Why is it harder to get up early then go to bed late?

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  • dotti1121
    dotti1121 Posts: 751 Member
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    i love my sleep.
    that being said, i can easily stay up 24 hours +
    but wake me up early and forget it. i'll bite your head off.

    once i'm sleeping, don't bother waking me up. i get vicious.

    ^^^ THIS is me too!
  • bbarbush6
    bbarbush6 Posts: 4 Member
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    You know, I just caught myself in a silly statement and it got me to wondering...

    Why is it harder to get up super early then it is to stay up super late?

    What's up with that?

    If I am required to get up an hour earlier then usual I feel like I'm LOSING an hour but if I'm required to STAY UP an hour later then usual it doesn't feel like a loss at all.

    Any scientific mumbo-jumbo to explain this phenomenon? Or words of advice to overcome hating to have to be up earlier?
    Sleep cycles. Your body goes through several sleep cycles during the night, going from light sleep, down to deep sleep, and back. It generally takes an hour and a half to two hours to complete an entire cycle. So if you have to wake up an hour earlier, you may be interrupting the middle of the cycle, when you're in deep sleep, which is what makes you feel groggy and out of it when you first wake up.

    Staying up late doesn't have that problem in the modern age, because sleep cycles don't start until your asleep, and the melatonin release that usually happens at dusk to make you feel tired is mostly cancelled out by the lighting in your house, bright light prevents melatonin release.

    Adding to ^this^ : you're sleep clock naturally advances by about 15 minutes every day - we're really not tuned in perfectly to a 24-hour daily cycle.

    Adding to both of these, you can find alot more sleep research info here http://www.myzeo.com/sleep/ You don't need to purchase the product to read up on the info in the Knowledge Center link.
  • jennismagic
    jennismagic Posts: 243 Member
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    My college years made me nocturnal, and I'm not sure if I'll ever get back to any semblance of normal sleeping patterns, ever. I can get eight hours of sleep, and still want to knock ish over and cuss everyone out when the alarm goes off. I just don't DO mornings. At all. The only thing that can get me out of bed is the thought of a protein shake. How pitiful is that?
  • jkleon86
    jkleon86 Posts: 245 Member
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    I'll tell you the correct answer to every question that boggles the mind. This has been developed over years of parenting, and my children finally have stopped asking me questions since they know that this is the answer to everything...BECAUSE

    But why?
  • jofjltncb6
    jofjltncb6 Posts: 34,415 Member
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    Because you're young.

    Ah, no... that ain't it. I'm not as young and I still function better staying up late and sleeping in than going to bed early and getting up early. Sadly, in order to have ANY personal time, I have to get up early enough to get a few things done before I have to go in to work... early.

    No morning wrens here.

    I am loving all the night owls who are here. :)

    I always feel somewhat violated when that alarm clock goes off. Especially if it goes off before my usual time.

    Intellectually I know if I retrained myself I COULD get up earlier. I just don't care to. I prefer staying up later to being up earlier. Perhaps it's part personality? Perhaps it's part habit? Perhaps some of us just function better in the evening and some just function better in the morning? Or maybe it's a mixture of it all? Either way, I'm really struggling to get up an hour earlier to incorporate exercise into my morning instead of into my evening.

    Which is what inspired this post! That and my silly idea that somehow staying up later wasn't taking away sleep time but getting UP earlier was.

    I was the same way, but in the past year or two, have become more successful at starting the day earlier with a workout. (Not perfect, but more successful.) Probably the most important piece of this puzzle was breaking out of my usual evening routine and "forcing" myself to go to sleep earlier.
  • jofjltncb6
    jofjltncb6 Posts: 34,415 Member
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    I'll tell you the correct answer to every question that boggles the mind. This has been developed over years of parenting, and my children finally have stopped asking me questions since they know that this is the answer to everything...BECAUSE

    But why?

    Your profile pic makes this even more awesome.
  • penrbrown
    penrbrown Posts: 2,685 Member
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    My college years made me nocturnal, and I'm not sure if I'll ever get back to any semblance of normal sleeping patterns, ever. I can get eight hours of sleep, and still want to knock ish over and cuss everyone out when the alarm goes off. I just don't DO mornings. At all. The only thing that can get me out of bed is the thought of a protein shake. How pitiful is that?

    I think we're related! Sheesh! I'm the same way! Except the protein shake part. The ONLY thing that can get me out of bed non-grumpily is if someone needs me. Family member, friend, whatever. If I get an emergency phone call or knock on the door I can get up IMMEDIATELY and without grumpiness.
  • penrbrown
    penrbrown Posts: 2,685 Member
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    I was the same way, but in the past year or two, have become more successful at starting the day earlier with a workout. (Not perfect, but more successful.) Probably the most important piece of this puzzle was breaking out of my usual evening routine and "forcing" myself to go to sleep earlier.

    So, what you're saying is; Suck it up. With time it will get easier.

    Good advice. :)
  • classic_1
    classic_1 Posts: 147
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    For the same reason that people misuse the words "then" and "than".



