have a regular sleep pattern

The sleep pattern has gone a bit haywire over the last few days, I think due to my not sticking to the going-to-bed routine. Having said that, it’s not drastically out of whack; I got up at 9 this morning. It shouldn’t be too hard to get back into the pattern. I’ll just make sure that I’m in bed by 11 tonight and aim to get up at 8 again tomorrow. Maybe I moved onto 7.30 too soon?

I think I have finally hit upon something. My routine seems to be working and I have less problems dragging myself out of bed in the morning. I suppose it might still be too early to definitively say that I have a regular sleep pattern, but I’m on my way there.

I think the moral of this story is that I need to accept that I can’t rely on willpower and discipline and instead that I need to form habits.

I would like to get to the stage where I can easily get up at 7 every morning, but I’m not going to push it too hard at the moment. I think I’ll just stick with what I’m doing until it’s really in my system before I try to go more hard core.

I have started to work quite hard on this. Because I am a post-grad student, how I spend my time is completely up to me and as a result I have no obligation to be up be a certain time in the morning. Of course, if I want to be productive and write a decent PhD then I need to have some sort of working schedule. I was getting very frustrated with myself because I’d aim to be up at 8 and then when my alarm clock went off I would, of course, turn it off and go back to sleep. This would mean that when I did get up I would already have the mindset that the rest of the day was a write-off.

So, I had a plan. I want to try to get up at the same time each morning so as to establish a sleep pattern. I’m starting with 8am because it seems do-able and as I get better I’d like to get earlier.

I was trying this, but it wasn’t working so well. So I have added to my plan. The new plan is that at 10pm each night I will start getting ready for bed. I will have a shower, brush my teeth, plan what to wear and to have for brekkie the next morning. Then, I will hop into bed (ideally at around 10.30) and I will read or study (probably just read) until 11. If at 11 I am still not sleepy, I will keep reading. However, if I am aware of sleepiness and because I am already in bed, the opportunity is there to go to sleep if I need.

I think if I consciously make an effort to wind down and give myself the opportunity to sleep if I need but at the same time not trying to force it if I’m not ready for sleep yet, then I can hopefully fall into a more natural sleep pattern.

Also, I have put my alarm clock into the bathroom so that when it wakes me up I have to go into the bathroom to turn it off and then I am just a step away from a quick wake-up shower.

This is getting much better. I’m concentrating on getting up at 7 every morning and although it doesn’t always work out, I’m consistently up by 8.30 on weekdays. Today is Saturday and I hadn’t set my alarm, but I was naturally awake at 8.45 and I read in bed for a while. In the past I have been able to sleep with no problem until 10 in the morning or even later if I got the chance. I think that by setting a goal of getting up at 7.30, then 7.00, I have made it easier for myself. If I’d tried straight away to get up at 6.00, it would just not have worked. I wonder if I want to keep trying for an earlier time, or just stick with 7.00 for a while.

Just 7.00 for a while I think.

I am doing so well at this! Almost every day this week I have got up at 7.30 when my alarm goes off. I get up thinking, “ughbf-ireallywanttogobacktobed” and then I just make myself get quickly into the shower and I’m fine. I’m not sure that I’m the sort of person that will ever wake up and think, “oh, fantastic! I’m awake!” but at least if I’m in a bit of a routine it might become easier to get up. I hope so.

Every day this week I have been getting up as soon as my alarm clock goes off. This has been helped by the fact that the weather is hot, so lying in bed isn’t really an attractive option and because I have been putting the alarm clock on the other side of the room so that I have to get out of bed to turn it off. This trick hasn’t really worked for me previously, so maybe I’m just having a good run this week.

But it feels good to be getting up before 8 every day.

I got up today when my alarm clock went off. I’m only a little bit pleased with myself though because it was already about 30 degrees in my room and too unbearable to stay in bed.

I hope I can do the same tomorrow.

Ok.
I’ll try again next week. And I’ll make it “up before 8.30” this time. A little bit more do-able??

I think I might just be a hopeless case.

This is going absolutely shittily.

I have not got up before 8 in the last couple of days.

What should I do? I am fine at getting up if I have a particular appointment to go to or if someone is relying me to do something. But at the moment my life isn’t structured enough to motivate me out of bed every morning. I need to get this worked out if I’m to do a PhD next year. That will require much more self-discipline than I am currently displaying.

Friday: 7.30
Sat: 7.30
Sun: 9.30
Mon: 9.00
Tues: 6.30
Wed: 8.00

Doing ok. Not brilliant. We’ll see about tomorrow. Not optimistic because I have a free day tomorrow. Nothing forcing me to get up.