ZZZ: Le monde appartient à ceux qui se lèvent tôt!
The world belongs to early risers. We do everything we can to delay sleeping, yet we can’t get enough of it. Yet, sometimes we do manage to get to bed early, but we fail to catch the Z’s because we are so anxious to sleep. Being a recent grad, the unregular sleeping schedules are still fresh in my memory, with the odd eating hours as well as the sleepless nights browsing the internet (“research”).
“Sleep is for the weak”, that’s what some actually believe. Well guys, I think you are very wrong. Not only is sleep very important, but due to our newfangled social and professional obligations (damn Edison and whoever invented the candle) we are also expected to stay awake after dusk and still rise a couple of hours after dawn.
I have found a few excellent articles on the subject of sleep, notably on how to become an early riser, its sequel, possibly how to annihilate sleep anxiety and finally, a wonderful article about everything you always wanted to know about sleep but were afraid to ask. The latter goes into hypothetical evolutionary explanations of our sleeping patterns WRT circadian rhythms, and how to make them fit our societal requirements, all written in a funny, pleasant style.
I do not know what to blame it on; sometimes when bedtime comes i’m “in the zone” while coding away, therefore I push back my sleeping hours, otherwise I’m often reading really interesting articles (notice the “s” after “article”) and want to get through till the end, and yet other times… I’m just losing time doing totally unproductive things (yet so satisfying).
The 3 most useful rules I find to waking up everyday at the same time are as follows (but not limited to):
- To always get up at the same time. No matter when you go to bed, wake up at the exact same time everyday. That way you’re setting your biological clock to automatically be prepared to wake up at a thus-defined time. (i.e no sleeping in, much to my dismay)
- If rule #1 is observed, go to bed whenever you feel tired. Let your body determine the amount of sleep you need! If your body is set to wake up at 8:30am everyday, you should be pretty lethargic at around midnight or so. Sometimes, 11 could be too late, especially after a pretty heavy workout!
- Developing a going-to-bed ritual. Mine entails brushing my teeth and cleaning up the smorgasbord of Firefox open browsers (which sometimes actually leads me to NOT sleep!). This will cue your body to go to bed.
In preparation for my job starting on the 31st, I have put it in myself to wake up early everyday (early for me is 8:30 am!). Ever since monday, I’ve succeeded on waking up at the same time and I’m very proud of it, even though its only 4 days now! I can’t wait to start =)
Thursday, July 20th, 2006 @ 1:24 pm 
Uncategorized, motivation
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July 20th, 2006 at 4:10 pm
I thought I recognised these techniques, then noticed that you linked to Steve Pavlina’s weblog. I have followed his recommendations and am now able to get out of bed with less resistance. I get out of bed around 5.30 in the morning, exercise for ten minutes, then hit the shower. By waking up earlier, I have more time to enjoy a proper breakfast and feel much fitter throughout the day.
July 20th, 2006 at 6:19 pm
5:30 am O_O. That’s rough man… but i totally understand what you mean… somehow, the day is more productive and enjoyable. Steve Pavlina == the bomb
July 20th, 2006 at 6:23 pm
10 mins of exercising is awesome, and it appears to be the perfect moment to do it! At what time do you usually hit the sack? When you go out the night prior, do you have any problems going back to the waking up routine?
July 22nd, 2006 at 12:01 am
I too will have to face this wake up time-shift soon. Maybe even starting this coming Friday… I will start doing some Knowledge Training at work soon for 1 or 2 days a week before I go on Vacation.
I usually have a good wake up pattern (at 8am) in the start of each semester…. but once one all nighter comes along it kills it for the rest of the term.
So my day is usually:
8am wake up
8:20am leave to gym
8:30am start cardio
9am-ish finish cardio
9:20am-ish go buy some food for the week
9:30am-ish go home and eat Meal 1 of 6
….
..but this will stop in 2 weeks as I wrap up my fatloss (in perfect time for exams). Then Finland and Ukraine here I come (where I will probably gain that fat back…
July 22nd, 2006 at 4:38 am
wow that’s some pretty rigid scheduling! 1 hour each day, no wonder you get to be 8%! what you mean by “fat” would be… inapproriate. “less muscle” for you sounds more like it!
July 22nd, 2006 at 2:05 pm
Oh I meant every “other” day. On the non-cardio days I eat as soon as I wake up and do weights later on in the day. As well I take 1 day off from all training a week.
I know Ukrainians like to drink a lot of beer… so I will most likely gain a bit of fat as well loose a bit of lean muscle but I’m sure it wont be a huge amount.
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If you have problems tossing and turning in bed I recommend that you hit the gym sometime in the evening. That usually helps tire me out.
July 23rd, 2006 at 1:30 pm
Beer hmmmm sounds like heaven. hehe
When are you leaving for Ukraine?
July 24th, 2006 at 4:48 am
I’m leaving for Finland on Aug 18th for 2 days, then Ukraine for 2 weeks.