Friday open thread: black coffee in bed

[dolorosa_12]

Today's Friday open thread is brought to you by the increasing number of posts I keep seeing on social media trying to lift the spirits of people exhausted by the darkness of the northern hemisphere winter. Cheer up, they say, it's only one month until the sun sets at 7pm. For me, however, the time that the sun sets isn't the problem. I'm all about the sunrise: I am a morning person (when I was an undergraduate I frequently got up at 5.30am, went for a run, had a shower, and wrote 1000 words of my Honours thesis or whatever essay was due that month, and was completely finished with the day's university work by around 8.30 or 9am), and my energy is at its peak when it is a daylit morning. So the thing about the long dark winters that saps my energy and lowers my spirits isn't the early sunsets: it's waking up at 6 or 6.30am in complete darkness, or not being able to tell whether it's 2am, 5am, or 7am without checking my phone. I never feel properly awake when I have to get up into darkness.

In that spirit, then, today's question is: what are the things that wake you up in the morning (other than alarm clocks)?

Other than daylight, the things that clear the morning cobwebs away for me include going for walks in cold, clear air (walking in warm weather makes me tired), and going swimming — whether that's lap-swimming in a pool, or swimming in the ocean. (I've very rarely had the opportunity to swim in lakes or rivers but I imagine the effect would be the same.) Coffee and tea work, and I do need to drink something caffeinated before about 9am or I get a raging headache, but waking myself up with caffeine never feels quite the same.

What about you?

Comments

[corvidology]

Showering in lukewarm water... but then I always shower in lukewarm water. :D

It just seems to get my engine up and running no matter how tired I am.

[dolorosa_12]

Oh yes, I can certainly see how that would work. (Personally, I have the shower up to near-scalding temperatures, but if your preference is for lukewarm, that will definitely wake you up!)

[raven]

Alas, nothing wakes me up in the morning. I can force myself out of bed to labour under capitalism but I have to wait for my body's circadian rhythm to catch up with me about 11.30am, at which point I'm usually a bit happier to be awake and then I hit peak awakeness and functionality abut 5 in the evening. I'm bipolar which doesn't help - I'm told bipolar depression really does peak in the morning - but I think it's also just how I'm made.

[dolorosa_12]

Ugh, that sounds really awful. The world really would be a much better place if work could be done in a series of staggered shifts that suited different people's body clocks (for me personally a working day that started at 7am and finished at 1pm would be ideal, since my concentration basically declines as soon as I've had lunch). I'm so sorry that you have to do at least half of your day's work in such draining circumstances.

[yarnofariadne]

Black coffee for me! Also, I quite enjoy the bits of my commute that I have to walk - I go by a small community farm on my way in to work and the morning animal sounds always lift my spirits.

[dolorosa_12]

Ooh, that sounds really lovely! I also walk to work (on the days that I'm not working from home), and it's a really nice way to ease your brain into work mode.

[kore]

Cliche, but: coffee, COFFEE, COFFEE. I also have fucked-up sleep rhythm and some flavour of bipolar and it's really hard for me to get going in the morning, typically. I enjoy cold windy, even blustery, weather, I find it invigorating. But even then I neeeed coffee. It ups my anxiety levels and I can't drink it all day like I used to in my thirties, but without it, I am a sloth.

[dolorosa_12]

Ugh, I'm sorry to hear that — it sounds awful, especially given that coffee has that side effect of increased anxiety for you.

Cold, blustery weather is definitely a great way to wake up, though.

[ursula]

I guess this technically is an alarm clock, but having one that works on light instead of sound is really pleasant!

[dolorosa_12]

Oh wow, that sounds really fantastic! I generally don't need an alarm clock (all my life I've been able to naturally wake up about 10 to 30 minutes before I'm supposed to get up, no matter what that time actually is — apart from in the depths of northern winter, when the longer darkness in the morning seems to throw me out of sync), but that kind of light alarm may do something to alleviate the problem that I'm complaining about in this post.

[ursula]

Yes! Mine slowly brightens over the course of half an hour. It's so nice to wake up gradually instead of suddenly.

