Personal tips on how to get a good night sleep and wake up early
 

There are probably tons of tips out there, but I'm more interested in what tips you guys have. It may be different from person to person, but I still want to hear them and what works. I have discovered that going to bed early doesn't necessary mean that you will wake up early the next morning. There have been several times where I woke up way too late for work because I went to bed early.

My tip:
Sleeping with your window open makes you wake earlier. I think it's because your body sense the cold environment.

Instead of sleeping with the window open, it would help to just keep the blinds open. Blazing sunlight should stimulate you enough to wake up at a decent hour.

That is, unless you have to get up before the crack of dawn, or live in the Arctic.

Sleeping the same hours every night really helps me get a much more restful sleep than when I'm fluctuating by an hour every day.

I also find if I wake up with a light getting turned on around the same time I don't feel nearly as sleepy.

I agree with kat. It's spring now in Melbourne and the sun comes up pretty early so that gets me awake pretty much on time with the blinds slightly open. That and my body's adapted to waking up pretty early, and I get a really bad headache that ruins the rest of my day if I ever wake up later than 10.30.

/signed

Also, sleep cycles take approximately 90 minutes (varies from person to person). Part of the sleep cycle is the REM stage, if you wake up during this, you wake up groggy. Try sleeping in multiples of 90 minutes. Just so people don't think I mean sleep 90 minutes, wake up, and sleep another 90 minutes... sleep for 6 hours, or 7.5, or 9 hours to avoid waking from an alarm during the REM stage of sleep.

There are a lot of things that help you sleep, besides what the others have said (I agree 150% about sleep cycles of 90 minutes between 120 minutes)

- no caffeine 3 hours before bed
- regular exercise
- no smoking before bed
- keep it dark at night, light in the morning
- the chemical tryptophan and melatonin, found in many foods
- avoid sleep pills, they disrupt sleep cycles which is BAD
- Avoid late night alcohol for the same reasons as above (but you alcoholics wont listen)
- a quiet room

Personally I can't get to sleep if I don't have a fan on me, but what has been the most effect on me as far as sleep quality goes is exercise and sleeping schedule.

That never worked for me. Then again, my windows face north I think. No direct sunlight.

Strenuous exercise will get usually get you knackered enough to get a more restful night's sleep. For me this would usually comprise playing pick-up football (soccer) and/or running 3 miles. Drinking milk also helps, for reasons I can't explain. Scientifically.

Actually, I've been told that exercise gets you "wired up" and KEEPS you from sleeping....

I figure he means getting exercise during the day...not right before bed

I certainly agree with the notion of a consistent sleep schedule

I usually do my exercises during the day to avoid that hyperness.

Also, alcohol makes me restless and not have a good night's sleep, so I generally avoid drinking 2 hours before going to bed. And if I've been drinking, I take 2 tylenol pills and drink 2 bottles of water.

Other than that, pretty much what others have already stated...I sleep with my blinds slightly open so that the sun shines through when I usually want to be awake by (between 6:30 and 8AM).

Definitly, having a cold room (and lots of blankets) is a big plus.

Also, if you have routine before going to sleep (read, listen to music..), it does relax your body and prepare it to sleep.

If you wake up at the same time morning after morning, your biological clock should be able to wake you up a few minutes before your alarm clock

If it fail, doze (?) a little during the day. it helps!

Combining pills and alcohol will wreck your kidneys, although the water should mitigate the damage a bit.

I find I'll always wake up just before my alarm goes off, no matter what time I set it. The problem is I then turn it off and go back to sleep. I find a cold room a hinderance, not a help as if the room's cold you want to stay under the duvet, not get up. I never had curtains until I was about 17 either so I'm used to being woken up by the sun.

I generally have a decent-ish sleep routine which gets fucked over at weekends. I don't sleep enough each night during the week (About 6 hours maximum normally) then stay up most of the night on Friday and Saturday and sleep in late. I can't say I've ever had any trouble getting to sleep that wasn't chemical induced though.

I feel that consistency helps the most. It doesn't matter when I sleep as long as I get up the same time. If I get up at 6 AM every morning and one day I decide to go to sleep at 5 AM, I'll make sure to wake up at 6 AM to maintain that consistency

I don't think I can leave my window open when I sleep, because it gets really chilly and I need good amount of sleep for the next day of work. :)

My solution is, I set several alarm clocks around me, so I will have to get up to turn off all of them before it drives me crazy. I've tried many methods, but this worked really fine for me in every situation. ;)

Tim Ferris from 4hww Blog had some interesting tips on hacking your sleep.
1. Consume 150-250 calories of low-glycemic index foods in small quantities (low glycemic load) prior to bed.
2. 2. Use ice baths to provoke sleep.
3. Eating your meals at set times can be as important as sleeping on a schedule.
4. Embrace 20-minute caffeine naps and ultradian multiples.
5. Turn off preoccupation with afternoon closure and present-state training.

It's a little extreme but it seems to help.


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Ah, yes. I often take a soothing dip in my ice bath before bed. Nothing seems to get me as cozy and ready for a peaceful night's rest as sliding into that silky, hypothermic, shinkage-inducing tub of love.

I tend to get up earlier naturally when the room isn't at my perfect ideal temperature. I love the cold and if my room is freezing cold I could sleep for like 12 hours if the alarm wasn't set. But during the summer, around the time when it is still not quite hot enough for the AC, I always wake up like 3 hours earlier and I feel perfectly rested.

Also the darkness helps you sleep longer too. So if you wake up and it is really bright then you might be more inclined to be less tired.

For some reason, every time I have a beer an hour before going to bed, I wake up 5 hours after feeling OK and find. Mostly it's that, sometimes my head hurts.

Also, I work at night, so I have a messed up sleeping cycle. One thing I do that helps me get enough sleep is that before I go to bed, I take a look at the watch and set a time "internally" on what time I should get up. And most of the time it works. I don't use alarm clocks since it makes your waking up process seem "forced".

Put your alarm clock across the room that way you have to get up to turn it off.

This probably doesn't work for many, but it does for me.... Having a constant noise or hum or something (For example, a fan, or dehumidifier) throughout the night, knocks me out..... Nothing too loud though....

Set your alarm to as loud as possible and make sure to have one that goes off every five minutes, even after to hit the snooze button.

Funny thing is with babies/kids, we've read that they'll sleep later if they go to bed earlier--seems to work with ours.

For myself, regular schedule makes the difference. Having the window open generally helps me sleep in longer, as I sleep best when I'm cool.

I have two alarms set: the one right next to my bed and then my phone set for 10 minutes later which will be sitting allll the way in the kitchen.

So I wake up (sorta) to turn off the first one and by the time the cell phone goes off I won't be asleep enough to not hear it.
Works wonders.

I've used the multiple alarm trick too; for awhile I got into the bad habit of snoozing the alarm and promptly falling back asleep....and not remembering I had done it later.

I seem to be having trouble over-sleeping these days. I slept for 11 hours straight both last night and the night before last, and I don't feel rested at all. I tried sleeping on a firmer mattress, but that doesn't seem to help. I'm starting to think it's depression that's the root cause of my sleeping problems and not really associated with how I'm going about sleeping.