    And yeah, I just made that up...*and* I'm being a grammar dbag.

    I would apologize, but it wouldn't be sincere.

    Whoops. Clearly my mistake made my post completely impossible to read! I do apologize for this terrible affront on your grammatical senses!

    I see that you do not hold yourself to the same standard that an apology must be sincere before being offered.

    Nonetheless, I accept your insincere apology.

    You may now return to misusing words, omitting punctuation, and making awkward choices of prepositions.

    I most definitely shall. :)

    I only apologize sincerely when I have done something that I should sincerely apologize for. Grammatical mistakes, omitting punctuation, misusing words, making up words and awkward choices of prepositions are hardly worthy of sincere apologetics (see what I did there?).

    Ack...stop. Please, just stop.
    Good day, sir. I wish you the best in removing that stick.

    Touche.

    :drinker:

    I really enjoyed this...made my day :laugh:
  • jofjltncb6
    jofjltncb6 Posts: 34,415 Member
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    I was the same way, but in the past year or two, have become more successful at starting the day earlier with a workout. (Not perfect, but more successful.) Probably the most important piece of this puzzle was breaking out of my usual evening routine and "forcing" myself to go to sleep earlier.

    So, what you're saying is; Suck it up. With time it will get easier.

    Good advice. :)

    Either that, or with practice, it will get easier.

    And damn you! I initially posted on this thread just to be petty and dbaggy and instead, I ended up sucked into a discussion on sleep patterns.

    [Keep your eyes on her...she's a sly one...]
  • penrbrown
    penrbrown Posts: 2,685 Member
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    Either that, or with practice, it will get easier.

    And damn you! I initially posted on this thread just to be petty and dbaggy and instead, I ended up sucked into a discussion on sleep patterns.

    [Keep your eyes on her...she's a sly one...]

    0:)

    I hate to say it but I don't think you were fully committed to the d-bagging. Plus, sleep pattern discussions are incredibly entertaining.
  • jofjltncb6
    jofjltncb6 Posts: 34,415 Member
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    Either that, or with practice, it will get easier.

    And damn you! I initially posted on this thread just to be petty and dbaggy and instead, I ended up sucked into a discussion on sleep patterns.

    [Keep your eyes on her...she's a sly one...]

    0:)

    I hate to say it but I don't think you were fully committed to the d-bagging. Plus, sleep pattern discussions are incredibly entertaining.

    *sigh*

    No, you're right. I keep trying to use my incredibly awesome grammatical powers for dbaggery, but at my core, I'm just not really a dbag. Oh sure, I have some dbaggy tendencies, and I can fake it well enough to fool some of the people some of the time, but there's a big difference between *acting like* a dbag and actually *being* a dbag.

    But I'm not going to give up my dream. Some dreams are just worth the fight, and this...

    ...well, this is *my* dream.

    And yes, nothing reels me in quite like a Friday afternoon discussion about sleep patterns.
  • KeriLoy
    KeriLoy Posts: 23
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    I have the opposite problem Cannot for the life of me stay awake past 10:00pm unless I"m physically out doing something with friends. However even if I'm out late I can (and frequently do) bounce out of bed at 5am! Its terrible when I really want to sleep in and I can't. Just not in my nature I guess. I need to be up with the sun.

    LOL...me too! I think that it is my sleep schedule...I have to go to bed by 10:00 and be up by 4:00 (yes in the morning)...I sleep in until 6am on my days off *rolls eyes*.
  • classic_1
    classic_1 Posts: 147
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    Nightowls-R-US!!!!
  • cmeade20
    cmeade20 Posts: 1,238 Member
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    My theory is because the morning sucks
  • MrsR0SE
    MrsR0SE Posts: 343 Member
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    Inertia
  • marycmeadows
    marycmeadows Posts: 1,691 Member
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    haha. I'm the opposite. I used to be able to stay up late no problem. and I was not a morning person..... Now I'm tired at like 9pm! but I wake up on my own around 6am every day, no problem.
  • kristen807
    kristen807 Posts: 361
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    I think I was a cat in a former life...that is why! haha :)
  • SPBROOKS68
    SPBROOKS68 Posts: 561 Member
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    I'm a night person, so I get a second wind around 7/8. Not great when the alarm clock goes off at the usual times!


    This is me - will stay up till 2 or 3 AM but do not wake me up and Monday - Friday me and the alarm clock fight daily :frown:
  • saragato
    saragato Posts: 1,154
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    I think if you're not used to getting up at an early hour then it's harder to do. When I was in school I had to get up the same hour every morning and at first it was hard (especially going into high school where I had to be up at 5 am just to get to school for 6 am) but I eventually fell into a routine. And that was with me staying up until 3 am some nights.

    That aside I have a mental disorder that makes me prone to insomnia, staying up late, or waking up in the middle of the night and staying up so to me that's easier than setting the alarm for even 9 am and actually getting up without feeling like I never slept.

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