[chestnut_pod]

Going outside! If I don't get to breathe a bit of morning air, I just won't be properly awake until at least ten or eleven AM. I do enjoy teaching early classes, since a nice, cool, brisk walk through the quiet to the classrooms is just the thing.

[dolorosa_12]

Walking to work (even if it's only part of the commute) is such a good way to wake up and ease into work mode, isn't it? And I agree with you that cooler weather is better for waking the brain up.

[boxofdelights]

I am very much not a morning person. I love coffee, and I can only drink it in the morning, so that helps, but the main thing that gets me out of bed is the dogs, who need to go out. The smell of the early-morning air makes me wish I was a morning person, but I'm not.

[dolorosa_12]

Dogs are definitely nature's alarm clocks! If you're not a morning person, needing to walk the dogs will certainly get you out of bed, that's for sure.

[nerakrose]

I'm neither an A or B person, I'm somewhere in between. I don't like getting up super early just because, but I also don't enjoy staying up late, just because. that said... I am very ruled by the sun. like you, I don't like getting up in the dark. it might just be 6am but if it's still night-dark it feels like 2am, like I didn't get enough sleep even if I did go to bed at the right time and got the right amount of sleep. if I didn't have to adhere to the schedules of society, I would wake up with the sun year round. in the summer I usually do, and am up and about with the sunrise at 4-5am ish. (if I'm up north where the sun rises at 2am or doesn't set, I struggle getting sleep in the first place. I love the bright nordic summers, but I get so little sleep during them...) in the winter, if I could, I wouldn't get up until sunrise (usually 8am ish at the darkest) but alas, outside university life rarely affords me that privilege. (I've been lucky that during my combined 8 years at university I only had an 8am class *once* and since that one was in Copenhagen it had the academic quarter rule, so didn't actually start until 8:15. I lived 5 minutes away from campus. For that class I rolled out of bed at 8, got dressed, grabbed breakfast to go, and was in my seat at 8:15, barely awake, quietly eating my yoghurt...I did miss a lecture once due to oversleeping, late in the semester when the winter was really dark, but only the once. I call that an achievement.)

besides the sun, what wakes me up is my cycle commute. (not having had a daily cycle commute the past two years has been a struggle, too.) I don't do caffeine as I react badly to it and I'm mildly jealous of people who can just have a cup of coffee or tea and 'wake up'. (It doesn't have that effect on me either.)

[dolorosa_12]

Oh wow, if you live by the sun, living in a Nordic country would make things extremely difficult! I think personally I'd struggle as well — really southern England is about as far north as I could live comfortably. I've visited Iceland and Sweden in May, and Finland and Norway in June, and those long, long summer days are fine for a holiday but I'm not sure I could cope with it for months on end, or the reverse in winter.

Commuting out in the air — whether by bike or on foot — seems to be a common way to wake up, and it makes sense. I've always walked to work (although these days I have to catch a train first, and then walk for half an hour, and I only work one day a week in the office), and it's a great way to get your brain into the right state to begin the working day.

Caffeine doesn't exactly wake me up, but I get a really bad headache if I haven't had a cup of tea or coffee by about 9am. And I can't drink it after 3pm or I won't sleep at all.

[nerakrose]

it has been, a little! blackout curtains are extremely popular in Scandinavia for this exact reason. I use them on occasion when I've really needed to sleep, but I don't like them - the artificial dark just keeps me asleep for longer than I need to and when I wake up I'm tired. waking up with the sun, even if I only got, say, 6 hours of sleep, doesn't make feel tired, it feels natural to wake up that way. I actually have a blackout curtain in my room here in London but I've used it only a handful of times, and that was in the summer during the heatwave when I needed to block the sun out during the day. my window faces south.

as a kid growing up in Iceland where the differences between summer and winter are extreme, I struggled every winter. That's partially also because Iceland is in the wrong timezone for its location (nobody wants to fix it, apparently, so we all just suffer) so in the winter the sun wouldn't come up until 10-11am. imagine having to get up at 6 or 7 to go to school and it's still dark for the next four hours. man, that should be illegal. (the Christmases we spent at my grandmother's, further north, we'd have about an hour of daylight between approximately 12 and 1pm.) getting up for school once we hit October through to March was a major struggle and I have many, many absences on my record from those years.

