Why the elders can wake up so early?

My grandfather was like that too. 4am and he was up and fixing coffee..lol. I used to wonder the same thing..nothing happens that early is what I would think. It is a biological clock thing though. I have been working a dayshift job now for a longtime. I used to be a night owl, but now, I wake up early too I even try to stay in bed so I can get some extra sleep but I am wide awake. I use that time as "my time." Everyone is sound asleep sp I can watch what I want and if I want to paint..I can do that too...lol. Mylotting is popular for me in the wee hours of the morning too. Sometimes I use that time to do my homework when I can concentrate.

We wake up early because we know we only have a limited number of days left and want to get the most out of every day. Then we pack as much as we can into each day which leaves us tired enough to hit the sheets at 9-10 p.m. Why waste our time sleeping when we can be watching you young'uns make fools out of yourselves? If I could use more smilies, I would. ????

Hey, I think waking up and going to bed early is a lot more healthy than sleeping late and waking up late. Don't you know that? I also wonder about that. My grandmothers and all the elder people wake up at about 5 am everyday. I like it because they cook breakfast for the kids.

You've got to be kidding. I don't wake up voluntarily before 8 AM unless I HAVE TO!!!

Oh you just reminded me of my grandpa =) He used to do the same too. Sleep at around 9pm and wake up at 5am or even earlier. Maybe he got tired so he slept early. I don't know, I never asked. He is no more now. He passed away this year . I miss him ='(

As I observed even to myself, when I was younger than my age right now, I can sleep the whole day if I wanted to, but upon reaching forty, I have less sleep now. I do not have any idea about this but it might be norm to have this biological clock while getting older.

It's not the elders alone (unless you wish to call me an elder:P). Though I do not get up at the unearthly hour of 3 or 4 am...I am often up by 5-5.30am. Of course, I go to be bed early too. By 9.30pm I am already in bed. I find myself fresh all day when I get up early after a complete sleep with no interruptions. But the days I sleep in, I find myself lethargic all day! It was a little hard in the beginning and I needed an alarm clock (I was the get-up-at-midday if I have nothing to do...category)...but pretty soon, I would wake up without the help of the alarm. Now, I wake up at the same time without an alarm and even if I do not have to get up at 5 am. The elder people you are talking about might be used to their timings. When I was younger, I remember my parents would watch movies at night. My dad would start yawning by 10 am and go off to bed because he couldn't keep his eyes open. My mother could afford to take a nap during the day if she wanted to...so she would finish watching the movie.

hi my dear friend, i think most of it depends on tension. tension takes away sleep and rest. the moment you will come down to rest and take a nap also for ten fifteen minutes, you will have hundreds of questions and things revolving in your mind. you will feel things revolting but have to digest it and move , job and work area related problems, owner related problem, the moment on lie down those will be the first to come and entertain you. you will never have happy thoughts, most of the time. its human tendency that if a person is late, you will not think that he is doing some overtime or is busy in a party, you will think of something very bad like an accident or caught somewhere. its the same way that when one comes to sleep, tensions take over everything and sleep goes on for a night walk. the more responsibilities you have the more the problem is there. if you dont have any problems or tension , much, your sleep will not be hampered . you will sleep good , very good. my mother-in-law is a good example of it. she sleeps like a baby. no tensions in life and as i am told, she was always like that. GOD is always very good on her. she dont do anything , always on the bed, enjoys eating and watching television. she do not like to go out much because she is a bit obese so dressing is a problem for her. so, i think, it all depend son responsibilities . i never had a long peaceful sleep. my life was always a very hush hush life. i struggled my life since childhood and i am still struggling. so i never slept that peacefully ever. s, i believe, age can be a reason, but not always, its the situation also. i can write this because it is something that i am myself an example of it, i have experienced it.

Morning, youless. To wake up early and get up early for the elder is very natural. The same case can be seen from my dear father who always gets up as early as three in the morning and then get ready to have outside walking and some other activities in the city. As to me, if it is school term, I always wake up at between six to six thirty though I don't want to. It is just a habit for me though, the kind of so-called biological clock that every one of us has. Take care, youless.

