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Comment by _delirium | Hacker News Reader

I've tried this, but find waking up in the darkness hard to get used to. I mean, I can set an alarm and get up, drink some coffee, and pretend I'm now up, but it still feels like weird zombie-time until the sun starts rising to mark it "really" being morning. Whereas when I stay up late the nighttime doesn't feel like that. Could just be familiarity, but seems like the sleep->wake transition happening during darkness could be an issue. Maybe it could be artificially assisted if my apartment interior had more/brighter lights.

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It's much easier than you think. The hardest part isn't the lack of light but getting past the instinct to go back to sleep.

This is a habit you can break regardless of your sleep time: when you first notice you are awake, just roll off the bed and do 20 pushups.

I wouldnt have the disipline to do that. Luckily my dog has the disipline to stick his wet nose in my face every morning I accidentally sleep in.

I used to have an hour-long train commute to work each day, and I'd sleep as late as possible while still leaving myself enough time to catch my train. So at 5:40am my alarm would go off, and I HAD to get up. There was no snooze.

The commute is long gone but the habit of rolling out of bed immediately never broke. I'm grateful for it. I used to spend half an hour snoozing, groggily working my way out of the bed to start my day. I didn't get a whole lot of extra rest, just wasted half an hour not really sleeping, but not doing anything else either.

Interesting, to me, it doesn't feel like zombie-time.

For me it's the adventure time. Reminds me of taking trips that require getting up at 4AM.

But the hardest part is, of course, getting to bed early enough.

I am on the flip side, I can hold a similar schedule until summer approaches as I find it near impossible to sleep while it lights out.

Gone the route of lined curtains that do a great job of blocking the light. Could never get used to any sort of mask/etc.

I would prefer to drive home in sunlight than drive in, but that may be because I love convertible cars

I agree. Also waking up in the dark tends to depress me. I think I even get more bad dreams when I'm in my later stages of sleep and it's still nighttime. It's like my mind knows it's going to wake up in the dark and it's not happy.

That's because that time of day (3am - 4am) is the "low ebb of the soul" it's really not a natural time to be awake for most people.

I really recommend getting a sunrise simulator SAD therapy light, it really made a noticeable difference for me getting up.

I just looked at prices for those and WOW. Why so much for a light?

Be careful though, I've heard that some (especially cheaper) lights don't filter enough UV light and that they can damage your eyes.

If I've had 6-8 hours sleep I feel ok. The morning walk helps shake that sluggish feeling.

Light boxes can help.

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