What do you guys do to wake up in the morning?

PacoUSA, BSN, RN · Feb 21, 2011

Hmmm ....

Going to sleep early the night before?

A shower does the trick for me. Thankfully, I don't need coffee to wake up!

~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN · Feb 21, 2011

I used to have bad insomnia, I guess I still do sort of because I have to take an ambien to sleep and half the time it still takes forever to fall asleep. But The past 1.5 years (give or take a few weeks here and there) I have been much better about it all. I am usually in bed by 10, 11 at the latest when I have school the next morning and I just made it a routine to get up at a set time every morning. Now no matter what I am up by around the same time every morning, which sucks on days I get to sleep in.

If you have trouble falling asleep try to fit some exercise into your day (not to late though) it will help.

mangopeach · Feb 22, 2011

Getting enough sleep the night before. I was used to going to bed pretty late but had to change that. Now my rule is I need to be in bed no later than 11:30. Preferably by 11 pm so I can get at least 6-7 hrs of sleep. I'm up at 5: am to get ready for clinicals so on those days I'm in bed no later than 10 pm. I try not to sleep in on the weekends and get up early as usual. I find that early am studying is more productive for me so I actually look forward to getting up early on the weekends even though I don't have class or clinicals.

Mike R, ADN, BSN, RN · Feb 22, 2011

Drink lots of water right before you go to bed

wannabeanRN90 · Feb 22, 2011

Drink lots of water right before you go to bed

That's absurd. It would make me have to go to the bathroom a million times at night, thus causing me to get little to no sleep at all. Thanks for the input.

NurseGuy30 · Feb 22, 2011

I work out three times a week. It means getting to campus an hour and a half early, but it's totally worth it. It makes me feel better all week long.

LuckyinKY · Feb 22, 2011

Coffee in one hand, Mountain Dew in the other :lol2:

Mike R, ADN, BSN, RN · Feb 22, 2011

That's absurd. It would make me have to go to the bathroom a million times at night, thus causing me to get little to no sleep at all. Thanks for the input.

So the winky face indicates sarcasm on my part. Some people have no sense of humor! Sheesh!

That Guy, BSN, RN, EMT-B · Feb 22, 2011

Lets see I roll out of at 0610, get to class at 0630, I wake up around 1000.

Im a night person. The only good morning is the morning I dont see.

Sand_Dollar, BSN · Feb 22, 2011

I despise mornings, hence the reason I have about 3 alarms set (or more...depending how early I have to get up)! I have one to get up, another 5 minutes later and another when to leave the house. I give myself plenty of time so even if I sleep in and catch my last alarm, I can run out and be to school on time.

I have a few things I do to make getting up easier. I make sure I get to bed EARLY. I need a full nights sleep, min 8 hours. I have a routine so it 'triggers' that its time for bed. I take a melatonin which really helps me fall asleep fast and stay asleep, and I have a sound maker playing crickets on my phone to help me drift off.

I also set my alarm for the same time every day and try to get up as often as I can so it becomes a habit. I have even woken up 5 min before my first alarm goes off. To me, that is victory!

Part of my bedtime routine is to have everything set out the night before, from my clothes to my oatmeal, because my brain doesn't function well that early. A shower definitely helps...along with really active music playing during my shower. Just be careful not to slip because you're dancing around...yup, ask me how I know. lol

I haven't had as hard of a time since I figured out my routine...except for that stupid iphone disaster that made the phone alarms go off an hour late...on my first clinical day no less! I got a real alarm clock after that but still have all those alarms set on my phone.

Good luck to you - mornings really should start about 10am!

ImThatGuy, BSN, RN · Feb 22, 2011

I wake up, regret waking up, think something like a string of profane words about the day, get up, stumble around, pee, get in the shower where I brush my teeth (weird I know), get out, shave, and then get dressed. That process takes about 45 minutes. I simply do not and will not do things quickly upon waking up. On work days, which are 12 hour days, I get up at 0401; on school days without work I get up at 0701; and on clinical days I get up at 0501.

I then go out to my truck, get in, realize I've forgotten something, go back in the house with more muttered profanities, slam the door, and walk back to my truck. I get in and sit listening to my morning radio show asking myself if I really want to back out of the driveway. I don't want to, but because I like getting a pay check I leave and drive 40 minutes to either work or school. The idea when I quit my last job and moved was that I would live, work, and school in the same town. That didn't happen. I'm still sore over that. I live in my hometown again. I can't stand it. Clinicals are only once per week, and they're in a third town so the prospect of getting to take a 40 minute drive there instead of the town I work and school in is pleasing to me.

No matter where I end up I usually sit quietly until I've become fully awake and functional sometime around 0930. Prior to that you won't even get a hello out of me.

Oh, I've been that way for twenty years too, and it doesn't matter how early I go to bed. Ten hours of sleep or two hours of sleep...mornings are always the same.