I get up at 5:45. I haven't needed an alarm clock for many years. I just wake up. Mornings are getting tougher. I'm at work at 7. An hour ahead of anyone else, but damn it takes an hour before I'm up and running at full speed. I'd like to work until I'm 67. Is this normal for my age?

I am 66. When I wake up, I usually lay in bed for about 15 minutes before I get up. I need that time to be fully awake. Welcome to your 60s!

Normal (i just turned 60).

My wife wakes up the happiest most energetic (read, talkative) as soon as her feet hit the floor.

Takes me all of 60 minutes to be ready to say, "good morning."

Only thing going my way currently, a traffic jamb is when the dogs demand their morning scratches.

Just keep getting up and getting going.

Death is older than you.

I just hope he stays in bed for fifteen minutes after he wakes up. By then, I am out the door...


(I still "Military wake up" without a clock)

I'm certainly no expert, so take it for what its worth, but I believe pretty strongly with this.

If you go to a gym, do NOT get a so called "trainer" who is a young kid. Insist on a Senior who is roughly your age, talk to them, talk to at least 5, do not grab the first one, find one that makes sense to you and understands your situation. Do not let one "over do" you, find one who can push you in a way that makes sense and you will want to come back and stay with it.

Start, and work up to, walking 30 minutes (no cheating) every day.

3 times a week, start doing mild and light weight training. This will help your body immensely. Gradually work up the weight, but don't overdo it. Be consistent and growing.

Do NOT try to start at big macho mean mister big time gym stud. Just start mildly and stay with it. If you start too heavy too much too soon, you'll quit.

I'm lucky to within a few of minutes of two Adult Oriented fitness centers. One is age 55-plus to walk in, the other allows the youngsters in but not many show up, it's probably 80% age 55+ patrons. I recommend not going to a so called normal every day gym that all the youngsters go to. Too many distractions, too much preening and strutting around, etc. Yeah the women are nice to look at, but so what, you're not there for that, you have an important goal to accomplish every time.

Learn and work on your core and balance. This is vital.

Just get started, and keep it up, do not stop or quit.

I ran across a guy on Youtube by the name of Eric Daw. He promotes exercise for Seniors, and it made a lot of sense to me.

Keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Never was a morning person... The last 12 years of my employment I had my alarm set to 3:18 AM (yes I had it timed to the minute) and then had to make a 50 mile commute.

A sausage egg cheese biscuit and a coffee or Mountain Dew consumed en route and I was pretty well ready to go when I got to work.

After I retired I swore never again! Sleep in late every day. Hell, I don't even allow Dr appointments before lunch!

Yea, the struggle is real but I do work hard to stay active... I do something EVERY day toward that goal... for example, today I changed out a burnt out light bulb in a lamp!

quote:

Originally posted by cparktd:
Never was a morning person... Sleep in late every day. Hell, I don't even allow Dr appointments before lunch!

Yea, the struggle is real but I do work hard to stay active... I do something EVERY day toward that goal... for example, today I changed out a burnt out light bulb in a lamp!

Are we related?
Same drill here! I retired 14 years ago this month.

I'm 61, for the last 30 years never needed an alarm clock. In bed around 9, set the alarm for
4am, wake up at 3:45. I'm a morning person. one minute after I wake up I'm ready to go.
Been unemployed the last three months and my sleep schedule went haywire. For about a month I took about three two hour naps a day. Thankfully
finally sleeping five to six hours of continous
sleep. The AdvilPM I think help somewhat.

^^^^^^ Try some Volunteer work. Might be an agency in your town that lists Volunteer opportunities, or a church list. I like Volunteering at a Food Bank.

There’s nothing like helping others to give you some perspective. When you think your life sucks and your problems are awful then you see how fortunate you really are.

Anyway, try to find things that keep you busy and try to keep a daily schedule.

Good luck to you.

I wake up like a vampire at sunset - ready to go.

Dunno where, just ready, capisce?

I'm 76.

Bad news, it wont get better. I just turned 67. WAke up with something hurting every day. I do exercise on a regular basis but no longer can do any upper body weight training due to Arthritis. As for "roadwork" it's mainly on an Elliptical trainer, if I do too many real miles good old Plantar Fasciitis rears it's ugly head.

 
Before I retired, I went to work at 04:00 and left at 14:00, beating the MD suburban traffic at both ends. I was able to get good maintenance work on our servers performed before everyone else got there, which was why my employer endorsed the schedule. My last 5 years at work, I was a remote telecommuter from AZ, again endorsed. I had my home network routed into the company network and could reach any company server in the world.
 
Now that I'm retired, and 75, I get up between 01:00 and 02:00. I love that part of the day here in AZ, GHOs hooting, coyotes howling. If there is good moonlight, looking skyward reveals nighthawks galore. The afternoon/hottest part of the day is time for the Lazy Boy, popcorn, and video streaming in the AC.

Having some kind of problems means you are still alive.
Be thankful for that.

I figured that I’d be sleeping late when I retired. But, to my surprise it went the other way. Now I’m an early to bed, early to rise guy.

I am also 61 and pretty much the same routine. Alarm is set for 5, I wake up at 4:45 and kind of have a routine I have to go through lately. Coffee while checking the local news to see the weather, traffic, etc... breakfast, some time on the treadmill or rowing machine, then off to work.

If I don't force myself to exercise in the morning, it won't happen.

As for as working until 67, the day I figure out how to escape the workforce, I am done.

I worked from home from age 61 to 75, started at 0600. I never used an alarm clock, just woke up at 0530-0540, got up, made coffee and took a quick shower. Retired, I started getting up 0650 but since getting a puppy, it's changed to 0550, Again, never use an alarm clock, up and ready to go.

When I got to 60, I thought, what's the big deal. 62-63, mostly the same, started slowing and aching a bit more.
Now I'm Medicare +3 and starting to see why people retire, although mentally I can't get used to the idea that I'm older than my grandparents were when they looked very old to me.
Try to keep activity as high as possible and busy, also eat as healthy as you can. The more you sit around, the more tired you get. Viscous circle and you know where that ends.

I was pretty much the same as the OP, but I retired at 59 (the second retirement).

I still wake up around 5:30 without an alarm clock though.

I've never had a problem getting out of bed early, but it's always taken awhile to be fully functional. That didn't change much until retirement at age 64.

I'm 63 and yeah it takes a little while for me to be really functional after I get woke up in the morning. Weekdays it's the alarm clock. Although I've been working from home for 2 years now due to Covid, which has actually turned out to be good. I can sleep another hour since my commute to the office is about 30 seconds now instead of the old 45 minutes. No alarm clock on weekends, but the dogs always wake me up before I would otherwise.