Denmark is so far south that we don't get those extremes. it's probably very drastic compared what you're used to if you're from a place like, idk, southern Europe where this doesn't really happen (I'm guessing, the furthest south I've actually been is Vienna in November, but it was also 20 degrees that week and felt like late autumn rather than deep winter), but for me it's like a medium setting, lmao. the summers are bright, I think in june the sun sets round 11pm (but we still have bright skies for about an hour after that) and comes up again a few hours later, again with bright skies for an hour before. actual dark night is maybe 3 hours. That's not so bad, and the bright season feels shorter than further up north because it's not so extreme. the winters though, because thanks to global warming it doesn't snow much anymore it's just dark and rainy and miserable for five months.

(also what I would often do, especially as a child and teenager, I would get up with the sun in the wee hours, have some breakfast, watch pokemon or read a book, and then about 7ish I would go back to bed for a bit and wake up again around 9 and have second breakfast. Everyone always thought I slept in but I was just...napping...those summers were great. ofc as I age I don't need as much sleep so just get up.)

London is the furthest south I've ever lived and it's *so weird*. it's hard to explain but I can *feel* that I'm further south than usual, the climate is different, the light is different. I'll get used to it eventually, but it still feels weird.


also, yes - the combination of fresh air with physical activity plus the actual act of physically transitioning from home to the workplace (or university) has always been very effective for me to switch brain modes.

[monksandbones]

I've learned since I started working at a permanent job that starts at 7:30 am, which means leaving home at 6:45 am, that I'm a lot less of a morning person than I thought. I'm not exactly a night owl either, but I often don't start feeling properly awake until an hour or so into my workday.

I actually prefer waking up in the dark. In the summer when it's getting light by 4:00 or 5:00 am, I often get woken up by the birds outside, or wake up because it's light out. I hate waking up and knowing that it's almost morning! I'm always, especially if I've stayed up a little too late, a bit anxious about getting as much sleep as I can, and about how early I have to get up, so waking up less than an hour before my alarm often means I can't get back to sleep.

Depending on the day, my commute can actually be a good way to ease into being awake, although it depends a little on traffic, and if I'm feeling very anxious, driving can make it worse. Commuting is especially good right now, though, because it's just getting light as I drive, so there's some visibility and the headlights of other cars aren't as harsh as they would be if it was totally dark, but I still get a little of the pleasant solitary cocoon feeling of driving in the dark morning.

But my morning cup of tea, which I drink during my commute and over the first hour or so of my work day, depending on what I'm doing, is also key.

[dolorosa_12]

That's really interesting, and what you say about being frustrated if you wake up less than an hour before your alarm makes sense.

I used to work in a job where the working day started at 7am, although it was just down the road from my house — a fifteen-minute walk away, so the commute was a little easier — and there was something really magical about being awake and out in the world when few other people were.

You're one of many people to say that their commute wakes them up, and it makes a whole lot of sense — it's a way to transition from home to work mode, but without doing so in an abrupt way. I'm glad to hear your commute is generally relaxing at the moment.

And I agree with you about the morning cup of tea!

[senmut]

Mischa is my alarm clock, most mornings. He's already got me half awake even before my wrist buzzes, and well before my alarm that is 'get up now or you will not log on in time'.

The routine from there is flip the work computer on which requires clearing my brain enough to not type passwords wrong. Then dress. Then go mix the coffee that already began brewing. Cat gets fed, I go walk if weather permits.

By the time I actually sit down at the desk, I am vividly awake.

Weekends only omits the computer part. It's a rare day I am not up and alert by 8 am, even on days off.

[dolorosa_12]

That sounds like an excellent morning routine! I'm like you — I think the longest I've ever slept in in my entire life is until about 8 or 8.30am.

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

I'm here from followfriday where a couple of folks mentioned you.

