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Comment by lazyasciiart | Hacker News Reader

I did that for years with jobs that required it and didn’t find that worked for me.

I think I effectively switched from a night owl to an early bird by having something I _really_ wanted to do in the morning that was actually physical (martial arts classes).

I remember the exact day my body switched - I was going in the early morning and my body was not approving of my initiative. Every morning was hell - but then one morning early spring we had a training outside - sunrise, early leaves on the trees in the park, we all got quite sweaty some of the guys started to take our tops off and it looked like a scene from a martial arts movie. I remember thinking this looks so cool - we’re training like our forefather used to.

Next day I woke up exact time I needed no grogginess whatsoever. Have been an early bird ever since, almost 10 years now.

Older people tend to get up earlier. There is a special place in hell for the Baby Boomers who insisted on a 7:30 start time for our office (though, of course, as the guy who opened every morning, I had to be there earlier). The anxiety that I developed went away when I left and could get up when I wanted to. There are many, many monrings where I lie in bed at 7:30 and think, "I would have had to be a Bukowski quote by now."

That’s a bummer! Have you found out why that didn’t work? Perhaps something like caffeine or allergies was interfering with your sleep?

If haven’t found out, I wholly recommend doing a sleep study if you can. It can shed some light on any obstacles you may be experiencing. I’ve never done one myself, but I know people who got enduring benefits from the insights of their studies.

In my case it's probably a combination of undiagnosed ADHD and "revenge bedtime procrastination".

Came here to post this. I remember once when going back on ADHD meds, a very smart doctor adding 5mg of Dexedrine. At 5pm.

I asked him why he would prescribe a stimulant so late in the day. His reply was simply "it's so you can think of one thing instead of all the things".

Worked for me.

It doesn't work because I fall asleep easily in the early evening or the early morning, and not so much between them. It's not affected by seasonal light, caffeine, exercise, etc. I've never considered a sleep study because once I'm asleep I'm usually fine.

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