30 Day Challenge - wake up at 6:30 am everyday

[laughingmatter]

Day 17

Went to sleep at 3:30 am yesterday.
Woke up at 10:00 am today.
Total hrs sleep: 6.5 hrs

Analysis:
Been on some medication and had a 4 hour nap yesterday. So went to sleep late, then slept in on purpose, just to see how it would feel.

But regret the decision.


Bad:
-Waking up late feels like crap. No more of this.


Next Steps
- Wake up early again.

[laughingmatter]

Day 18

Went to sleep at 2:00 am yesterday.
Woke up at 7:40 am today.
Total hrs sleep: 6.5 hrs

Analysis:
Gaah 7:40 is a bit better, but damn second day off target. Going to go to sleep earlier today.

Also need to take it easy on the caffeine. And actually start doing the wind downs again.

Bad:
-Pretty much went against everything I have learnt over the course of this experiment.


Next Steps
- Start doing all the stuff that was working to wake up at 6:30 again.

[janicelou]

wow! hard to wake up at 630 when your going to sleep at 430!!


maybe you should try a polyphasic sleep schedule since you like to stay up all night!

[laughingmatter]

Originally Posted by janicelou

wow! hard to wake up at 630 when your going to sleep at 430!!


maybe you should try a polyphasic sleep schedule since you like to stay up all night!

Haha well I don't like staying up all night, just have trouble getting to sleep sometimes.

Actually got pretty good at waking up at 6:30, I think getting sick just messed up my schedule because I was taking naps in the middle of the day.

I am pretty sure I have Delayed sleep phase syndrome - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. But its not going to stop me from becoming an early riser.

[jasmineY]

Keep going. Interesting experience.

You motivated me to get out of my comfort zone and get up a little earlier every morning.

[laughingmatter]

Day 20

Went to sleep at 12:30 am yesterday.
Woke up at 6:30 am today.
Total hrs sleep: 6.5 hrs

Analysis:
Ok back on track.

Good:
- Push up right after waking, up takes some will power. But it instantly gets you alert.

Bad:
- Need to go to sleep earlier.

Next Steps
- Sleep earlier.

[laughingmatter]

Day 21

Went to sleep at 4:00 am yesterday.
Woke up at 11:00 am today.
Total hrs sleep: 7 hrs

Analysis:
Last night was retarded, I need to put in more effort into this challenge.

I did wake up at 6:30 but decided to go back to sleep because I was up so late.

Will be interesting to see I can get this back on track by monday.


Next Steps
- Sleep earlier.
- Do the wind down routine

[laughingmatter]

Day 23

Went to sleep at 2:00 am yesterday.
Woke up at 6:40 am today.
Total hrs sleep: 5.5 hrs

Analysis:
Need to go to sleep a bit earlier today. Waking up ok

Next Steps
- Do the wind down routine

[laughingmatter]

Day 24

Went to sleep at 2:00 am yesterday.
Woke up at 1:00 pm today.
Total hrs sleep: 11 hrs

Analysis:
Feeling a lack of motivation, actually woke up at 6:30. But didn't see the point of getting out of bed.

The real value out of waking up early will come from being able to stick to it rather just knowing I can do it.

Next Steps
- 6 days left, I want to finish this challenge with some wins

[laughingmatter]

Day 25

Went to sleep at 12:00 am yesterday.
Woke up at 6:30 pm today.
Total hrs sleep: 6.5 hrs

Analysis:

Bam, productive day. Waking up early really sets the tone for the rest of the day.

[laughingmatter]

Day 27

Went to sleep at 1:00 am yesterday.
Woke up at 9:00 am today.
Total hrs sleep: 8 hrs

Analysis:

I need to sleep earlier instead of trying to be productive late at night, which messes things up for the next day.

Also I have been having some lucid dreams, sometimes I avoid waking up just to avoid facing reality.

