retraining circadian rhythm for early morning workout--does retraining really work?

librarian11111
librarian11111 Posts: 45 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Good afternoon all.
This weekend, I was planning on getting up at 5 a.m. to workout at the gym--and hoping I can keep doing this (and keep my eyes open!) 7 days a week so I can exercise every day before I go to work at 8 a.m. (I currently exercise about 3-4 times a week.)
I've read that you can retrain your circadian rhythm if you consistently get up at the same time (I currently get up at 6:45 a.m.)
Has anyone done this--gotten up much earlier consistently--with success? I really want to work out every day--and this is the only way I can fit the workouts into my schedule.
Please let me know if anyone's had any success/challenges with retraining their morning schedule.
Thanks!

Replies

  • tulips_and_tea
    tulips_and_tea Posts: 5,741 Member
    I wouldn't call it anything technical like "retraining" or make it complicated but I've been able to wake up consistently around 6:00 AM for years without an alarm clock simply by going to bed at the same time every night. Keeping a consistent sleep schedule is important to me to feel well.

    Like @cwolfman13 I very rarely stay in bed later then 6:30 - 7:00 AM even on the weekends.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,204 Member
    Like they said, I've done a bunch of different schedules over the years. I had jobs that started at 6AM, and others that didn't start until more like 9. I get up consistently at 7AM in the summer to row, and am currently sleeping until 10AM or later most days because my river is frozen (and I'm retired).

    I don't think of it as "retraining my circadian rhythm" (maybe it is that; dunno, don't care). I think of it as "deciding to get up earlier which means I have to go to bed earlier". If it's important to me, I do it.

    I feel like my natural sleep period is around 2AM to 10AM, but I was never late for that 6AM job. ;)
  • AlabasterVerve
    AlabasterVerve Posts: 3,171 Member
    Entraining is the term used in the literature. Besides going to bed early, bright light and eating in the am are two cues that impact circadian timing (so you'd want to avoid late night eating etc.). Bill Lagakos from calories proper has a Ph.D. in circadian biology and has quite a few blog posts on the topic if you feel like googling.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,941 Member
    I can kind of convince myself to get up early and start working early (I'm a night person and most productive in afternoon and evening). But I cannot train my bloodpressure to be at an acceptably high level to be able to work out in the morning. My bloodpressure just tends to be low until after dinner, and I don't have the energy nor strength to work out earlier.
  • SpicyWater
    SpicyWater Posts: 99 Member
    I have ALWAYS had trouble waking up in the mornings. I've been a night owl for my entire life - I was actually starting to stress about it when I was getting ready for my wedding this past summer, because my husband is quite the early bird. He's up and out of bed at 6am every morning.
    Amazingly - I've found that after a few months of being together I wake up naturally at 6-7am. I should note that I start winding down around 10:30pm whether I like it or not - that's new for me too. Just from having another person stirring at that hour next to me.
    Obviously this isn't super helpful but TL;DR: yes, it is possible to retrain your sleep schedule. I never thought I'd be able to change it. And it changed on its own for me.
  • Maxxitt
    Maxxitt Posts: 1,281 Member
    I've switched my natural sleep/wake cycle over the years. Now that I am captain of my daily destiny, I am sleepy to go to bed between 1-1:30 AM and awaken at 8:30 feeling ready to get up. When in my work routine, I was content to go to sleep at 11 PM and get up at 6:30. The key for me is enough sleep. So my advice to you, OP, would be to take care to get to bed early enough to support your 5 AM arising :)
  • steveko89
    steveko89 Posts: 2,223 Member
    Retraining your body aside, you can treat it like any other habit and work towards consistency. Likewise, working out early in the morning is overwhelmingly what works best for my schedule but not so much for my body's preferences. In college I'd be at the rec at midnight, come home, shower, be in bed by 2am, up for 9am class no problem. Now the alarm goes off at 5am so I can lift, shower, and get to work by 8-8:30am. It certainly took more than just going to bed and setting alarms earlier but with trial/error you quickly figure out what obstacles and inefficiencies there are and what you can do to remove them. Laying out all my clothes, pre-mixing pre-workout the night before, and putting my space heater (basement home gym) on a timer to automatically kick on 30 minutes before I plan to get downstairs have all helped me foster consistency. There are plenty of mornings when I don't want to get out from under the covers but knowing my pre-workout is already mixed and waiting for me in the bathroom next to my clothes is enough to get me moving.
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    edited January 2019
    .
  • kbmnurse1
    kbmnurse1 Posts: 316 Member
    I agree keeping a consistent wake-sleep schedule is critical for your Circadian Rhythm or internal clock.
  • emmylootwo
    emmylootwo Posts: 172 Member
    Thanks for this post! I'm about to start work (just graduated college) and I've been nervous about waking up earlier too.
  • VirginiasMom
    VirginiasMom Posts: 23 Member
    I effectively started waking up early to workout about 3 months ago. I've attempted this in the past but always failed to maintain the habit (until now). I've attributed my success to:

    1. Not allowing myself to press snooze
    2. Drinking pre-workout every morning (I know it's overpriced and blah blah but it's delicious and gives me a boost...just knowing it's in my future helps me get out of bed)
    3. Consistently going to bed early
    4. Easing into it - I started by waking up 20 minutes early and doing a short work out and progressively woke up earlier until I was able to wake up at 4:30 am every day.

