In Western Europe people are known for being the early risers 7-8 am being common for students and workers, meanwhile the South and East wake up later. And when I mean late, it's MUCH more different in Southern Europe (Spain, Italy, Greece) 8-10 am is the average and they eat lunch and dinner very late 1-3 pm and 8-10 pm.
Meanwhile super early bird culture seems much more common in the US regardless of state as I read discussions of most people waking up at around 6 am, even 5 am seems common! :O I often post late in the morning in my country when it's very early in the East Coast but I get tons of comments from Americans!
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What is hillarious about this question is the other post up right now questioning why we go to bed and wake up so late compared to other countries
That 8-5 workforce will do that to you
For me, my jobs always started around 7-8am. In order to get ready and commute, 5-6am is when I had to get up.
By choice, I do not wake up that early, I just like being able to keep my jobs.
As I’ve gotten older I’ve started waking more with the sun. Also, we go to be earlier. My bed time is 9:30.
Idk but I need it to stop 😓
The USA has a work culture. It’s why the median Italian is substantially poorer than the median Mississippian.
most grade schools start around 7-8 and many businesses open as early as 6-8 am. if you have any responsibilities as an American, you likely have to get up very early for those. It becomes a habit
Typical work day starts at 8am or earlier. My job I have to be there before 8am and its a 1+ hour commute. I am up at 5am just so I can grab a shower and eat breakfast before diving out the door.
I work with people in France. When it’s 9am here it’s 6pm there.
Idk but I despise it. 9 am wake up is my ideal… I’m forever tired having to wake up at 6-7. I’m a night owl so going to sleep at 9-10 pm, is very hard. I’d wake up later if my job would allow it
However then when I’m a tourist trying to maximize my European holiday, nothing is open in the morning!
It varies pretty widely. I mostly work from home and get up at the last second, checking emails in bed.
We don’t have a choice. School started at 7:30am, and a lot of jobs start between 7-9. I’m much happier working a late shift because waking up at 5am every day for years was miserable.
We work too much to have normal lives.
I am American and work at a hospital. I have to be up by 4:30am most days.
I recently visited a Greek friend in Greece, and it was pretty comical how I got hungry for dinner at like 5pm and she didn’t want to eat until like 10. We made it work but we had lots of laughs about it.
At least where I live, a lot of people wake up early to beat traffic. (Not the only reason, but part if it). People have long commutes so they want to minimize time spent sitting in traffic. Your commute might take 30 minutes if you leave your house at 7am, but it might take an hour or even longer if you wait till 8 to leave. Then the same thing in reverse for your commute back home.
It also depends on the industry. If someone works bank/office hours they can probably sleep in until 6 or 7am. I’m in the trades and have a long commute so I get up around 2am and leave for work at 3am so that I’m at the job site ready to start work at 5am. The payoff for that is that I get to work 3 long days, only work until lunch the 4th day, and then have a 3 day weekend with the family
I actually think this is true but not as stigmatized as maybe it once was. Like getting up early for work being considered a virtue and sleeping in being considered lazy. I think people are starting to understand the value of sleep more, as a fundamental health measure.
What time do most jobs start in Europe? Especially if they’re waking up 8-10 am when is work??
To be ready and commute for a former job, I needed to be awake at 4:30am to start work at 6:00am.
My new job allows me the luxury of “sleeping in” until 6am to be at work by 7:45am!
I work 8-5 and have an hour commute. So that gives you an idea of what time I’m up
I wake up at 2 or 3am. Shit or get off the pot, we gotta do stuff during daylight.
I have to be at work at 8. I leave the house 2 hours before work because of traffic. Then I still need time to get ready and wake up.
So yeah. That’s why I get up early.
I’ve gotta get up at 445 to 5 so that I can get to the gym or go run and have time to make breakfast before work. If I don’t workout before work I almost never do it when I get home.
What surprised me in Spain was how many coffee places don’t open until 8:00 or 8:30 in the morning. There are some that open earlier, but that isn’t the norm. I found myself grabbing coffee at a bakery, as that opened earlier than the nearby cafe. In the US, a cafe couldn’t stay in business if they opened that late.