>> it's waking up at 6 or 6.30am in complete darkness <<

There are sunrise alarm clocks that gradually brighten to daylight levels. It's supposed to help light-sensitive brains wake up.

Me, I have about 5 minutes to get food in the morning or my body gets cranky. It still takes an hour for my brain to boot up.

Re: Thoughts

[dolorosa_12]

You're the second person to mention those sunrise alarm clocks — I will have to investigate!

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

There's a whole genre of "gentle" alarm clocks that try to work with your body instead of against it. The sunrise branch is among the most popular, and often includes the sound branch as a subfeature. Like daylight panels, they can be very helpful for light-sensitive people.

https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home-products/g35972337/best-sunrise-alarm-clocks/

I used to use daylight CFC lights, but now it's getting hard to find lightbulbs that are usable at all. We've hit ones that are orange or underwater blue. :P And I can't see by the LED ones; they shine but do not illuminate.

[bewize]

I'm also here from followfriday. :)

I don't wake up when I get up. I rely on routines to get me through my morning and sometime in the 90 minutes between rolling out of bed and getting in the car, I am awake. I also listen to music and dance quite a bit as I go.

But, I *need* coffee. Everyday. LOL.

[dolorosa_12]

I love the sound of your morning routine, especially the music and dancing!

[lyr]

what are the things that wake you up in the morning (other than alarm clocks)?

Currently, it's the new puppies poking me with their little cold, wet noses because it's daytime and they want to get up and start a whole new day of manic playing.

[dolorosa_12]

That sounds like the most amazing way to wake up! How absolutely lovely!

[lyr]

It's certainly adorable! It just makes me wish I was as inclined to be a morning person as they are. But you can't really say no to puppies. If you try "no, go back to bed for another hour, you fuzzy lunatics," they just give you these eyes that say How could you possibly love sleep more than us?

[charlottenewtons]

My morning walk to work usually wakes me up, other than that not much because I'm not really a morning person.

[dolorosa_12]

Walking in to work seems to be a common answer for people! I totally agree — it's a nice way to wake up the brain and ease your way into work mode.

[blackcatofmisery]

I wake up naturally between 7 and 8:30, typically. It's the sunlight, for the most part, but also just an ingrained "I don't want to waste the day" mentality? Basically, when I'm up: I'm up. First thing I do is make my bed, then brush my teeth and wash my face, and I think those are the actions that get me totally awake. Drinks, showers, food, exercise...none of that plays into it for me. I've always been pretty easy in the mornings.

=^..^=~

[dolorosa_12]

That sounds wonderful and uncomplicated!

[svgurl]

I am not a morning person at all. Kudos to people like who you are but I only get up because I have to. Alarm clocks are literally what get me up and the need to work. I've always been more of a night owl.

Though oddly, once I'm up, I'm up and I am not the type who can even nap in the middle of the day. Caffeine doesn't do much for me. For earlier mornings, I think a warm shower definitely helps me feel awake and more refreshed. Even just washing my face goes a long way.

[dolorosa_12]

A couple of people have mentioned showers as a way to wake up, and that definitely makes sense to me.

I'm sorry mornings are difficult for you — I'm in awe of night owls, because I'm basically useless after lunch, and can't do anything that requires huge amounts of brainpower at that point.

[bluedreaming]

(Also here from followfriday)

I really like listening to something to wake up as I start my morning routine, whether that's a podfic or text-to-speach fanfic, a YouTube video (I like watching a variety of vloggers who do everything from playing Stardew Valley to cooking to pottery molds to bookbinding), or an episode of a TV drama or anime (though this is much less common for me).

But I definitely also need reading time to fully wake up, so I take at least half an hour to eat breakfast while reading. A gradual wake up is best! I actually am fond of going to work in the dark since it feels like I'm waking up much earlier and so I'll have extra time in the day.

[lirazel]

Gosh, I sure do wish I were a morning person!!!!

I don't really have any routines in the morning, I don't drink coffee or tea or anything like that. It's basically just...being out of bed. As long as I stay in bed, I will feel tired and want to go back to sleep. It's not until I get up and move around that I actually start to feel awake.