how do you sustain energy levels when you wake up early

[Speaks]

As long as you got all your shots you'll be fine...

Third time there this year, Im not concerned.

 

[Steve300xcw]

Well there's your problem

 

[wowzers]

When I logged I was usually headed out the door around 2-2:30am in the summer. 1-2hr drive to the job then 10hrs of setting chokers and repeat the drive home. I’d be in bed by 7 or 8. After a couple years it was pretty normal. Not sure if three months is enough time for you to get acclimatized to your schedule if your other part of the year is real different. I will say it ruined me for sleeping in past 4am for about a decade.

 

[Davyalabama]

What's your schedule like the rest of the year?

It's a lot easier to stay on the same schedule, early to bed, early to rise.

Hydration, hydration, hydration, good fuel. A quick power nap is great, a long one, I'm tired the rest of the day.
In bed by 9, sex with the wife until 10:30 or so, quick shower after, a little cuddle time for her, that doesn't leave a lot of sleep for getting up at 4:00.

 

[sasquatch]

Wake at 3:30 to start work at 4am when I work days shifts

I’ve come to realize it does not matter how early you go to bed or how many hours you sleep. Waking up at that hour is just tough on the body


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[Tod osier]

For about three months every year, for work (wildlife surveys) I wake up around 4 am, sometimes a bit earlier or later, and usually have a short but steep hike to where I'll actually be performing the work. The survey lasts two hours, I then hike back, nap for 30-90 minutes, then do the daytime part of my job (more hiking, visiting areas and figuring out specific spots to survey in the future, cutting trails through brush that I can follow in the dark). If I don't have the nap, I feel noticeably more tired. After 5 days of this, I feel very sleep deprived and out of it. I am always in bed by 9 pm, I'm not a great sleeper but I've figured out how to maximize my chances. The physical aspect of the job isn't actually that demanding, I consider these three months to be the easiest, physically speaking, out of my year. There are plenty of other people who wake up early and work harder than I do, are you all exhausted all the time? I've noticed that when I'm on a similar schedule for hunting (without the nap), I don't feel as tired, or the same kind of sleep-dep tired. If you wake up early and perform physically demanding work, are you feeling sleep deprived and if you do how do you manage it?

Go to bed early.

 

[nighthawk265]

Consistency and sticking to a pretty tight schedule helps. Make a plan and stay on it, I haven’t used an alarm clock in 10 years and wake up at 5 am everyday without one. As others have said hydration, diet, exercise all play a part. Figuring out how to get good sleep has been the challenge for me no matter when I wake up. Not looking at screens and not eating with in 2 hours of going to bed has a huge impact on how well I sleep.

In all honesty you just need to figure out what works for you and only make one change at a time over a week to see what actually helps.

 

[Marshfly]

I almost never drink while I'm on a work trip.

I love caffeine and I'm not giving it up but I don't have any past noon. Shorter naps could be the key.

Work trip?
That normally means eating in restaurants.
What are you eating? Lots of flour based carbs will lead to late day lack of energy. Replace most or all with saturated fats and protein that gives you energy longer.

 

[justinspicher]

I’ve been waking up all my life, keep busy doing activities eat when I’m hungry and sleep at the end of the day. This has been my lifestyle for about 30yrs now.

 

[Marble]

I suspect it's a normal thing to need the nap, but i also think it's a totality of circumstances and not one thing would be the solution.

Quality food, high protein, good amount of complex carbs in the evening. Breakfast should be the same and probably the largest meal of the day.

Depending on the OPs age, HRT may be something that changes everything.

Currently I am on an 1800 calorie diet as I am in prep for something. 1 gram per pound of body weight, ~5 meals daily. Two servings ao fruit, usually two apples and/or a banana. I drink coffee throughout the day and have a supplement regiment that covers all my needs.

But a 20 minute nap can replace one serving of caffeine if I have the time.

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[Kheimann]

I second everyone stressing hydration! But make sure your loaded up on electrolytes too. I also take anywhere between 5-15g of creatine a day depending on how well I feel like I slept, and I don’t drink caffeine. The creatine seems to make a huge difference, my wife started it as well and was able to cut back on her caffeine intake.

 

[Czechsix]

When I was doing fieldwork in Death Valley like that, it was up at 0400, SSS, into the kitchen to pack a small lunch, grab some food and coffee, drive out to the work, be on site at 0600. Groggy usually, but sling the pack on and start trudging. Walking food was always jerky and water, never carbs. Lunch was jerky, some dried fruit, maybe a sandwich, and water. Nap for a couple of hours until it got cooler, then back to walking for four or five hours. Usually a pretty heavy dinner, water, and bed by 2000. Did that for months, six on, two off. Then again I was lots younger also lol. So, plenty of rest, water, protein, minimal alcohol.

