Calm · 5 min
The same time up, every day
One fixed time to get up, weekends included, does more for a ragged night than any perfect bedtime.
When sleep goes wrong, most of us try to fix the night: earlier bedtimes, lie-ins to catch up. The steadier lever is the morning. Getting up at the same time every day, whatever the night was like, gives the body one fixed point to set itself by.
The steps
Four small steps,in your own time.
Choose a getting-up time you can keep seven days a week, including the days nobody needs you. Be realistic rather than heroic.
Set one alarm for that time, put it out of reach of the bed, and get up when it goes, even after a poor night.
Within half an hour of getting up, open the curtains or step outside for a few minutes of daylight.
Keep it for two weeks before you judge it. Go to bed when you feel sleepy, not by the clock, and let bedtime find its own place.
The reason
Why it helps
The body keeps time from light and from when we get up. A wandering morning, early on workdays and late at weekends, is a little like flying across time zones every week. A fixed morning pulls the rest of the day into line, so sleepiness tends to arrive at a steadier hour at night. It is unglamorous, and for many people it is the single change that matters most.
A gentle variation
If you care for someone whose nights are broken, you may not control your mornings at all. Keep the getting-up time as an anchor on the days you can, and on the days you cannot, get the daylight anyway, even ten minutes at a window with a cup of something warm.
WE · TRIBE
Try itwith someone.
If you share a bed or a home, agree the time together, so nobody is tempted back under the covers by the other. A short walk or breakfast at the same hour makes it easier to keep, and gives you a few minutes with each other before the day starts.
Try it today
Tonight, choose one getting-up time for every day of the week and put the alarm across the room.
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