I'm with you on this one. My mother would go to bed at 7 and be up at 4 and 5 in the morning. She could never understand how I could sleep in or not want to eat dinner until 7 or 8 at night. Even now, I find myself staying up later and later with no desire to go to sleep early. For me, it's more quiet and peaceful at night. I enjoy being up at night. There are more interesting television shows on at night. I think I need to find a job at night, don't you?

hi, you or everone will become so when they become elder., As the problems and tensions and works become more which will not let a person be on bed for late in the mornigns unless there is health problem.Getting up early is also a very good habit.It is very peacefull when u be in early hours .Just go early to bed and early rise.

Although I am not scientifically sure why but I seem to believe that they somehow believe that the early to bed early to rise seems to be the best concept for them. I have to believe their is some truth to date because, although I don't think I am elder yet, I am one who feels, like shucks it is 12noon the day is gone. lol I hope not to be one who does wake at 3am in my elder days. But then I do at times when I have lots in mind and or eager to get some things accomplished. So maybe out of habit that more gets accomplished earlier in the day, maybe.

Hi Youless, i totally agree with you. It seems like the elderly are early risers. They wake up so early in the morning for i don't know what reason. For me, i try to stay in bed for as long as i can when there is no school. Perfect at 1pm (too late for some)!! If i am asked to wake up at 4am, i'll definitely grumble like mad and make a lot of noise about it. However, it natural for them to wake up in the wee hours. I believe like what you mention, their biological clock is already fixed.

Well, they wake up early because they slept early too. If your are to count how many hours of sleep they have, it's 7 hours. For older persons, they need 7 or lesser number hours of sleep. They are used to sleeping early, so their biological clock is set on that.

hi youless I cannot speak for other elders but for me not used to a roommate at all as I have been widowed for years. having someone who wakes up and wanders thus waking me up, has a lot to do with my waking early.She is drivng me up the wall with her trips dpwmstaors here at Gold Crest to get pain medication that they alread gaveher hours before. she leaves the hall door wide open.The glare of light wakes me and makes it hard to get back to sleep. Thus making me finally get up early as I am sick of tossing and turning. To say all elders do this or that is not fair as we are all individuals. Myself if I was not here I would be up til midnight then sleep til 8 or 9 am but I am here and am thus made to follow the blasted rules. breakfast at 7 am so up at 6. not my idea but I obey the silly rules. Thats why I sit here yawning and wishing I was still sleeping. I am not a morning.

Yes elders have some problems sleeping and that's one of the main reasons as to why the wake up more early (sometimes too early). A lifetime of work that required you to wake up at 6 a.m. or earlier to get to work tends to take its tool on you and fix your biological clock and if you're having even the slightest sleeping problems you will surely wake up a bit earlier, and thus reaching night hours (like 4 a.m. for example). The best sleep is believed to be from 22:00 p.m. to 24:00 p.m. so that may be one of the reasons why they go to sleep earlier.

Hi Youless, Good question! One reason I feel is youngsters dont have too much of worries or take life so serious. So they sleep peacefully for long time. While elders have more worries and responsibilities which stops them to sleep for hours. So they wake up early to start their work.

the answer to that is that as we grow older the more lesser the time we sleep, generally speaking elderly people are not sleeping like we do, we have stages of sleep, in which elderly people only sleep up to level two, to cut the story short, they wake up early because of their body system tells them too. i know it is quite confusing :P

O yes that is quite common because my Grandpa wakes up at 5 am everyday on the dot! and that's exactly when i am in deep sleep!! But my mum is also used to waking up early but somehow i feel very uncomfortable waking up so early so i stick to my 7 o clock...but yes i think its something to do with their body clock because my Grandpa wakes up at 5 even if he is not well :)!!

I happened to observe that also. I think for me, no offense, they wake up so early because they are afraid of dying and they should wake up to see that they are still in their world.