I managed to wake up earlier by ensuring that I got 15-30 minutes of bright light exposure immediately upon waking. Sunlight is ideal, but I'm in the PNW and it was winter at the time, so that wasn't an option for me. Instead, I bought a sun lamp on Amazon. The particular model is no longer available, but it was a 10,000 lux lamp that I placed right below my monitor. The incredible thing is that it took less than a week before I was waking up before 6am without the use of an alarm clock.
I learned of this from the Huberman Lab Podcast, specifically the part where he touches on advancing your biological clock here:
When I moved into my new home last summer, I built a gym in my garage, mostly using Rogue equipment. I then started doing an upper / lower bodybuilding split.
For cardio, I have an exercise bike that is hooked up to Zwift. I also jump rope and walk my dog. I try to get ~10,000 steps / day according to my Oura ring.
Finally, I just got a basketball hoop, so I'm planning on using that as well.
I essentially solved all of my sleep problems by doing the following:
Getting 15-30 minutes of bright light exposure first thing in the morning. Ideally this would be sunlight, but I don't have that option this time of year based on how early I wake up (I'm in the PNW and wake up at 6am), so I use a sun lamp I bought on Amazon.
Likewise, minimizing blue / bright light after the sun goes down. If I need to use my computer, I have flux installed and set to the lowest brightness setting. I do something similar for my phone as well.
Supplementing glycine, magnesium glycinate (which also contains glycine), l-theanine, and ashwaghanda in the evening before bed. Glycine has had the most impact on my sleep. It's as if I had been exiled from dream-land before, but now I've been allowed back! My sleep is so much deeper. Note: I bought the BulkSupplements powdered version on Amazon and take 3-5x the recommended dose in my evening smoothie. I've found megadosing magnesium in this way also helps. The recommended doses seem to be way too low, especially if you happen to be deficient.
As someone who spends a significant portion of the day in front of a screen, I can't emphasize enough how important managing light exposure throughout the day is. Check out the Huberman Lab podcast if you haven't already. This episode in particular is what started me down the path to correcting my sleep:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nm1TxQj9IsQ
After watching that episode, I used my sun lamp to dial in my circadian rhythm over the course of a couple weeks. I was then able to wake up at the same time every morning without an alarm clock, which for me was a miracle.
I learned of this from the Huberman Lab Podcast, specifically the part where he touches on advancing your biological clock here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nm1TxQj9IsQ&t=3339s