I naturally dont sleep much. Sometimes I have up at 4:30 and my body is done sleeping.
On an average day, I need to be up at 7:15 to be sure my middle schooler does not miss the bus “accidentally.”
I had a toddler who wakes up early and the only time for me to exercise is either first thing in the morning (5am) or after 8pm and, after chasing a 2 year old around all day, I’m not about to do that
Because those 3 countries you mentioned have shit economies and no one has any jobs to get to.
I’m by no means any kind of expert besides being an american, but basically i think it’s due to the car centric culture that americans have. Most people commute to work that usually starts at 8 or 9. Therefore, they have to wake up early to drive there, often through a hefty amount of traffic.
the general work shifts here are, 8am-4pm or 9-5 (while there are other shifts, those are the most common). Commuting a certain distance, getting kids ready for school, feeding/walking pets are some other factors. So if you have to be at work at 8 or 9, you are probably getting up no later than 6 if you have various things to get done in the morning.
I’m a morning persona deal ways have been. I wake up at 5 am. No matter what time I go to bed. Unless I’m sick, then it’s bed all day!
Starbucks opens at 4:30am where I used to live (big sity suburbs). People outside of the U.S. and China think we’re nuts and they are probably right
My high schools in both North and South America started at 7-7:15. That was on the early side of things, but not unusual.
Many office and retail-type jobs start at 8. If you have a 30-60 minute commute, especially if you need to drop kids off at school and/or want to eat breakfast, exercise, etc. in the morning, you’re probably waking up at 5 or 6. Some other jobs can start even earlier – I know some healthcare workers and tradespeople who start at 6 or 7. Some food service too, with baristas and restaurants that do breakfast starting even earlier so that the people working at 6 or 7 can still get coffee before work.
Get up early to get to work on time. Also have to consider the traffic on the freeway. School starts early to accommodate the bus schedule or parents dropping kids off on their way to work.
I’d like to blame work, but I’m WFH with my daily stand up at 0830. I still wake most days at 0600. I do the budget, make coffee, put up laundry, walk the dog etc. By 1700 I’m more than done with the day. I read at night in bed for a while and head that way by 2100 most nights.
No idea why. Before I was WFH I woke at 0500 for only a 20 minute commute to be at the office at 0800.
Because my job starts at 7am
My kids school starts at 8am
My husband’s job starts at 8:40am
We have to get up early to get to school/work in time.
Because businesses open earlier and often close earlier. Why and when did it start being that way is probably debatable, but we don’t just do it because we love what life feels like before the sun comes up, it’s because everything is structured that way.
My job literally requires me to get there at 6am, I don’t have a choice lol
For a huge chunk of the country, and even for me as a midwesterner, if you want to work out you better get outside early-early if you don’t want to die of heat stroke.
Specific to Spain, screw that time zone. I hiked a Camino route in western Spain during the colder months and the sun didn’t rise until 9am. It’s hard to start the day in the dark.
History of the Protestant work ethic in the US. “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”
Combine that with a strong agricultural background and the capitalism of the Industrial Revolution.
Australians are up even earlier. Many wake up at 5-6 am before the sun is even up lol
Puritanical roots act like it’s morally wrong to sleep in
For most, it’s **not** by choice.
I hate early bird culture. Kid’s school, work, everything is early and i am NOT a morning person. Idk why it’s like this but i don’t love it.
It’s a remnant of the historical Protestant work ethic of our country’s founding. In my field, people are shamed by colleagues if you suggest showing up after 7am. My spouse wakes for work at 0430.
I work on an international team with lots of Europeans. The Americans start early (~7) and Europeans stay late (~6) to lengthen the overlap between the time zones. It feels weird to visit a European office and see people rolling in at 9 and then getting coffee.
The “Puritan Work Ethic,” and an economy based almost totally on agriculture created a culture where many Americans get up before dawn (and see napping as a sign of physical and moral weakness).
As Americans, we’re raised to believe that sleeping late is lazy or shameful, or a moral failing. Sucks for anyone who is not a morning person.