport until 1:15am the night before. So when my alarm rang at 5am, I had an epiphany. The purpose of this experimonth, in my opinion, is to see if you can alter your daily routine to become an early riser. The point is not to torture yourself with sleep deprivation. Needless to say, I reset my alarm for a later time that morning. I did get up at 5am on Day 6 (a Saturday!) but then opted to sleep in on Day 7 to try to catch up on sleep from my road trip.
One unexpected and disappointing thing I have figured out this week is that it doesn’t feel like I’m really gaining time in the morning. I have been going out for longer-than-normal runs as soon as I get up in the morning, and then still find myself rushing through breakfast and my shower to get to the office on time. My goal is to use the extra time in the morning (can it really be considered “extra” time in the morning if you are losing hours to get things done at night by going to bed early?) for exercise, because getting up and moving right away is what helps me feel awake and energized. I’d also like to be able to have some relaxing time to drink coffee, watch the news or read the paper, and enjoy the quiet time in the morning before my day gets too hectic, but that’s what I seem to be running out of time for so far.
I’m determined to make this schedule work for me by the end of the month…I have 20 more days to get used to it!
