Article Steve Peacocks "How to become a lark"
It is good to get up before dawn, because such a habit contributes to health, wealth and wisdom.
- Aristotle.
Are they born early birds or become? In my case - definitely the second. When I was 20 years old, I rarely went to bed until midnight, and almost always liked to sleep a little longer. Usually my daily affairs did not begin in the morning, but closer to noon.
But after a while, I noticed and could no longer ignore the strong connection between success and early recovery, even in my own life. In those rare cases when I did get up early, I noticed that my productivity was almost always higher, not only in the morning, but throughout the day. In addition, I felt much more cheerful. Therefore, being active in achieving my goals, I decided to become a lark. I quickly set the alarm for 5 hours ...
... and the next morning I got up at noon.
')
Hmm .......
I tried again and again, many times, but I could not make any significant progress in this matter. I decided that probably I was born without the necessary gene responsible for the early rise. As soon as the alarm went off, my first thought was always to stop this damned noise and go back to sleep. I followed this habit for several years, but then I finally came across an article about sleep research that showed me that I approached the problem from the wrong end. Applying the ideas obtained in practice, I was finally able to become a consistent lark.
It is difficult to become a morning person using the wrong strategy. But with the right strategy, it is relatively simple.
The most common incorrect strategy is as follows: You assume that if you are going to get up earlier, then you better go to bed early. You estimate how much sleep you have on average now, and then just shift the schedule a few hours ago. If you now sleep from midnight to 8 in the morning, then you think that in order to get up at 6, you need to lie down at 10 in the evening. It sounds reasonable, but this is usually not possible.
Apparently, there are two sleep patterns. The first is that you lie down and get up every day at the same time. It is like an alarm clock that rings twice a day, and by its calls you are trying to sleep at the same time. For life in modern society, this seems like a logical option. We need a predictable schedule. All we need is to provide the necessary rest.
The second model of sleep is that you should listen to the requirements of your body, that is, to lie down when you feel tired, and get up when you wake up without any alarms. This approach stems from biology. Our bodies know how much rest they need, and we need to listen to them.
Through trial and error, I found that both of the above sleep patterns are not optimal. Both of them are wrong if you care about your performance and / or efficiency. And that's why:
If you sleep at a fixed time, then sometimes go to bed when you don’t want to sleep at all. If you need more than 5 minutes to fall asleep every day, you are simply too vigorous. You waste your time lying in bed and awake instead of sleeping. Another problem is the assumption that you need the same time to sleep every day, which is wrong. The need for sleep varies from one day to another.
If you sleep, listening to what your body says, then most likely you will sleep more than necessary - in many cases, much more, by 10-15 hours a week (equivalent to a full daylight hours). Most people who sleep in this way sleep more than 8 hours a day, which is usually too much. In addition, your morning becomes less predictable if you get up at different times. And since our natural biorhythms often do not coincide with the 24-hour cycle, you may find that your sleep time begins to shift.
The best solution for me was to combine these two models. This is a very simple decision, and many larks follow it without even thinking, but nevertheless for me it became a real discovery. The solution was that I went to bed when I felt drowsy (and only then), and got up after an alarm at a certain time (7 days a week). Thus, I always get up at the same time (in my case at 5 am), but I go to bed every day in different ways.
I go to bed when I can no longer be awake. My drowsiness test is that if I cannot read one or two pages of a book without disconnecting, then I am ready to sleep. In most cases, when I go to bed, I fall asleep in three minutes or less. I lie down, make myself comfortable, and immediately disconnect. Sometimes I go to bed at half past nine, sometimes I sit until midnight. In most cases, this occurs at 10-11 pm. If I can't sleep, I stay awake until my eyes start to stick together. It is best to read something at this time, as the coming drowsiness becomes apparent.
When my alarm goes off in the morning, I turn it off, sip a few seconds, and sit down. I do not think about it. I realized that the longer I stretch the lifting process, the more likely that I will fall asleep again. Therefore, I do not allow thoughts to arise in my head about what benefits I will get if I sleep a little longer. Even if I really want to continue to sleep, I always get up right away.
A few days after starting to use such a script, I discovered that my dream had entered into a natural rhythm. If I didn’t sleep much the night before, I automatically become sleepy earlier and sleep more that night. If I have a lot of energy and I'm not tired, then I sleep less. My body is used to waking me up, because it knows that I get up at the same time, and that this time is not being discussed.
A side effect was that now, on average, I sleep 90 minutes less every night, but in reality I feel well rested. I sleep almost all the time when I'm in bed.
I read that most people who suffer from insomnia go to bed when they don’t want to sleep at all. If you do not want to sleep, and you cannot fall asleep quickly, get up and stay awake for some time. Resist sleep until your body begins to release hormones that deprive you of consciousness. If you just go to bed then when you really want this, and get up at the same time, you will get rid of insomnia. On the first night you will stay up late, but in the end you will fall asleep quickly. The next day, you may feel tired from the fact that you got up too early, having slept only a couple of hours, but with difficulty reaching the evening, you will want to go to bed early. After a few days, you will develop a habit of going to bed at about the same time, and immediately fall asleep.
So if you want to become a morning person (or just arrange your sleep mode), try to do this: go to bed only when you can’t do anything and get up at the same time every morning.
