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A hint for morning sleepers
Apr. 29th, 2009 03:30 pmAfter mentioning this in a Facebook comment thread, I thought it might be good to share this to a wider audience as well, as this has to be the number one productivity tip I've ever read.
It comes from a brief 2007 entry in Anders Sandberg's blog:
Previously I had difficulty getting up from bed, but after adopting this practice, all of my problems have vanished. I'm far more productive this way than if I'd have to rely on an alarm clock. My personal supply is 100mg pills, which I find have a pretty fast effect (this might be partially because I don't swallow them whole, but chew them into smaller pieces first - I never learned how to swallow big pills whole). I set my alarm clock at 9 AM, take one and reset the clock at 10 AM. After taking a pill I usually don't fall back to sleep, but grow more and energetic and often get up even before the second alarm.
Roko suggested using organic honey as an alternative, apparently that has the same effect. I may try that when my current stash of caffeine runs out, though I suspect that the pills are cheaper in the long run. Of course, honey is probably healthier.
It comes from a brief 2007 entry in Anders Sandberg's blog:
The Early Bird gets the Caffeine Pill
This week I have experimented with a new way of getting up in the morning. My problem is that Anders-Sleepy has different goals than Anders-Awake, and is quite adept at resetting the alarm clock. Now I, Anders-Awake, has found a way around this self:
I set my alarm to 6:00 and 8:00. At 6:00 I go up, take a 50mg caffeine pill, and go to bed again. Then I sleep and wake up rested and energetic around 8.
In my case the time for the pill to start working seems to be 1.5 hours. A dose of one pill ensures that I wake up (but still yawning) while two pills makes me start the day much more quickly. The added benefit is of course a regular sleep schedule.
I ran into the problem of a late night one of the days, where I remained awake until 3:30. In this case I adjusted the program slightly, taking the pill at 7:00 and sleeping to 8:30, this seemed to work and the rest of the day was efficient. I became tired earlier in the evening, which was fixed by going to sleep earlier.
Using caffeine to combat sleep inertia is not my idea; a study has shown that it works for naps. Music may also help.
Previously I had difficulty getting up from bed, but after adopting this practice, all of my problems have vanished. I'm far more productive this way than if I'd have to rely on an alarm clock. My personal supply is 100mg pills, which I find have a pretty fast effect (this might be partially because I don't swallow them whole, but chew them into smaller pieces first - I never learned how to swallow big pills whole). I set my alarm clock at 9 AM, take one and reset the clock at 10 AM. After taking a pill I usually don't fall back to sleep, but grow more and energetic and often get up even before the second alarm.
Roko suggested using organic honey as an alternative, apparently that has the same effect. I may try that when my current stash of caffeine runs out, though I suspect that the pills are cheaper in the long run. Of course, honey is probably healthier.