[Fred Tracy]

It's awesome that you're doing this. This is something that has been out of control for me my entire life. It's just so easy to stay in bed and continue sleeping, even though I know I'll feel like crap when I wake up so late.

I DEFINITELY recommend Steve Pavlina's "get out of bed early" articles. The thing about training your subconscious to wake up immediately by doing drills absolutely worked for me.

I actually wrote an article about it which you may find helpful, linked here. Since then I've fallen back into my old habits, but I've actually started working on waking up on time again recently.

Today I had my mark of 10:00am, so I felt sleepy for a while after. I think once I start waking up at the right time on a consistent basis and my hormones and such adjusts, I'll feel much better. The same goes for you.

Good luck!

[laughingmatter]

Day 28

Went to sleep at 12:30 am yesterday.
Woke up at 8:00 am today.
Total hrs sleep: 7.5 hrs

Analysis:

Actually woke up at 6:30 and did some stretches, but went back to bed for a little extra nap. I justified it to myself as it being the weekend.

Need to come up with some type of morning ritual that gets me away from the bed and the temptation of going to sleep again.

[laughingmatter]

Originally Posted by Fred Tracy

Today I had my mark of 10:00am, so I felt sleepy for a while after. I think once I start waking up at the right time on a consistent basis and my hormones and such adjusts, I'll feel much better. The same goes for you.

Good luck!

Thanks, and yes consistency is key.

[zeloc]

Can you post a summary of how many days out of the total that you woke up at 630 in each post so that it is clear?

Eg, 4/8 days for 50%, or something like this. It makes it easier to read and see what your overall progress is.

Somebody mentioned polyphasic sleep because they thought the OP is up all night?? First of all polyphasic sleep is incredibly regimented, so this makes no sense, secondly polyphasic sleep is bad in persons who are sleep deprived, and thirdly, as far as I know there is no evidence for polyphasic sleep.

[sk8joyful]

Originally Posted by laughingmatter

I would like to wake up at 6:30 am everyday.

Analysis
I like to party, but staying up very late every weekend screws up my sleep cycle for the rest of the week.

This is negatively affecting various areas of my life, so it is something I need to get handled.

You're right about our human Sleep cycle, & about 8 hrs.

The instant my head hits the pillow, I'm goners, just like all little kids.
DEEP/restorative sleep, followed by beautiful Icesk8ing dreams...

Getting up at 0600 is Easy just practice...

No other chemicals needed, just hit the floor running... & GO! all day.

[laughingmatter]

@zeloc Cool idea. So here is the summary for my this 30 day challenge.

Waking within 30 minutes of 6:30 = 15 Days
Later than 7:00 am = 14 Days
Earlier than 6:00 am = 1 Day.

On target: 50%

The public challenge is over, but I am continuing with the practice of waking up at 6:30. Will update periodically with progress / lack thereof (think maybe once a month, rather than daily)

I am doing lots of other personal development stuff as well, see here... Journal: Turning my life around - one step at a time

What I learned

Stuff that works:
- Pushups right after alarm goes off.
- Wind down before sleep i.e. don't try to be productive late at night
- Strict adherence to wake time
- A cup of coffee in the morning
- Not socializing late into the nights
- Anticipating and balancing out sleep debts, if I go to sleep late one day, plan to sleep extra early the next to balance it out.

Stuff that doesn't matter
- Moderate caffeine intake, specially early in the day.
- Multivitamins

Other
- Change is possible, but requires dedication.

(I have been a late risers for a long time, and used to have doubts that I could change. This is no longer the case, and is a very empowering feeling.)


Sleep chart for 30 day challenge



Sleep Debt Illustrated

% of time spent sleeping (in blue) each day. Note the cycles. I need about 7.5 hours of sleep. Less and I have to make it up at a later date.

[nasars]

@laughingmatter
Your experiment is motivating.
Usually I snooze/shut off the alarm and am thinking of working on Steve's methodology to turn my wakeup activity on auto-pilot.