Benefits of Rising Early, and How to Do It

Re:Benefits of Rising Early, and How to Do It by mhd on Wednesday August 19, 2009 @10:34PM (#774304)

As with most Zenhabits posts, it's just filled with feel-good hokey (come on, the Dalai Lama? How is he an expert on good working hours? I'd rather get sex tips from the Pope). No actual evidence. And if you've got flexible hours (which a lot of programmers have), most of it is moot anyway. Late risers can have their breakfast and prepare for the day at 12 o'clock if they want to...

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Re:Benefits of Rising Early, and How to Do It by chrischen on Wednesday August 19, 2009 @11:21PM (#774354)

I think there was a study that showed sleeping during daylight is not as good as during night time. Don't quote me on it though.

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Re:Benefits of Rising Early, and How to Do It by ojbyrne on Wednesday August 19, 2009 @10:54PM (#774328)

I didn't see a single thing in there that couldn't be replicated by rising late. I have done both early rising and late rising for extended periods of my life. Both have things to offer. Even the 9-5 routine has some advantages (the word "routine" basically captures it).

s/sunrise/sunset/,

s/breakfast/leisurely dinner/

You win.

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Re:Benefits of Rising Early, and How to Do It by Goladus on Thursday August 20, 2009 @08:28AM (#774849)

Having done a lot of late rising and early rising in my life, s/sunrise/sunset/ and s/breakfast/dinner/ doesn't apply. You can go to bed at 22:00 every night and unless you live in the Arctic Circle you'll see a sunset every night you care to, all year long.

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Re:Benefits of Rising Early, and How to Do It by Goladus on Thursday August 20, 2009 @08:39AM (#774870)

Have you ever tried waking up early yourself? Do you have any "actual evidence" even from your own experience?

In my case, commuting is one huge advantage of waking up early, when I do it. Traffic between 5-7 tends to be far less stressful, even when it's heavy. These are all people who are relaxed, focused, and moving quickly without being in a hurry. 8:00-10:00 people are rushing and hurried and angry and chatting on cell phones, 11:00-13:00 gets very heavy with lunch rush, with some people hurrying and others just meandering along getting in the way. Then after a brief lull between 14:00 and 15:00 (the early risers heading home) you start getting a mix of traffic from commuters and people doing afternoon activities, which tends to persist until late (20:00-21:00) except on Monday nights, unless there is an event like a Red Sox game or something.

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Re:Benefits of Rising Early, and How to Do It by mmt on Thursday August 20, 2009 @02:27PM (#775744)

In the SF Bay Area, commuting by car over the past 15 years, I've found that there are no generalizations I can safely make about traffic during a particular time of day, which applies to all routes and all directions.

I became an early riser for a particular job and have stayed on that sleep schedule for (arguably indirectly related) health reasons, so I'm awake by 13:00 UTC every day, which is 6am or 5am, depending on Daylight Silly Time. However, I tend to adjust my commute departure time such that I get a good overlap of being in the office with my cow-orkers.

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Re:Benefits of Rising Early, and How to Do It by archon810 on Wednesday August 19, 2009 @11:23PM (#774358)

The guy is clearly not a programmer. Programmers' most productive time is at night - everyone knows that.

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Re:Benefits of Rising Early, and How to Do It by ryanwaggoner on Thursday August 20, 2009 @12:46AM (#774451)

Anytime someone says something and follows it with "everyone knows that", my skepticism sensors kick into high gear :)

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Re:Benefits of Rising Early, and How to Do It by vyrotek on Wednesday August 19, 2009 @11:43PM (#774380)

I actually get a lot more done early in the morning. All the distractions are gone. No one is sending me email or trying to chat with me on IM.

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Re:Benefits of Rising Early, and How to Do It by projecktzero on Thursday August 20, 2009 @10:30AM (#775100)

Some people are morning people and some people are creatures of the night. My mind is much sharper in the mornings. Most of my co-workers are better at night.

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Re:Benefits of Rising Early, and How to Do It by tigerthink on Thursday August 20, 2009 @12:21AM (#774424)

Surely it isn't very hard to close your mail & IM clients?

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