Wake Up Easily

Do you have trouble waking up? Do you always feel groggy in the morning no matter what you do? Will you ever be a “morning person”? Waking up in the morning is partly mental, but mostly physical. By putting yourself in the right frame of mind, practicing some easy tricks, and resetting your body’s internal clock, you should be able to spring out of bed in the morning.

Steps

Getting Up in the Morning

1. Prepare mentally. Put yourself in the right frame of mind the night before. Make a note of good things that will happen to you the next day – things to look forward to. If you have an alarm clock or a bedside table, get a sticky note and write down something good or exciting that will happen after you wake up.
   • Visualize your day. If you imagine yourself alert and energetic, you will fire up the same parts of your brain you use when you actually are alert and energetic
2. Ease yourself out of bed. Design your bed and bedroom so that getting up in the morning comes more easily. How? There are a few things that you can do, including color schemes, temperature, and décor.
   • Some people think that colors can have an effect on how restful our sleep is. For example, yellow and soft blues seem to promote relaxation, while reds and purples are stimulating. Find colors that suit you and use them in your bedroom, on throws, blankets, or pillows.
   • Make your bedroom cooler. Your body will have trouble staying asleep if the surrounding temperature is too cold. The ideal room temperature for sleep is between 65 and 70 degrees F, so lower your thermostat below that range.
   • Increase the sunlight in your room in the morning. Natural light makes you feel more awake, and signals your biological clock to stop making melatonin, which makes you sleepy. If waking up is a problem for you, keep the window shades and curtains open to allow in the morning sun.
   • If you wake up before the sun comes out, and you can't have sunlight, you can buy a dawn simulator and set it so that it hits maximum brightness when your alarm goes off.
3. Take a refreshing shower. What could be inviting first thing in the morning than a shower? A good hot shower will open your eyes, give you time to collect your thoughts, and get you fresh and ready for the day.
   • If you are bold, try to take a cold shower. Some people find cold water very invigorating. Once finished with your cleaning, make the water as cold as you can for about thirty seconds. Then, return it to normal. The alternation of cold and hot water opens capillaries and will increase blood flow in your body.
   • You might also consider using an invigorating herbal body wash, some of which are designed to help you wake up. Find one that you like.
   • Give yourself a quick massage, too, while showering. This will boost your circulation and wake you up even more. Rub your temples, massage your shoulders, and drum your fingertips on your face.
4. Exercise first thing. One great way to wake up in the morning is to raise your heart rate and breathing. Not only will exercise wake you up, but it will give you energy and a mental boost for several hours. The natural light and fresh air will help, as well
   • Pick an exercise that you enjoy and that will motivate you to get out of bed. Try biking, running, swimming, or even just walking.
   • Aim for at least 20 to 30 minutes of exercise per day.
5. Eat breakfast. During the night, our glucose levels drop, which affects how we perform mentally and physically. Breakfast is critical to raise glucose levels and get you the energy to start your day. Make sure that you eat fairly soon after you wake up, ideally within one hour and no later than 10am.
   • Choose foods that are nutritious and will boost your energy levels. For instance, eggs, yogurt, some nuts like almonds, and chicken have chemicals called dopamine and norepinephrine. These stimulate your brain and body.
   • Drinking water can help, too. When you wake up, you’re most likely a bit dehydrated, and even a 2% drop in water stores can make you more tired. Drinking cold water will trigger your heart rate and increase blood flow to the brain.
6. Brew some coffee. A little bit of caffeine won’t hurt – seriously, most studies show that caffeine from coffee and tea is perfectly healthy in moderate doses. Have a cup or two. Just don’t overdo it, as more than that might make you jittery and anxious.
   • Plain coffee and tea (i.e. without milk and sugar) are low in calories and also contain beneficial antioxidants. You can also look to sodas and energy drinks for a quick pick-me-up, but these contain a lot more additives, particularly sugars, which might cause your energy to crash later on.

