getting up early

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Okay so I am *NOT* a morning person - I'm pretty grumpy in the morning because I'm so tired. I have clinicals this semester starting at 7ap but I plan on getting up at 5am (:eek:) to get stuff ready, eat a good breakfast, etc. How do you guys go about "waking yourself up" in the morning? It is so hard for me once that alarm goes off.

I have 6 other roommates but I only share a room with 1 of them so I have to be respectful of her - I would be ****** if someone woke me up at 5am if I didn't have to get up at that time!

For me, getting to bed early on clinical days was never possible because I would be doing preplanning untill the early morning as it was. So there is the biggest problem - getting up earlier than usual, while having less sleep than usual. It is hard. On nights where sleeping was more like a nap, I would use the alarm on my cell phone and record a message to myself about the importance of getting up now - I would usually include the instructors name in it. Something like "Get up!, Dr. xxx is going to be angry if you are late"

Many times when it is time to get up early the urge to sleep more is more powerful than whatever the reason is to get up early and my little memo to myself always helps.

As far as actually being awake for clinical - that is a tough one- lots of coffee is what I use.

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Definitely force yourself to get to bed early even if you only lay there and watch tv. I used to have to get up at 3:30 am for clinicals, ick. Definitely do breakfast and coffee. Chewing cinnamon gum on my ride also helped pep me up. Good luck!

:eek: 3am??? yikes!!!

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Find a morning routing that works for you and stick with it.

For me I take a long cool shower then coffee.

I take a break as soon as I can after the sun comes up just to stand out in the sunlight. I do notseem to really wake up till I see sunlight.

Mke sure you eat a good breakfast.

Good luck on it

Sandy

Unfortunately the school year is when it's still dark outside even by 7am. I also don't really wake up until I see sunlight :(

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Specializes in ER, Cardiac Tele/ICU Stepdown.
That was my other plan as well (to go to bed early) but I find myself not being able to fall asleep when I know I have something going on the next day! :(

I feel your pain there, I always have trouble sleeping when I have to get up the next day for something. I get everything ready the night before, and sleep as late as I can. Good luck! Hope you find a better routine than mine!

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Specializes in LTC.

I'm not a morning person either, but the fear of oversleeping my alarm clock makes me jolt awake every hour or so to check my clock.

Otherwise I don't know what else to suggest. Clinicals are hard especially when you are up prepping half of the night.

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Specializes in ER, OB.

When I have to work 3-11 and get up and work 5-1 the next morning I take a shower when I get home and have been known to sleep in my scrubs. They are comfortable and it saves some time in the mornings. All I have to do is put my hair in a ponytail and brush my teeth get some breakfast to go and on my way I go. I usually get up about 10 minutes before I have to leave. If you have a long drive to school/clinicals you won't have that "just woke up" look. Good Luck

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Specializes in General adult inpatient psychiatry.

I feel lucky in that I've been granted the option of having 3-11 clinicals this semester instead of 7-3 clinicals. That said, I've been working 7-3 with some alternating 3-11 shifts in for good measure. I've gone ahead and bought an alarm clock for my iPod. Alarms are alot easier for me to turn off if they're something I don't like, a buzzer for instance. I also invested in a pencil box for all my clinical stuff (penlight, stethoscope, name tag, etc.). I think it definitely helps to be prepared the night before. Pack your lunch before you go to bed so all you have to do is grab it on your way out the door in the morning. Good luck! It can be a rough adjustment and long nights catch up to you real fast if you're not looking.

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Specializes in Neuro.

i have clinicals at 7 am 45 minutes away from my house. For me, it's easier to wake up about 20 minutes before i have to leave, shower, and eat breakfast. Then I work on waking up on my drive into clinicals. I stop and get a coffee and listen to music or lectures to get my mind working on my way in. I ask myself questions and make myself work them out during my drive. That way my brain is active by the time i arrive at clinicals.

Good luck!

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My clinicals start at 6 AM, but the instructor likes us to be there by 5:45. I live in hour away from the hospital. That means I wake up at 4. Ick!

Coffee and a shower. Those are the only things that really wake me up. A nap when I get home helps to keep me going through the rest of the day while I am plowing through care plans.

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Oh the fear of waking up late! Kept me up many a night! We were only allowed 2 clinical absenses a term, after 2 you were dismissed from the program and had to repeat that term. I am NOT a morning person although I can get up..with a fight.

I have batteries in my alarm clock d/t fear of a power outage or "blip" in the night that would reset my alarms to 12:00am. If the power went out after midnight, the alarm would not go off.

I felt safe with a battery backup in the alarm clock. Then worried about what if the battery dies...ahhhh!!

Solved that problem, I have my 2 different alarms set with my alarm clock. (one is the traditional beep beep beep, and the other is a "music" alarm) The music alarm is the first to go off. Set to an obnoxious station that plays really loud and obnoxious music. I tend to hit snooze with that one. 1/2 hr later the beep beep goes off.

I also have my cell phone alarm(s) set. The phone is on my dresser which is across the room and I HAVE to get up to turn it off. Having the cell alarm serves dual purposes. Once to use the alarm, the other is I am charging the phone as I sleep. And should the power go out, its ok, since my phone obviously has a battery :)

My cell phone is set for 3 different times, all about 15 minutes apart. Its hard to fall back to sleep when you have to get out of bed to shut it off, walk back to bed, get in, try to get comfy again only to have to jump back up less than 15 minutes later. Its just easier to get my butt moving and get up for the day.

So I have a total of 5 alarms to get me out of bed. Works like a charm, have never woke up late with this plan :)

I head downstairs, let the dogs out, start my coffee and have a cup before I hit the shower. Without coffee first, I'd probably use shaving cream for shampoo and toothpaste as deoderant :eek:

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I have to go to be at 9. 10p if I'm feeling really wild, but I end up regretting it in the morning.

I get up at the crack of "OMG" to get a run in before showering and heading out to face the real world. It's brutal some days. I use the alarm on my phone because I worry about power outages, too! I'm so glad I'm not the only one.

I have to have everything ready the night before (clothes laid out (running gear and iPod loaded with a lecture and scrubs for work with pockets loaded and lunch packed) and I have to have a plan for breakfast. Lately I've been on a smoothie kick, so I toss it all in the vita-mix just before heading out the door and have it in the car while I listen to lectures on the way to school or work.

If you had told me a few years ago that this is what my morning would look like, I would have thought you were kookie, but that's the routine now.

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Just one thing about Melatonin, I took it in my early 20's and it totally screwed up my clock!!! I thought it was supposed to help with sleep, but in all reality, it made me more tired even through the day!! So, just be aware of that!!

I would definitely suggest getting to bed earlier than you usually do. And don't let others talk you out of it... You will need your energy for your classes, so focus on that and make sure your roommates are just as respectful of you as you are of them! Maybe have some earplugs around in case it gets loud and you can't fall asleep. Create a good sleeping atmosphere!

Your body will eventually get used to it, but it is rough. I myself am not a morning person, but I work full-time through the day and I'm up at 6AM every morning. And on the weekends, usually up by 7AM because my daughter IS a morning person! :chuckle

All I can say is just do it!!! Don't snooze...just get out of bed and get in the shower - once I shower in the mornings, I'm good to go!

Having to get up at 5AM, I'd say get to bed no later than 9PM...maybe even 8:30 to allow time to fall asleep (I don't usually fall asleep right away).

Best of luck and I think maybe your excitement will help you in the beginning and by the time that wears off, maybe you will be on a schedule!

Lori

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