 

[Mojave]

What kind of diet do you have?

Sounds like you are crashing on sugar.

 

[Phaseolus]

I used to be tired and need a nap despite getting 8 hours of sleep. My Brother got diagnosed with sleep apnea and told me it cured the tired problem. So, I got a sleep study done and now sleep with a CPAP machine and don't feel tired and can't nap during the day. I was in great shape and ate a good diet, the CPAP machine has made all the difference.

 

[mattmann]

I wake up at 4 AM almost every day. Typically try to run around 3 miles and then lift weights for 30 to 45 minutes. This has been my routine for at least a year or so. I have also been doing the ketogenic diet for a couple of years. It has worked amazing for leveling out my blood sugar and helping me with my plaque psoriasis. I don’t think it’s the number one diet for everyone, but it helped me dramatically. I can eat a good breakfast with a few eggs and some bacon or sausage and I’m typically good until dinner. No hunger pains, no blood sugar crashes, etc. I do drink mountain ops ignite around two or 3 PM And it typically helps me out pretty good. I also drink a pre-workout in the morning that is pretty high in stimulants. I try to drink nothing but water but occasionally have a diet Dr Pepper or 0 cal tea from Milo‘s. When I was eating a lot of carbs, I would get very hungry and shaky until I started checking my blood sugar and noticing I was almost prediabetic. Several people in my family have suffered from this so it was no surprise. I have lost almost 100 pounds and successfully kept it off while sticking to this diet and workout routine. Hoping for about 25 more but it has gotten way harder since I lost the initial big burst.

Bottom line for me, diet has helped stay going throughout the day!


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[Mojave]

CPAP would do it that’s what I have. It’s made a life of change. I don’t know at all. I’m not ever tired.

 

[timekiller13]

I wake up between 4-430 every day. Drink some coffee, then run 4-8 miles on weekdays, 12-20 miles on weekends.

Drink a lot of water throughout the day and I eat a lot of fruit. No caffeine after 8am and I don’t eat junk food. Avoid fast food at all cost. The few times a year I break down and go to McDs or the like, im ready crash afterwards.

In bed by 10pm every night. I do not take naps. Been doing this for several years. It was tough when I was working 12 hr shifts. Now that I am a regular 8-5 guy, it’s much easier.

 

[Boarmaster]

Up until 30 years ago I would get up about 6:45 am unless I was hunting or fishing. Then I would get up at 4-4:30 to,pursue my hobbies. I was like the walking dead by the middle of the afternoon not to mention not to on the ball until about 7-8 in the morning. It was getting so it wasnt even fun to go as I would not enjoy getting up.
My solution was to just start getting up at 4-4:45am every morning. For the past 30 years I been wide awake when its time to go hunting and fishing. I do go to bed at about 9-9:30 pm. But I never nap or get tired during the day. I just adjusted my day to meet my life style.

 

[Mojave]

Now that I am not on my phone. I thought I would dial in on the CPAP a bit more.

From about 16-35 when I got finally got diagnosed for my CPAP, I would fall asleep on the couch at 5-6pm on a regular basis. I had several girlfriends and an X-wife that said I stopped breathing.

Current wife and I got married when I was 35, she knew something was wrong with me and that I needed to get a sleep study. I asked my doctor about it, and sure enough I averaged 50-100 episodes of not breathing a night.

I have been on a CPAP treatment since the age of 35. I can stay up until midnight and wake up at 5 if I have to without a lot of problems. I never nap unless I am crazy ill.

I woke up at midnight last year and drove to Hungary to hunt last year. Was awake until 9 pm to hunt the first night and then up again at 4 am to hunt the first morning. The CPAP kept me going.

If I get 6 hours of CPAP sleep, I am great.

8 or 9 hours only if I don't feel well.

Young men are not normally diagnosed until they get married or have a girlfriend that they have night time activities with tell them they stop breathing.

 

[BKM]

4 things helped me.

No alcohol

No caffeine after noon

Be consistent, yes this means getting up at roughly the same time 7 days a week year round.

Do it for roughly 25 years, by this I think it means just getting older lol. I have been getting up between 5-6am for my job since I was 20, starting around 40 it got better and this year at 44 its easy.