Early riser

I wake around 6 as I'm up at half 6 for work I'm usually shattered yet come the weekend I wake the same time and feel raring to go however I try really hard to get back to sleep and if I succeed I'm there until around 9 ish

I too was awake at 6, let the dog out to a wonderfully still morning, then slipped back between the sheets for 2 hours of perfect peace punctuated only by birdsong , before DH woke up too.
It really is the best part of the day!

It is 8.00. I have been up since six and have only just been joined by another member of the household.

I have been pottering around, tidying, getting sorted for the day (we have DS and family staying). I am at peace and prepared for the onslaught I can hear getting dressed as I write.

I had acupuncture for a sleep pattern which was draining. For a long time I would waken every morning a few minutes either side of 3.00 a.m. even if I hadn't even tried to sleep till after midnight. I didn't have to check the clock. True I had a very traumatic situation going on at the time, so thoughts would immediately go into tailspin and I learned that I just had to get up. Doing fairly mechanical things, e.g. crosswords, listening to calming music or a sleep CD, could eventually lull me off to a second doze. In time I settled into waking closer to 6.00 a.m.

I think you should do what your body tells you. I sleep from about 11 to 7 when the flippin' alarm goes off.
Yes Terribull I first came across the term "second sleep" in "My Antonia" by Willa Cather. It's a delightful novel set in Nebraska towards the end of the 19th Century when having a "second sleep" is not unusual.

I think the problem is that I feel quite alert at about 10.25 pm and not a bit sleepy but then realise I have missed the local news and weather forecasts and it's 10.40 pm because I went out like a light! and then I've perked up again.

....and so to bed.

Totally the opposite here. Im at my most happy/best at 9pm, tend to stay up until midnight (then antiques roadshow goes on as it lulls me to sleep). I do a wake up for a pee during the night but 8am is my wake up and don't function properly (as in anything to do with work) until 10.00 am.

Need 8 hours but a night owl.

I am a "lie in" person, I love my lies in. I dont usually go to bed until well after midnight, and happily sleep until 9am.
Today I was delighted when I read in the paper, that we DO need more sleep when we get older, not as was once told, we need LESS sleep, apparantly there is something in our brain, which happens when we are older(dont ask me what) but we need to sleep in order to keep it. This is NOT a scientific explanation on my part as you can see, but the real explanation was in our Swedish Paper today, lets hope they are right! Good night all.

I am undoubtedly a lark. I wake any time between 5 to 7 . If it's too early I force myself to doze for a bit, but really once I'm up I'm full of beans. Everything works better early morning but by 5pm I'm knackered and by now 8.30 more or less comatose. I am very happy to be in bed by 9pm with a book. Not tonight though "Broadchurch"

www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16964783

As mentioned earlier in the thread, sleep apparently used to be 'segmented'

Anyone know why I might wake up at 7.00 full of dread? When I wake during the night, I'm okay. If I do manage to doze off again for maybe an hour or so, again, I'm usually not too bad. It doesn't seem to matter what time I get to sleep, (never before midnight).

Well, I do wake up full of energy and plans until I put my feet on the floor

I wish I could wake up at any time full of energy and joy...

DH is a lark and I am an owl

I wish I could wake up at the crack of dawn full of energy and joy

If you are retired and have no early morning deadlines, then go with your body clock. Go to bed early. Get up early. Go to bed late. Get up late. It really doesn't matter, does it?

We tend to wake naturally just before 7am (winter and summer)but we also go to bed early, usually by 10pm to watch the news. During the night there are all sorts of excitements, most involving getting up to go to the loo I hasten to add! My husband listens to his old-fashioned Walkman to send him back to sleep and I read yet another novel on my backlit Kindle.

We don't disturb each other and both activities soon send us back into the land of nod. We also have an afternoon nap nearly every day, as that's when our body clocks tell us we need to rest.

You'll all think we waste too much time sleeping, but it really is the best medicine and when we're awake we are full of energy and joy.

Good luck "watermeadow".

Listen to your body ..as my Aunt..who was an experienced Nurse...always says..it will tell you what it needs...

My problem is getting to sleep before 3am. I usually waken around 8 am as by that time my beloved Westie is getting restless for her breakfast and a walk. I reckon the sleep problem comes from working varied shifts including nightshifts for many years. Does anyone have any suggestions to solve the problem.

I'm staggered that some of you are going to bed when I'm getting up. I've always been a lark and love early mornings but preferably at 6ish rather than 4ish.
Walking the dogs early I see far more men than women out early. I thought men were more likely to be larks and women to be owls but maybe that's not true.

Wow grannypiper.lambs near you too!!we have them in the field at the end of our garden..I also feel 'yuk' all day if I stay in bed till 8a.m ?

Me too.... Might be worth getting a check up at Gps but I think some us are just destined to be early birds!!

I love the early mornings... awake at 6, and so much to do and enjoy ..I run three times a week and then, as others do I get the jobs done early... I go to bed when tired..usually 9.30 ish
My Nan used to tell me, Early to bed, early to rise, makes a girl healthy, wealthy and wise... she lived until she was 98...

we rarely go to bed before 2am and sleep until 10 most mornings ,though when we have GC overnight ,usually two or three nights a week I get up with them around 7.30 and we give grandpa his breakfast in bed between 9.30 and 10 ,he cant handle chatter in the morning so better for everyone else's mood if we keep him out of the way...lol

I'm opposite I don't go to bed till 11.30/12 then read for half an hour then wake naturally at 8.30ish. Never been one to go to bed early, I have the frame of mind that the nights not over till midnight.I must say tho I have broken sleep most of the night due to the night sweats.

I think it's best to listen to your body clock. I wake early so I go to the loo and back to bed if's it's too early, otherwise I get a cup of tea, and do a few little jobs then wash and dress and start my day. If I fall asleep during a favourite TV programme then it's just too bad.
I get up when I feel refreshed and go to bed when I feel tired.