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Hey my friend. Here's my big AF list on how to sleep better, wake up early, get a good routine going, etc. And I gotta tell you, you have to get something that will force you out of bed. Schedule morning meetings with a classmate, get an early part time job, etc...

1 - MANIPULATING YELLOW AND BLUE LIGHT

Studies are finally becoming popular that show the dangerous (or at least obnoxious) effects of blue light on our sleep patterns. Our eyeballs and our bodies are optimized for sunlight. You’d wake up when the sunrise got too bright, and you’d run out of things to do when the sun went down, so you’d sleep. Now, we’ve got Netflix we can hold 5 inches from our face while we lay in bed until 2AM.

At least an hour or two before bed, either turn off your screens, or try blue-light blocking glasses (not affiliate link).They’re not so stylish but they get the job done and it’s worth it. Pro-tip: drive at night with these on. The difference is unreal; it’s like sitting in your living room watching a boring but relaxing TV show. Except in this living room, lunatics are flying by you in a halogen-light induced mania.

(You also might want to install F.lux or something similar on your computer. It keeps your screen at a gentle yellow all day long, and increases the strength at night. Your iPhone also comes with a night mode, where you can turn the yellow light way up.)

2 - USE SLEEP CYCLE APPS TO WAKE UP OPTIMALLY (AND SLEEP BETTER)

Most people have heard of REM sleep: it’s the good stuff. REM cycles are the deep sleep that really matters when you get a good nights rest. A full sleep cycle lasts about an hour and a half. When you take a quick 20 minute nap, you never get into deep sleep, so you wake up relatively easily and refreshed. But have you ever taken a two hour nap, where you wake up drooling and wonder what year it is? REM sleep.

Apps like Sleep Cycle use the microphone or accelerometer in your phone to monitor how much you move around or snore during the night. You set an alarm range, like 6:45AM – 7:15AM, if you usually wake up around 7AM. The Sleep Cycle app will set off the alarm when you are in the lightest possible part of your sleep pattern, which definitely makes waking up easier.

This app also comes with some awesome tracking statistics, like how your sleep quality is effected by the weather, your eating and exercise, or even the day of the week. Looking at this data is just plain fun, but it can help you make much better choices to get the best night’s sleep you can.

3 - STRATEGIC PHONE PLACEMENT

This strategy is meant to help you in a few ways. First, it eliminates the habit of late night browsing, or reaching back for your phone when you’ve tried to fall asleep for just five minutes and couldn’t do it. You’d be surprised how weird it feels at first, and how attached we are to that thing.

Second, you have to get out of bed in the morning to shut your alarm off. This can be enough for some people to get going, but many dedicated sleepers walk right back into bed to fall asleep. I can help with that in the next strategy. Also, since the jury is still out on how electronic, radio, and wi-fi signals might affect our bodies over the long term, it might be best not to sleep next to a hotspot night after night.

(By the way, pick your favorite song for your alarm! The Sleep Cycle app uses gentle noises that slowly get louder to wake you up gently as well. No sense in the first thing you hear being a loud, screeching beep, unless you really need it. That seems like a great way to make your flight-or-flight cortisol system the very first thing your body kick starts in the morning. That can’t be good. Let’s talk about that.)

4 - TURN DOWN THE DIAL ON MORNING CORTISOL (THE “STRESS” HORMONE)

Everyone has cortisol. It used to help us survive, when we were in desperate need of finding food or shelter. It kept us awake, alert, and on edge. Now, we have things like gridlocked traffic and employee evaluation meetings. It’s created a chronic cortisol epidemic.

The Cortisol Awakening Response (CAR) is the process of a sharp cortisol increase during the mornings of healthy adults. In this case, it is activated by the hippocampus (in charge of remembering your plans for the day) and not the amygdala (stress creator).

Waking up extremely early (4:30AM – 5:00AM) increases and prolongs the CAR. CAR is greater when you wake up in daylight than darkness, which may explain why it is so much easier to get out of bed when the sun is up. Your CAR is always higher during weekdays, especially when you have a heavy workload. So, it’s not necessarily a bad thing. But if you always have terrible mornings and leave the house with a bad attitude, try this exercise.

A. Stand with your feet separated a bit wider than your shoulders.

B. Exhale and slowly bend forward with your arms crossed around your chest. Squeeze your hands into fists to relieve tension in the spine. Feel the muscles that are stretching, and rate your exertion between 1-10. Don’t go past

C. Inhale and gradually “roll” upward to standing position, vertebrae by vertebrae. Raise your arms outward and upward in a V, even stretching your fingers to the sky. Fill your lungs to capacity, and hold your breath for a few moments in this position.

