How to Get Used to Waking up Early for School
Determine how much sleep you need., Set a bedtime., Reset your internal clock.
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Determine how much sleep you need.
Over the summer, you most likely got into the habit of sleeping in and staying up late.
To prepare for rising earlier for school, you will need to reset your internal, or circadian, clock to make the adjustment back to school easier.
While everyone is a little different, the rule of the thumb is that those between 5-9 years old need 10-11 hours of sleep per night, and those between 10-18 years old need 8½-9½ hours of sleep per night. -
Step 2: Set a bedtime.
Calculate what time you will need to go to sleep in order to get up and out the door on time in the morning.
For example, say school starts at 8 a.m., and you need to leave the house by 7:30 a.m.
Let’s also say it takes you an hour to eat breakfast and to get ready.
If you need 9 hours of sleep, then you will need to get up at 6:30 a.m. and be asleep by 9:30 p.m.
Depending upon how quickly you fall asleep, you may need to go to bed earlier than the time you calculated.
If it takes you a ½ hour to fall asleep, and you’ve determined you need to be asleep at 9:30 p.m., then you should be in bed at 9 p.m. , Move your bedtime back by 15 minutes per day every 3-4 days.
Wake up 15 minutes earlier on these days, too.
Do this every day of the week, including on the weekends, until you’re falling asleep at your decided-upon bedtime, or at 9:30 p.m. in the example above.Depending upon how late you’ve been staying up, this method may take several weeks to accomplish to get to your desired bedtime, so plan ahead.
If you don’t plan ahead, you’ll need to speed up the process.
Try moving your bedtime back by 1-2 hours every 1-2 days and waking up 1-2 hours early on these days, too.
It could be rough going at first but likely less so than making the change in one day, especially on the first day of school when you might already be nervous and have trouble sleeping.
Stick to the plan on weekends, or the one, if you’ve only given yourself a week to complete the process.
If you don’t stay on your sleep schedule during the weekend, it throws off your circadian rhythm, making Monday morning a literal drag. -
Step 3: Reset your internal clock.
Detailed Guide
Over the summer, you most likely got into the habit of sleeping in and staying up late.
To prepare for rising earlier for school, you will need to reset your internal, or circadian, clock to make the adjustment back to school easier.
While everyone is a little different, the rule of the thumb is that those between 5-9 years old need 10-11 hours of sleep per night, and those between 10-18 years old need 8½-9½ hours of sleep per night.
Calculate what time you will need to go to sleep in order to get up and out the door on time in the morning.
For example, say school starts at 8 a.m., and you need to leave the house by 7:30 a.m.
Let’s also say it takes you an hour to eat breakfast and to get ready.
If you need 9 hours of sleep, then you will need to get up at 6:30 a.m. and be asleep by 9:30 p.m.
Depending upon how quickly you fall asleep, you may need to go to bed earlier than the time you calculated.
If it takes you a ½ hour to fall asleep, and you’ve determined you need to be asleep at 9:30 p.m., then you should be in bed at 9 p.m. , Move your bedtime back by 15 minutes per day every 3-4 days.
Wake up 15 minutes earlier on these days, too.
Do this every day of the week, including on the weekends, until you’re falling asleep at your decided-upon bedtime, or at 9:30 p.m. in the example above.Depending upon how late you’ve been staying up, this method may take several weeks to accomplish to get to your desired bedtime, so plan ahead.
If you don’t plan ahead, you’ll need to speed up the process.
Try moving your bedtime back by 1-2 hours every 1-2 days and waking up 1-2 hours early on these days, too.
It could be rough going at first but likely less so than making the change in one day, especially on the first day of school when you might already be nervous and have trouble sleeping.
Stick to the plan on weekends, or the one, if you’ve only given yourself a week to complete the process.
If you don’t stay on your sleep schedule during the weekend, it throws off your circadian rhythm, making Monday morning a literal drag.
About the Author
Jacqueline Flores
Writer and educator with a focus on practical cooking knowledge.
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