Who wants another Saturday?
yah. me too.
but only 4 sleeps till Brandon’s birthday!
i often have people goggle at me and ask if i’m crazy to get up at 4am. yes, probably. i go to bed at a decent hour (10 or 1030pm) and the getting out of bed thing isn’t the problem. it’s the keeping eyelids open thing that is tough. this morning i snapped awake as my anti-anginal pham lecture fell out of my hand and clattered to the floor. i was sitting up on the couch at the time.
and i was glad it wasn’t a cup of coffee i was holding.
here are a few other ways to get going in those early AM hours:
save the coffee for a little later. i find if i go for the caffeine straight away, i end up drinking WAY too much. sometimes a warm cup in your hand can be lulling and soothing. definitely not the theme we’re going for here.
cold shower. yup, after all my whining and finally getting a hot water heater, i don’t always use it. i don’t hop in straight out of bed though. how crazy do you think i am? i usually wait an hour or two until the bed looks tempting. and then – BAM! awake again!
speaking of bed, Brandon likes to make his bed first thing in the morning so he’s not tempted to crawl back in. however, a freshly made bed still looks appealing to me. especially if the sheets are turned down just right and the pillow has been fluffed just so…
sit in the most uncomfortable chair in your house. do NOT lie on the couch. do not recline on the couch. do not even look at the couch.
write something. don’t fool yourself into thinking you can read or watch a Kaplan video without the eyelids drooping. there is no way anyone at 4 o’clock in the morning is mentally alert enough to focus for more than one sentence at a time. do something manual first thing and get the hand-to-brain flow going.
or talk out loud. i like flashcards, so when i flip through them first thing in the morning, i usually do it verbally.
it’s not impossible to fall back asleep while sitting in a hard chair that makes your back hurt and talking out loud to yourself, but it should get you at least an hour or two. then bring on the coffee. starting out at 4am might seem crazy and all of these convoluted techniques might seem over the top (i don’t usually employ EVERY technique EVERY morning), but starting that early really gives you a solid start on the day.
it feels good when 8am rolls around and you know you’ve already put in 4 hours when most folks haven’t stumbled sleepily out of bed yet.
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September 30th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
Can’t wait for my birthday! Will be nice to finally turn 37…LOL ok so I am joking I only turn 24. You are pretty amazing ma’am getting up that early. I have set the alarm here at my house many a times trying to do what you do. However, I know in the back of my head that if I do that I will not be getting any work done at night because I will be struggling with all the things you mention except at night and not in the morning. : P The made bed thing doesn’t work at night and I definitely do not recommend going to take a nap at 8. I have fooled my body a many times and discovered that 8 p.m. turns to 7 a.m. rather quickly. So therefore, I am the atypical medical student that very rarely gets less than 6 hours of sleep and generally gets 8. Please don’t shoot me now LOL : ) It is okay though because I need my beauty sleep to catch up with Jen so cut me a break. : ) : P
September 30th, 2008 at 10:00 pm
Oh. my. goodness. Med school is seriously going to be the death of me, apparently.
September 30th, 2008 at 10:02 pm
Seriously, you’re my new hero. Either that, or you’re completely nuts, I can’t decide.
October 1st, 2008 at 12:42 am
Some people may just be getting out of bed at 8am, but they don’t have to nap in the afternoon, either.
October 1st, 2008 at 4:01 am
i get about
October 1st, 2008 at 4:03 am
i get up about 4-5 ish and don’t nap….go to sleep 9-10ish…
October 1st, 2008 at 6:22 am
alexia – i have classes from 11am-noon and 1-5pm this semester.
no naps.
October 1st, 2008 at 6:55 am
You get more sleep than me :( I usually fall asleep around 1-2 and get up at 6. Maybe that’s why i’m always so cranky.
October 1st, 2008 at 7:51 am
speaking of which, sarah…
i also wanted to say that i’m sure it feels good when 2am rolls around and you know you’ve put in an extra 4 hours when most folks have sleepily stumbled into bed already.
works both ways. my brain just doesn’t work after 10pm. : )
October 1st, 2008 at 10:14 am
Um, P.S. my 2nd comment was supposed to be funny, but re-reading it today it sounds kinda mean. Just so you know, I wasn’t intentially being snippy!
October 1st, 2008 at 12:23 pm
Dear Jennifer,
seriously, I don’t know how you can get up at 4 am in the morning. I think it is amazing. I would love to be able to to that! I guess when you are motivated about something, like getting good grades in med school, it must help. Were you always such a morning person?
Take care!
October 1st, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Ah yes, so true! I’m definitely a night person. Getting up at 6 just leaves me enough time to get dressed and commute to school. By the time I get home at night, i can’t help but to stay up so late, just to get any work done *sigh*
October 2nd, 2008 at 7:15 am
I’m with Sarah… When I’m not at work I study til 3-4am and then sleep… my brain doesn’t learn until about 2pm!!!
October 3rd, 2008 at 7:37 pm
Some days I’m just going to sleep when you’re waking up.
*resisting the urge to mock morning people*
October 6th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
i used to be a morning person, i want to be a morning person again but that darn sleep seems to be my undoing ;-)
October 14th, 2008 at 10:54 am
you impress me as always cause I am SOOOOO not a morning person. it would thunk me to be up that early and well I dont think I could be held responsible for what I did (given that this morning at 9am on the subway I told off a preacher guy who was SCREAMING at me about my “salvation”)