D. Exhale, and slowly let your arms drop while extended. Let out as much air as you possibly can while you repeat this process for at least a few minutes.

This exercise works for a few different reasons. The forward bend signals a relaxation response. Concentrating on your stretches and ratings inhibits your panicking amygdala. Stretching muscles oxygenates the blood, lowers body acidity, and releases tension.

There's also this 15-minute Spartan Monk morning routine on Conquer Today. It has 6 exercises that will wake you up, focus you in, and give you a huge burst of energy and calm before your day.

5 - MAKE YOUR BED A SACRED SPACE

This is a common one, and all comes down to creating an unconscious habit. When we watch TV in bed or play on our phones, we are telling our brain this is a place to stay engaged. Keep your bed sacred, and use it only for sex and sleep.

If you must wind down for the day with a screen, use it on the couch. Grab a blanket and treat it like bed so you feel comfortable, but when you move to your actual bedroom put the phone away. If you can’t sleep after 15 minutes of trying, get back up to the couch and read a book for a bit. You’ll quickly feel tired.

Imagine getting into the front seat of your car every morning. Inserting the key into the ignition and backing out of the driveway becomes instinctual; your brain knows that the front seat means time to drive. Give your brain the same assistance when you hop into bed.

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Be prepared: long read ahead.

The exercises I do are based on the premise that thoughts affect emotions which in turn can affect our actions. This is the basis of Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) and a lot of other therapies that grew out of, or were developed after, CBT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy comes to mind). So if thoughts are the “root” it’s probably a good place to start.

Start writing down the thoughts you have, particularly the negative ones that trouble you. "I'm stupid", "I'm worthless", "No one cares about me" etc… Sometimes it helps to start with an event that troubles you and work backwards from there. An example:

• What was the troubling event? (e.g. my boss yelled at me)
  
• Why is that bad? (e.g. It probably means my work isn't good enough).
  
• And what's bad about that? (e.g. It means I'm not good at my job).
  
• And what does that say about you? (e.g. I'm worthless)
  
  Keep drilling down until you feel what I call a punch in the gut, an internal feeling or sensation that says "yep, this thought feels very real to me". 90% of the time the root thought is something about yourself and can be verbalized in the form of "I AM ___"
  
  Now start challenging each thought in turn. Is this really true? How do I know for sure? Is there some objective measure or have I used a subjective measure? Who said this is true and are they an expert? Is there any evidence that supports this thought? Am I over-looking other evidence that could lead to other conclusions? What other conclusions can I draw? Is this thought true everywhere and all the time?
  
  Look for cognitive distortions in your thoughts. Here’s a helpful PDF with some cognitive distortions.
  
  Here are some free worksheets that describe the process better (which they call ABCD Analysis):
  
  
• Thinking and Feeling
  
• Analysing your Thinking
  
• Changing your Thinking
  
  Here’s a link to a comment I made a while back where I give more links to CBT material. If you're interested.
  
  If you’re happy with the results, you can stop here. However just to add on, I’ve been doing some Mindfulness Meditation & Exercises lately and have also been reading up on Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT). For those interested in a practical introduction to ACT for the layman check out The Happiness Trap
  
  Anyway, I have personally found it helpful to bring Mindfulness & Acceptance into the ABCD Analysis. When doing the ABCD Analysis there is a strong human tendency to make certain thoughts & emotions "bad" while holding other thoughts & emotions as "good". The problem with using such polar opposite labels is that the natural human tendency is to run away from the "bad" thoughts and chase after the "good" ones. And we do all sorts of things to run from the bad and chase the good: get angry or frustrated when we have a "bad" thought, repeat positive affirmations ad-infinitum, pump ourselves up with motivation, "plow through" with positive thinking etc...
  
  I'm not saying any of this is wrong or ineffective, I'm just speaking from my personal experience: running from the "bad" and chasing the "good" is tiring!
  
  With Mindfulness & Acceptance, I'm seeing that my thoughts have no inherent power or meaning. A thought like "I am a failure" is a bunch of letters on the screen. Or a disembodied voice in my head. Or an image in my imagination. It is the same with any and all thoughts. They have no inherent meaning or power other than what I give them. This also means that I cannot label some as "bad" and others as "good"; only if thoughts had meaning can I do that.
  
  (On a sidenote, The Happiness Trap has some very good exercises to help separate the thought from the meaning we’ve given the thought)
  
  When I'm running from "bad" thoughts and chasing "good" thoughts, I'm doing so because of the inherent meaning I've given them: "bad" thoughts are "bad" while "good" thoughts are "good". Can you see that the meaning I myself gave these thoughts is what's really running my life? (no pun intended)
  
  If all thoughts are empty of power and empty of meaning, they are in a sense "equal". And there is a temptation to say "since they're all equal, it doesn't matter what thoughts I have so I'm going to choose the ones I like". In my opinion, this is still giving meaning to the thoughts because I will likely choose the thoughts I've labeled "good".
  