Resetting Your Body’s Internal Clock

1. Create a sleep schedule. The best thing that you can do in the long run to make waking up in the morning easier is to retrain your body, especially by sticking to a regular sleep schedule. Set a routine. Get to bed on time and be strict about getting up in the morning at the same hour.
   • To feel refreshed you’ll need to get enough deep sleep. Try to get between 8 to 10 hours of sleep nightly.
   • Don’t stay up late in the evening. Aim to be in bed by 10 pm or 11 pm and to get up at the same time each and every day. After a week or two, and if you stick to it, your body will adjust to waking up earlier.
   • Try easing yourself slowly into the new schedule by setting your alarm clock two minutes earlier per day. By the end of the week, you’ll be up almost a quarter hour sooner.
2. Relax progressively in the evening. Just like having a sleep routine, it’s important to establish a pre-sleep routine so that your body can anticipate bedtime. This routine will slowly power you down and prepare you for rest. Start it one or two hours before your normal bedtime.
   • For instance, slowly darken your room. Just as natural light wakens you, dim light signals your body to shut down for sleep. Turn off one light at a time or use the dimmer switch until your body is ready.
   • Read a book. Taking out a good book can be relaxing and also taxing enough to tire you out. It doesn’t need to be a potboiler, just anything that is easy to read. Your eyelids will soon get heavy.
   • When you sleep, sleep in darkness. Exposure to light stops your body from releasing chemicals that you need to sleep well, especially melatonin, while at the same time signaling you to wake up. Turn out all the lights for the best quality sleep.
3. Power down your devices. Remove or turn off any electronics in the bedroom, like your phone, iPad, computer, or television. Seeing these distracts the brain, keeping it alert and awake, and will damage the quality of your sleep and make you more tired in the morning.
   • Electronics usually have back-lit screens, which suppress the body’s production of melatonin, which we need to sleep. Resist the urge to use such devices in the one or two hours before your bed. It may keep you from sleeping.

Avoiding Pitfalls

1. Stay away from certain foods and beverages. You can easily undermine your rest by eating or drinking the wrong thing before bed, and end up tired and haggard the next morning. Stay away from heavy meals in the one or two hours before your bedtime, for example, as they can affect your sleep quality.
   • Also avoid alcohol and caffeine. Caffeine stays in your system for anywhere up to 8 hours, so restrict your use of it to the morning or early afternoon. Likewise, alcohol before bed can keep you from getting the most restful, restorative kinds of sleep.
   • Instead, try a beverage with sleep-inducing or soporific qualities, like camomile tea. You might also try other varieties of herbal tea, like peppermint, ginger, or valerian tea.
2. Don't press that button! Whatever you do, avoid pressing your snooze button. Sinking back into sleep can feel delightful, but it’s actually working against you. You won’t get any restorative sleep and, in the long run, it will push you off schedule and make you feel groggy. You will have an easier time getting up if you hold out.
   • The snooze button essentially tricks your body into thinking that it is still time to sleep. This is called “sleep inertia,” as it deceives your body. It will make you groggy and confused and disrupt your normal sleep routine.
   • Instead, if you have a hard time resisting the snooze button, try placing your clock strategically across the room so you have to walk to it, waking you up along the way.
3. Stay on schedule. Once you have reset your body to a new sleep routine, you should try to stick to it. By resisting temptations, going to bed and waking up on time, and practicing self-discipline, you should be to wake up more easily in the morning.
   • Naps can help refresh you during the day, but don’t sleep too long and try not to nap within a few hours of your bedtime. The first will make you groggy, while the second can disrupt your sleep.
   • Don’t sleep in too often or too long. You can get away with an extra hour or two on the weekends and holidays, but going much beyond that will push you off schedule.

Related Articles

• Wake up Quickly
• Stay Awake at Work
• Look Less Tired When You Wake Up
• Wake Up Late and Still Make It on Time
• Wake up Late and Still Look Great

Sources and Citation

See also

• Get out of Bed when You Really Can't
• Stay Awake When Tired
• Wake Up Early
• Get Up When You Want with Only a Few Hours of Sleep
• Wake Up Without an Alarm Clock
• Get Up in the Morning
• Feel Awake in the Morning
• Feel More Awake Without Coffee
• Wake up Quickly
• Wake Up When You Are Tired

Read more ...