    I've actually gotten to the point where I'm getting up early on weekends even though it's not necessary - I love having my workout done before the day begins.

    Of course, I've only been doing this for 3 months so we'll see how i'm doing a year from now.

    I can't speak to your circadian rhythm - I've never naturally awoken at the "right" time but I just think of it like any habit...
  • dommylifts
    dommylifts Posts: 96 Member
    I wake up at 4:45am and workout at 6am. I give myself that first fifteen minutes to take my dogs out and exercise them a bit. 5-5:45 is my time. I journal, slowly drink my coffee and a protein shake for some energy and eventually get dressed to go the gym. I love my mornings that are for me only. It’s the best part of my day. I go to bed between 9:30-10pm which is much easier in the winter months as we have daylight savings time here and it gets dark around 6pm.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    Sure, I've had many different schedules over the years. The only one I couldn't get used to was working 3rd shift (11 PM - 7 AM)

    [shudder]
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,941 Member
    I think it's more difficult for some people. I've lived in the UK for a while and moved to continental Europe more than 2 months ago. If I switch off my alarm I still wake up at my usual UK time (thus oversleep by 1h). You'd think 2 months is enough for adjusting.
  • Stockholm_Andy
    Stockholm_Andy Posts: 803 Member
    OP Yes this is very do able. I actually get up at 4.20am every weekday to be able to train before getting my daughter ready for school. For me it took just a couple of weeks to be waking up right before my alarm is due to go off most days.

    I'll be honest it's slightly easier to actually get out of the house that early in the summer. Here in Sweden where I now live it's harder to get used to dragging meself out of the house when it's still pitch black outside and below zero as apposed to the summer when it's bright sunshine by then :D
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    I posted something similar but wasn't thinking to well, so I had to rewrite it... a little tired. :smile:

    I had Circadian Rythm Disorder known as Advanced Sleep Phase (basically super sleepy early in the evening and awake very early) To complicate that I also would wake up every hour on the hour, with full wakefulness around 2/2:30 sometimes earlier). Doc had me work on pushing out my sleep using light therapy. For a week I pushed my sleep an hour every few days, till I would reach the amount of sleep I wanted (I need 6 hours). I had to avoid the early napping, use the light a little later until I reached where I needed to be. It worked, I now go to bed at 10:00 and wake 4:00-4:30 and sometimes like this morning I woke 5:00. I still use the light therapy 35 mins 30-40 mins before bed. Funny the light therapy makes me feel sleepy and I fall asleep fast. I still get that urge to sleep early, but I am older so maybe after being awake at 4-4:30, exercising and doing my day to day I should be getting tired.

    When I was younger, having to wake up to commute to a job 90 minutes away, after week I was used to it, so this could very well just be something you tough out until it becomes the norm. Light therapy could be used for example to shift your morning earlier and use the light upon awaking. Probably not needed for the normal sleeper.

    I went to a sleep disorder clinic for diagnosis, when I first heard of this I thought the doc was crazy. I ordered a light with up to 10000 lux. Keep in mind I had a severe case of my disorder, the insomnia was terrible as I could not function. Most of 2018 was like this and I did have a shoulder injury as I was in chronic pain 24 hrs a day for months, I also lost 5 pounds when I stopped exercising but I put that back on (this isn't the norm, chronic pain did something to me) to see if my body fat level was causing part of this (keep in mind working with macros, weight management, melatonin, I tried everything) and keeping in mind with approaching menopause, my rythym got severely messed up.

    To any lurkers out there with circadian rhythm disorders causing insomnia, checking with your doctor or getting a referral to a sleep disorder doctor can be the difference between feeling terrible daily with no sleep and getting back to your energetic self.
  • Sharon_C
    Sharon_C Posts: 2,132 Member
    I used to be a hard core night person. Then I started waking up at 5:30am to go to the gym. That was four years ago. I get up at 5:30 3 days a week, 7am, two days a week and on weekends I get up whenever I feel like it (usually 9:30-10:30am). I don't feel I needed to "train" anything. I just did it and eventually it became a habit. Maybe creating the habit was "training"?
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
    Yes it can be done. I had a paper route for two years where we got up at 3:30 in the morning. That meant getting to bed at 8:30 but after a couple months the new routine was natural.
  • kabrina30
    kabrina30 Posts: 94 Member
    Your body can adjust to just about anything. For years I worked the overnight shift, then the 3pm to midnight .... then I worked day shift for ten years. Most of them getting to work at 7am ... sometimes 5am. Now I’m back to the 3pm to midnight ... with a 5pm to 6am every three weeks or so. I try to get up at a consistent time but it’s nearly impossible. Lol. As long as I can get eight full hours I’m good so the key for me has always been going to bed early enough to wake up whenever I need to be wherever.

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