  So now what? Here is where I pull out my list of life projects that are meaningful to me. If you’ve never spent time thinking about what would make your life worth living I encourage you to start. And write stuff down. Call it your Life Project list, Dream List, Bucket List.... whatever. This is your personal list of goals, milestones, achievements and projects that will leave you fulfilled.
  
  Pick one of your projects, any one of them. Then ask "who do I need to be in order to progress towards this goal by the end of the day?" Then take action and write reminders for yourself if you need it.
  
  As an example, I did the ABCD Analysis this morning and here are the major thoughts:
  
  
• I am an embarrassment
  
  
• I am disgusting
  
  
• I am hated
  
  
• I am prey
  
  The ABCD analysis alone would've been sufficient but applying Mindfulness & Acceptance I chose that I wanted to experience Joy by the end of the day. A life without joy doesn’t sound like much fun to me :)
  
  I build websites for a living and work from home. So I wrote the following on a Post-It and stuck it to my screen where I'm likely to see it:
  
  "What is 1 thing I can be joyful about in ____?"
  
  The blank is for whatever activity I was doing when I saw the Post-It. So it could read:
  
  
• What is 1 thing I can be joyful about in building this website?
  
  
• What is 1 thing I can be joyful about in writing this documentation?
  
  
• What is 1 thing I can be joyful about in typing this Reddit post?
  
  So does all this help? Well, I’m pretty happy this evening. Is this all just a self-fulfilling prophecy or priming? Maybe, I don't really know. But living my life fulfilled is important to me that as long as I'm doing it in accordance with my value, and I'm not hurting anyone in the process, then I think it's a pretty sweet deal.

Okay, so I am pretty sure you are just me writing from the past, because I have had the exact same problem... BUT luckily for you, I have determined a series of solutions!

• First, go to bed on time. It doesn't seem like it would make that much of a difference, but it really does. (You might want to try the website sleepyti.me for determining the exact time to wake up/fall asleep. I haven't seen astounding differences like some will tout, but I do notice some kind of difference.)
  
  
• Secondly, there are a couple alarm clocks I could recommend:
  
  1.) The Alarmy app
  is one that requires you to get up and take a picture of something in your house/apartment in order to disable the alarm. It is super helpful to me but it does have the tendency to be a bit buggy sometimes (and not got off), so be forewarned...
  
  2.) I have a Clocky alarm as well and it is also pretty effective. It is one of those alarms that rolls off your nightstand and hides. And it certainly does make the most God-awful, absolutely un-ignorable sound in the world, so there's no danger of sleeping through that.
  
  
  So that's my collection of knowledge at the moment. Hopefully it helps!
  
  
  

I'm very much a night owl and hate having to drag myself out of the warm cozy blankets before noon. In college, I never took morning classes because the one time I tried, I had to drop it due to missing too many. For many years, I'd rush to work barely or not-quite on time. So I hear you!

Then I got a job I like (which helps all by itself) but its major downside is that it is NOT flexible in its "early" (9AM) start time. I knew "just try harder" to get there on time wasn't going to cut it.

YMMV, but I worked with a sleep doctor and found the thing that works for me: a very consistent wake up time. Bed time doesn't matter (although at this point, it seems to take care of itself). The doctor said he didn't care if I went back to bed, but I absolutely had to get up and get light on my face for 10 minutes at the same time every morning. Turns out, I'm actually awake by that point and I can easily stay out of bed by then.

Damn if he didn't know what he was talking about. :)

Where I live, it's sometimes dark when I wake up, so I bought a light alarm to not have any excuses there.

Some mornings, the bed's cozy allure is strong. I remind myself that I am about to hop into a nice hot shower.

But mostly, knowing that I have to be consistent for this to work has been enough. Good luck, OP!

You issues waking up sound a lot like issues I have (I have idiopathic hypersomnia). I suspect part of your issue is having to accommodate to such severe jet lag so often. When you do wake, are you very sleepy during the day? It may be beneficial to see a sleep specialist? You may need a sleep study. I know this doesn't help your immediate problems... but would be something to look into and strongly consider.

In the meantime, I have found that an alarm clock called Sonic Alert has helped me, combined with my phone alarm. Sonic alert has a vibrating disc that goes under my pillow and it is also VERY loud. It's designed for deaf people. I have my phone alarm set to go off every 5 minutes starting an hour or more before I need to get up, as well as the sonic alert.

