For about six months now, roughly every second Saturday, I wake up already in it. Weekdays I am fine. I wake at 6:20 on workdays and sleep until 9 or 10 at weekends, and I drink three coffees a day at work and usually nothing until late morning at the weekend. Has anybody actually broken this pattern, and which variable did it turn out to be?
Add dehydration to the suspect list. Weekday routine usually includes a water bottle on a desk. Weekend mornings often include nothing at all until lunch.
Mine was the lie-in, not the coffee. I now get up at the same time seven days a week and nap in the afternoon if I need it. It took about six weeks to feel normal and I have gone from most weekends to maybe one a month.
Keep a very simple log: wake time, first caffeine, and whether you got one. Three columns. After eight weeks the pattern is usually visible without any interpretation at all.
Whatever it turns out to be, the fact that it is this regular is good news. Predictable patterns are the ones you can actually act on.
@wonder_why_wren · 3mo ago · 4 replies
Both variables you named, and they compound.
Caffeine first: three coffees on weekdays and none until 11am on Saturday is a substantial withdrawal and the timing lines up exactly. For a lot of people that alone is the whole pattern. What worked for me was not quitting but moving to a consistent smaller amount every single day including weekends, at roughly the same hour. Two cups, same time daily, and my weekend mornings changed within about three weeks.
Sleep second: a three hour lie-in is effectively jet lag. Sleeping past about 90 minutes over my usual wake time was reliably a bad idea for me.
Change one at a time, three weeks each, so you learn which it was. Start with caffeine because it is easier to control and the effect shows up faster. And mention the pattern to your doctor - a clean weekly rhythm like that is genuinely useful information for them.
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@retainer_rue · 3mo ago
Three weeks each and change one thing. Better than my current plan, which is changing everything for four days and giving up.
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@wonder_why_wren · 3mo ago
The four day experiment is the classic mistake. Nothing about this settles in four days.
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@annualfee_amy · 3mo ago
Also: weekend coffee at your weekday time, then go back to bed if you want. Sounds silly, works well.
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