The thing that helped me become an early riser

Notes on a (brief) encounter with the aspirational

The key is said to be consistency. Go to bed at the same time each night. Wake at the same time every day, no matter what.

What?

What if you’re exhausted? What if you’re depressed? What if your baby was crying all night and now you’re finally both asleep?

Personally, I’ve always thought the what matters. I’ve never been a particularly early riser because my sleep schedule shifts depending on what happens in my days—and I want the sleep more than I want the worm.

I also just love sleep. I love being in bed. I love cosy mornings. I want to spend hours petting my own brain. Often I find I do wake early naturally, but the sleep inertia will be difficult to resist, and so, when the day’s schedule allows, I’ll fall back into slumber. I always feel groggy after that, so I’ve searched for ways to resist that heavy-lidded feeling, but it doesn’t seem to come into the sleep hygiene literature. How do you become a morning person if the opportunity to sleep a little longer is there, so you’ll take it?