I've also used an app called Kiwake. It's pretty nifty and did work some, although when I used it over a year ago it was somewhat buggy. Hopefully that is fixed now.

Good luck!

Edit: spelling errors, inserted links to products/apps

Keep your curtains open. Try low dose time release melatonin (or Valarian root) to help you get to bed early. I like this. Use Sleep As Android to set an alarm that will wake you up in a light phase of sleep so you feel refreshed. After waking up use a blue light device (or get some sunshine for awhile) to help reset your sleep rhythm. Also if you live in a cold/dark/cloudy area try a vitamin D supplement. These are things that have helped me get into a healthy sleep schedule, hope it helps you!

I don't know about best practices.. but this routine worked when I had to wake up early (4/5AM) to catch the bus:

Before bed:

• Running on the treadmill for 1/2 hour
  
• Camomile tea, shower
  
• Avoid laptop/tablet/phone
  
• Place bottle of water on bed stand
  
• Plug in your brightest lamp to something like this and set it to your alarm time so it turns on when you are supposed to wake up
  
  After waking up:
  
  
• Drink the water immediately
  
  You could try drinking a glass of water before bed for times when you definitely don't want to oversleep, it'll force you to wake up 'cause you have to go to the washroom.
  
  Hope that helps :D ..

I use this one. It's a little pricy, but totally worth it. I've used a fan, white noise apps, etc. and nothing compares to these "analog" sounds machines. I don't know what it is about them, maybe conditioning is a part of it. Read the reviews. The only "side effect" I can think of is that if I forget it when traveling or sleep over at a dude's house I can't sleep for the life of me and I just lay there in existential dread. Like I said, it's my best friend.

https://www.amazon.com/Amisofia-Sunrise-Simulation-Nightlights-Sleepers/dp/B07BS42GR5/
6 natural sounds such as soft piano, sweet birds sound and relaxing sea waves and so on an all available FM Channels will be scanned and saved automatically can be used as a wake-up sound.

This is what I will test with Plan B: a basic electrical timer and a 500-watt flood light. I just ordered them. This is actually cheaper than the $70-80 Phillips light—it'll only cost you around $35.

Although it might be a shock to wake up to, I speculate that I'll get used to it in a few days. Really really bright light is probably very good at entraining circadian rhythms—it needs to be too bright to comfortably ignore. I want to be assaulted with photons.

I also want to test what it's like when the light is colored blue, I imagine that will be more relaxing, since early morning light is very blue.

• 500-watt halogen flood light
  
• 24-hour mechanical timer

Good luck! If it helps at all, I quit smoking by reading this book and by taking Wellbutrin. The book helped me want to quit and the med helped me to ‘stay quit.’

Sure. I have this one. Got it for like, $30 at CostCo last year. Makes a world of a difference, for me at least, during the dark winter months. Sunlight (or pretend sunlight) actually really, really helps me wake. Maybe it will for others, too.

I have the Philips Somneo.
Link https://www.amazon.com/Philips-Connected-Smartphone-HF3670-60/dp/B07GXWDXBD?ref_=ast_slp_dp

It has some custom preset loops of naturesounds. A lot to chose from. and there is an aux input so you can have it play virtually anything that has a 3.5 jack to it and there is an USB port. i use it to charge the phone, maybe it plays mp3 not sure now that i come to thin k about it i will test. I wouldn't want to mis it. it helps me so much in wintertime.

I use this 40W blue CFL and a digital timer connected to a lamp by my bed. Works great!

[Dohm Sound Machine](Marpac Dohm-DS All-Natural White Noise Sound Machine, Tan https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000KUHFGM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_JaVFyb8ZMVFDA)

I have always had similar issues with being a light sleeper. The Dohm Sleep Machine really is a must have if you have this problem. It's got incredible reviews because it really is perfect.

You're right, I mostly wanted those features to make it more comfortable for me. I ordered this yesterday and I'll see if it works as I want.

for sleeping I would try TYR plugs. I use them in class and when sleeping as well. Have a fair amount of noise reduction for their slim design.

You need to check out "The Power of When" by Dr. Michael Breus and learn about your chronotype. Chances are you're a wolf like me. Wolves tend to stay up late, have more energy in the late afternoons and evenings, and have a hard time getting up feeling "refreshed" in the morning. We also tend not to be hungry and opt to skip breakfast and stay up late snacking at night. We also tend to feel groggy no matter how many hours we've slept, and that sleep inertia doesn't wear off until mid morning. I can go further into detail but you should just read the book: https://www.amazon.com/Power-When-Discover-Chronotype-Lunch-ebook/dp/B01A5VQU48