Becoming a morning person

When I?m lying in bed, half-asleep, looking over to see how many minutes are left until I have to hit the snooze button again, I will ask myself, ?Self, why didn?t you go to bed earlier?? And I never have a good answer. The best I come up with is that I couldn?t believe it would be this difficult to wake up after a whole six hours of sleep.

I think what happens is that every once in a blue moon we are able to wake up bright and early to face the day and we think we can repeat the feat at will. But more often than not, that bed is simply too comfortable. 

At least, that?s what I thought before I went to college. When I was in college, the local recreation center opened at 6 a.m. I didn?t believe there were many people who wanted to work out that early in the morning. It seemed like a lot of my fellow students were just getting to bed at that time. That was why I was shocked when I learned there were kids who stood outside the building well before dawn ? in the winter, no less ? waiting for an employee to unlock the door!

For one year prior to moving to Washington, I belonged to a fitness center in Webster City. The center shortened its hours dramatically over the summer, making it uncomfortable for me to attend after work. My only other option was to turn my life upside down and do the impossible: go to the gym at 6 a.m.

I wasn?t looking forward to it. I knew I would have to be at the gym promptly at 6 a.m. if I were going to get a decent workout before having to shower and arrive at work on time. But then I thought of the people in college who went to the rec center at that very hour. I thought, ?If they can do it, why can?t I??

As it turned out, I could. For seven straight weeks, I went to the gym at 6 a.m. every weekday (at that time, the gym was closed over the weekend). The strangest thing was that, instead of feeling tired, I felt much better during the first few hours of work. While my co-workers moved about as if they were sleep-walking, I had plenty of energy. All of a sudden, 8 a.m. felt like the middle of the day.

The change in schedule did not come without some sacrifices. In order not to feel drowsy by the afternoon, I had to stop watching late-night television and hit the hay a little sooner. If I ate supper later than normal, I had a hard time staying awake for dessert. The experience made me feel that I had accomplished something. I didn?t think I could train myself to be a morning person, but I proved myself wrong. However, I felt a little more humble when later that summer I learned that 6 a.m. was the time my landlord got back from his morning bike ride.