33 Tips For Night Owls Who Want To Wake Up Earlier

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If you’re sick of sleeping until noon, here are some tips from Ask Reddit on how to wake up earlier.

1. Have something you look forward to doing. Like making yourself a breakfast you really enjoy or doing an exercise you love.

2. Make a morning playlist that’s exactly as long as you want to spend getting ready. Make it full of songs that pump you up.

3. Set up thinner curtains to let the rays enter in. The sunlight will help adjust your internal clock.

4. Take care of yourself the night before. Prepare an easy breakfast/meal prep. Set aside the clothes you want to wear for the next day.

5. Transition out of caffeine. Your body also becomes dependent on it to stay awaken throughout the day. However, its hard to adjust if you stop cold turkey so slowly take steps to reduce it (add milk, decrease espresso shots, decrease size, etc.)

6. Get a Christmas light timer and program it so your coffee pot turns on when you want to wake up.

7. Make your bed so you aren’t tempted to get back in it.

8. Wake up earlier on weekends so that you don’t throw your schedule off.

9. Gradually become a “morning person” by savoring the quiet of the early hours and the opportunity to get things accomplished before the tempo of life increases as the day wears on.

10. Change the alarm sound on your iPhone to the “Slow Rise” song. It’s a game changer. Now instead of being jolted out of your sleep the song slowly gets louder and is pretty gentle. It really helps. That and having a good night time routine will make you tired. Mine is, I stop looking at my phone, take a quick bath for relaxation, and head to bed.

11. Here’s the #1 trick, though. I set two alarms, one for when I want to get up, and one for 40 minutes earlier. That means that the first time the alarm rings, I can turn it off 100% guilt free, and get a nice, round 40 minutes of extra sleep in there before I have to even budge. Works perfect for me, whether I’m running on a 7 or 3 hours of sleep. One alarm, I’ll Snooze it for ages. Two alarms and I’m ready to go.

12. What we eat apparently has a lot to do with sleep schedule. I consume the vast majority of my calories in the evening about 3 hours before bed, typically without breakfast and only a small amount for lunch.

13. Limit alcohol intake.

14. Take melatonin. You don’t have to go to bed immediately but just take one and chill for 20ish minutes. Out like a light. Do so at the same time each night and it fixes your sleep schedule. Then just take it 20 minutes before you want to be asleep by and set an alarm.

15. Standing up when your alarm goes off and then doing one single push up was my shortcut for a long time.

16. Download Alarmy app. You have to solve math problems to turn it off.

17. If you shower in the morning, multitask. It’s ok to brush your teeth while your showering, and if you need to let conditioner or shampoo to set in your hair like I do for that maximum softness, wash your body while you do.

18. When you get up think of things to be grateful of/ positive thoughts/ people you are looking forward to seeing/opportunities that day. On a related note, I remember reading a Buddhist monk who suggested saying good morning inwardly to yourself in a genuine and sincere way. Sort of honoring your true self.

19. I drink a lot of water before I sleep. I heard it’s not supposed to be good to do so. But it helps me wake up and get to the bathroom to take a massive piss. It’s so relieving.

20. You can take natural sedatives like valerian root and chamomile available in pills, powders, and teas, but only take those if you plan on getting 8 hours of sleep, because you are getting knocked the fuck out, and no alarm will help you.

21. Keeping the blinds open, you wake up gradually as the sun rises.

22. Make time to exercise, do yoga, and/or meditate in the mornings. It sets you up for a really great day.

23. Go to sleep before/by 10pm. You’ll start waking up around 5-6am on your own. This is my favorite time of day to go for a walk in cities, suburbs, etc… There’s little to no people around. It’s really quite zen.

24. I was never a morning person, but for a while I started exercising every morning.

The trick was to stick to the exercise schedule even if I was going to be late. Eventually I started waking up early enough to exercise.

25. There’s something to 90 minute sleep cycles. If you make sure you’re waking up at the end of a cycle, you feel better and not groggy.

26. Set out your stuff. Sleep in your gym clothes. Set an alarm. Get to bed early. Set out a glass of water and a granola bar. Set your coffee maker’s timer. Pack your bags in advance. Whatever you can do to streamline your morning so that you can zombie-walk through it.

27. Go to bed early, take a hot shower, and have a good breakfast like eggs or oatmeal.

28. Avoid reading or looking at screens in the first hour or so in the morning.

29. Make your livelihood depend on getting up early. It helps that commute times are often better in the morning and if you can leave a little early yet still work your full day, your commute home will probably be quicker and you’ll beat more bodies to getting to the gym earlier or whatever you do after work.

30. Prep some easy to make cold meals the night before i.e oatmeal, crackers with cheese, ants on a log. Basically, something small and easy to eat that you can grab or pack in a bag. Don’t eat junk like potato chips or candy for breakfast.

31. Don’t go on your phone until you:

  • drink a glass of water

  • wash your face/ shower

  • do yoga, stretch or meditate

  • write down or think of 3 goals for the day

  • eat breakfast

32. If the most difficult part of the morning is rising out of bed, leave some pre-made cold coffee or an energy drink near your bedside and take a swig. It always gets me right up.

33. Own a cat. They’ll get you up EARLY.