Bin that bastard alarm?

In a recent Ian King article he states that sleep is such an important part of recoverey that he reccomends not using an alarm clock and letting the body wake up naturally. Many of us have to work which involves getting up of a damn morning, shame. I’m just going to not use an alarm anyway and when my boss rings to find out were the fuck I am i’ll just say Ian King told me to do it and i’ll be off the hook, sorted! O.k seriously what do you guys think?. Should I go to bed so damn early that the sun’s still blazing through the curtains and kids are playing outside to get at least a good 10 hours or should I quit work, live off the state and which Ricki and Opera between workouts?

Another point to consider would be going 10+ hours without food, is it really worth the recovery positives to let your body wake up naturally?

Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise. - Abe Lincoln said that I think. Or maybe Jefferson. I forget.

Ian was speaking in extremes just to get your attention in that article. (See last paragraph and note his little “wink wink” statement.) Ideally, this would be great. Of course, the world isn’t an ideal place. Still, I think getting to bed early and waking up early is a good thing overall. I’ve heard that said many many times by different experts in a fields of performance - mental, athletic, etc. Most of us get too little sleep, and weekend “catch-up sleep” doesn’t help too much. I’ve heard that thing about getting in more hours before midnight, but I don’t know why exactly that’s important. Anyone?

For good amounts of protein synthesis to occurr (i.e., MAKING MUSCLE) you need your sleep. It clearly makes all the difference. If you’re doing everything else right and not getting any sleep… well I doubt you’ll grow much at all. If anything I bet you’d shrink rapidly. I know that when I get lots of sleep I feel like I grown tremendously. Actually I think that’s why it’s easy to grow in college, because of there being times to nap and then get full sleep. It’s a bit harder in professional school or at jobs, but if you’re serious, then you’ll get your sleep. I really believe alcohol stinks too.

Quit your job man, who needs it? Unless of course you really love your job, but then you wouldn’t mind if it got in the way of training, I guess.

I am actually quitting mine at the end of the year (prior obligations to the job will keep me here till the end). I am gonna go back to school and get job(s) that let me get tons of sleep. Either work a couple part time gigs at a restaurant or whatever it takes. I am sick of work getting in the way of my dreams and goals.

BTW, Mercola also has an article on his site about not using an alarm clock and letting the body wake up naturally, so it wasn't just total extremism.

It was Ben Franklin, bud.

There ain’t much to love tipping heavy sacks of mail in a hot mail facotory but how else would I be able to afford those Biostest goodies? However I am doing a 12 week training course toword a job I actually do want on weekends so I agree with you in that you should follow your dreams. I think go back to school is the advice everyone should take beacuse if your in a job you hate for eight hourse a day it fucks with your head. Go for it man!

Well, I have a mortgage and a big car payment, not to mention my cc debt. But I am doing it. It really comes to whether you want to or not. If you want something bad enough, you will get it.

What about the negative offset of not eating for say 10-12 hours when you sleep longer?

There is a simple message that Ian is trying to convey here. Get as much sleep as you can. Of course you have to schedule your life into this equation. If you have an hour during the day where it is possible, take in some zzz’s. If all you can do is sleep @ night then take what your situation will give you (within reason). Just be sure to maximize the available time. The beauty of sleep is that it is such a powerful recovery aid and it’s FREE!!! Good night…

Believe it or not, your mind already has an alarm clock built in. I remember a teacher telling me this when I was young. Before you go to bed, look at the time and think to yourself when you want to wake up. Sleep, and you’ll wake up around the time you’ve set yourself to. I still use an alarm clock, but I wake up at least ten minutes before it goes off.

The best gains I ever made were when I was at college and slept up to 14 hours per day! But just as an anecdote I took Ian King’s advice and put up a thick blackout curtain a couple of days ago. I ended up sleeping in until 9.30am. trouble is I’m due at work at 8.30!

reshdawg. Even if you tell yourself when you want to get up, and even if your body does get up then, are you ready to get up? What I mean is, do you wake up and feel like it’s time to get up, or do you wake up and feel like going right back to sleep? I know sometimes I wake up 10-15 minutes before my alarm goes off, but I sure don’t feel like I am rested. On weekends, when I don’t use an alarm, my body wakes up when it is ready to.

Another thing you can do (if you do not want a life in a different way )during the day is to minimize energy expeniture. By this I mean, Lay down instead of sitting, sit instead of standing, use the elevator or escalator instead of the stairs, drive instead of walk, walk instead of run. However slight it provides more for recovery. I know it’s silly but the opposite expends energy.
Peace,
Tmofa

Everyone has a different amount of optimal sleep. Some people have consistently awaken after 5-6 hours of sleep and done great as far as normal daily energy, frequency of sickness and aging. While for others, as much as 10-12 (or more) is optimal. If I go to bed early without having had less than 7 hours sleep the night before, I still natually wake up after between 8-8.5 hours. Numerous times this has happened. I occasionally have bouts of insomnia, and occasionally stay out late while having to get up somewhat early (or being forced up by kids or lawnmowers etc.). After one of those nights, I sleep for more than 8-8.5 hours if I get to bed early enough, but otherwise I don’t. Average optimal sleep time for people seems to fall somewhere between 8 and 10 hours. My suggestion would be to schedule a bedtime at the same time every day for a week and make that time 12 hours before you absolutely have to be up on the days you work. Don’t take any day naps during this time, and cover your windows with some thick black materials. Then keep a sleep journal of the times you wake up. The average amount of time would give you an excellent idea of your optimal sleep time. Then you could try to schedule your regular bedtime for the nights you work in conjunction with that while still setting the alarm for insurance for being late to work from oversleeping. Peace.