The translation is taken from the site " Self-development for smart people "
- Aristotle.
Are they born early birds or become? In my case - definitely the second. When I was 20 years old, I rarely went to bed until midnight, and almost always liked to sleep a little longer. Usually my daily affairs did not begin in the morning, but closer to noon.
But after a while, I noticed and could no longer ignore the strong connection between success and early recovery, even in my own life. In those rare cases when I did get up early, I noticed that my productivity was almost always higher, not only in the morning, but throughout the day. In addition, I felt much more cheerful. Therefore, being active in achieving my goals, I decided to become a lark. I quickly set the alarm for 5 hours ...
... and the next morning I got up at noon.
')
Hmm .......
I tried again and again, many times, but I could not make any significant progress in this matter. I decided that probably I was born without the necessary gene responsible for the early rise. As soon as the alarm went off, my first thought was always to stop this damned noise and go back to sleep. I followed this habit for several years, but then I finally came across an article about sleep research that showed me that I approached the problem from the wrong end. Applying the ideas obtained in practice, I was finally able to become a consistent lark.
It is difficult to become a morning person using the wrong strategy. But with the right strategy, it is relatively simple.
The most common incorrect strategy is as follows: You assume that if you are going to get up earlier, then you better go to bed early. You estimate how much sleep you have on average now, and then just shift the schedule a few hours ago. If you now sleep from midnight to 8 in the morning, then you think that in order to get up at 6, you need to lie down at 10 in the evening. It sounds reasonable, but this is usually not possible.
Apparently, there are two sleep patterns. The first is that you lie down and get up every day at the same time. It is like an alarm clock that rings twice a day, and by its calls you are trying to sleep at the same time. For life in modern society, this seems like a logical option. We need a predictable schedule. All we need is to provide the necessary rest.
The second model of sleep is that you should listen to the requirements of your body, that is, to lie down when you feel tired, and get up when you wake up without any alarms. This approach stems from biology. Our bodies know how much rest they need, and we need to listen to them.
Through trial and error, I found that both of the above sleep patterns are not optimal. Both of them are wrong if you care about your performance and / or efficiency. And that's why:
If you sleep at a fixed time, then sometimes go to bed when you don’t want to sleep at all. If you need more than 5 minutes to fall asleep every day, you are simply too vigorous. You waste your time lying in bed and awake instead of sleeping. Another problem is the assumption that you need the same time to sleep every day, which is wrong. The need for sleep varies from one day to another.
If you sleep, listening to what your body says, then most likely you will sleep more than necessary - in many cases, much more, by 10-15 hours a week (equivalent to a full daylight hours). Most people who sleep in this way sleep more than 8 hours a day, which is usually too much. In addition, your morning becomes less predictable if you get up at different times. And since our natural biorhythms often do not coincide with the 24-hour cycle, you may find that your sleep time begins to shift.
The best solution for me was to combine these two models. This is a very simple decision, and many larks follow it without even thinking, but nevertheless for me it became a real discovery. The solution was that I went to bed when I felt drowsy (and only then), and got up after an alarm at a certain time (7 days a week). Thus, I always get up at the same time (in my case at 5 am), but I go to bed every day in different ways.
I go to bed when I can no longer be awake. My drowsiness test is that if I cannot read one or two pages of a book without disconnecting, then I am ready to sleep. In most cases, when I go to bed, I fall asleep in three minutes or less. I lie down, make myself comfortable, and immediately disconnect. Sometimes I go to bed at half past nine, sometimes I sit until midnight. In most cases, this occurs at 10-11 pm. If I can't sleep, I stay awake until my eyes start to stick together. It is best to read something at this time, as the coming drowsiness becomes apparent.
When my alarm goes off in the morning, I turn it off, sip a few seconds, and sit down. I do not think about it. I realized that the longer I stretch the lifting process, the more likely that I will fall asleep again. Therefore, I do not allow thoughts to arise in my head about what benefits I will get if I sleep a little longer. Even if I really want to continue to sleep, I always get up right away.
A few days after starting to use such a script, I discovered that my dream had entered into a natural rhythm. If I didn’t sleep much the night before, I automatically become sleepy earlier and sleep more that night. If I have a lot of energy and I'm not tired, then I sleep less. My body is used to waking me up, because it knows that I get up at the same time, and that this time is not being discussed.
A side effect was that now, on average, I sleep 90 minutes less every night, but in reality I feel well rested. I sleep almost all the time when I'm in bed.
I read that most people who suffer from insomnia go to bed when they don’t want to sleep at all. If you do not want to sleep, and you cannot fall asleep quickly, get up and stay awake for some time. Resist sleep until your body begins to release hormones that deprive you of consciousness. If you just go to bed then when you really want this, and get up at the same time, you will get rid of insomnia. On the first night you will stay up late, but in the end you will fall asleep quickly. The next day, you may feel tired from the fact that you got up too early, having slept only a couple of hours, but with difficulty reaching the evening, you will want to go to bed early. After a few days, you will develop a habit of going to bed at about the same time, and immediately fall asleep.
So if you want to become a morning person (or just arrange your sleep mode), try to do this: go to bed only when you can’t do anything and get up at the same time every morning.
The translation is taken from the site " Self-development for smart people "
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/31291/
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