Looking for help on time management (sleep)

[pstu24]

I am extremely efficient with my time, or rather I USED to be.

I am the type of individual who can go for months on end with around 4-5 hours of sleep ... so long as it is a good night worth of sleep and I am not sick or anything like that ... and I find myself extremely productive. In fact, my typical schedule is go down at about 11-12pm (and I still do some light reading), wake up anywhere around 4:30-5:00am, and I am just as refreshed as the occasional days I sleep in until the mid morning.

The "new" issue over the past year or two is my wife and I have a child now. I wouldn't wish my life any other way and I am completely happy, but the one thing after 18 months is I find a crunch of time that I can't seem to control any longer.

On the one hand, FIRE is ALL the more important because I don't want to waste any time of my child growing up. However, new responsibilities AND opportunities have been added with a little one... which is great, but by definition time consuming. I am ALSO trying even harder to side hustle and push my small business forward. The biggest issue is the 4-5 hours of sleep I USED to be fine with has now grown into closer to 6.5/7 over the last year.

I have the will to wake up early and accomplish things. BUT I find the hardest task of my day to be getting out of bed, and my motivation even as I hit the pillow is like night and day (no pun, but sort of ironic?), because when I wake up in the morning I can't seem to just roll out of bed and go to it.

Throw in the fact that if I COULD wake up and get an hour or two extra of work done a day while my wife and child were still asleep, it would mean less stress on me during the day and more time with them, and I am all the more desperate to find out strategies of anyone who has been in a similar boat.

Any way to get up earlier? Any process that makes it easier? This is one challenge in my life that I am finding trouble beating and I am sick of throwing an extra work day or two per week in terms of hours away just for sleeping when I never used to need it!

[Maenad]

You may need to give up on this dream - your body has gotten older, its needs have changed. Give it what it needs and cut something else - you'll be more rested and more productive during your waking hours.

It sucks, but our bodies often change on us for the worse after our 20s.

[mm1970]

You may need to give up on this dream - your body has gotten older, its needs have changed. Give it what it needs and cut something else - you'll be more rested and more productive during your waking hours.

It sucks, but our bodies often change on us for the worse after our 20s.

Yup.  Aging (I'm 47), kids, more stress, more "things".

You need more sleep.

My husband had to admit last year that 5 hours wasn't cutting it anymore. 

[Noodle]

 I don't know that I have any suggestions to help you stay awake longer, but maybe to move your awake time to a more productive part of the day...

My "bedtime" for a long time has been 11 PM, but I noticed that I was having problems with being really tired. What I realized was that 11 PM was when I started thinking about bed, but often I would still have final kitchen chores, or a few more minutes of the show I was watching, or whatever...so it was much later when I turned out the light and then it still took awhile for my brain to wind down. I recently changed "bedtime" to 10 PM. That doesn't mean that I close my eyes at 10, but rather that I head toward bed around then. I read or surf the Internet until I get tired and turn off the light, which might be anything from 10 minutes to an hour. I've found that I go to sleep more quickly, and also wake up more easily (and earlier) even though my effective "bedtime" hasn't changed that much.

So my suggestion would be...are you doing something really productive with that last hour or so before bedtime, or could you change up your routine to increase the likelihood of being awake at a time when you can get more done?

[shelivesthedream]

It would help enormously if you could tell us:
1. What your typical daily schedule is - just in broad terms.
2. What you typically do in the two hours before bed.
3. What you typically do in the hour after you get up.
4. Where you sleep and how it's set up.
5. What the three biggest priorities are in your typical day.

In the meantime, try drinking two litres of water a day, cutting out all caffeine, and taking a multivitamin. Can't hurt, might help.

[NoraLenderbee]

Small children are tiring. I don't know any parents who weren't tired when their children were little. Consider dialing back the side hustle temporarily. Yes, you want to get to FIRE so you have time to enjoy your kid--but you don't want to miss these magical early years because you're so busy working or too exhausted to enjoy them. Your kids are only little once.

[MathematicalCycler]

I agree that if you can't wake up early anymore then it sounds like you need that sleep. I second the idea of trying to go to bed earlier and wake up earlier, if that extra hour is important to you.

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