WAKE UP! A How to Guide on Waking Up

For some, the act of waking up in the morning is simple and straight forward. One alarm goes off, your feet hit the ground and boom! You have started your day. For others getting out of bed is a serious struggle. The war against comfortable covers and the battle cry of “just five more minutes!” seems never ending.

Leading to waking up late, rushed stressful mornings, and no time to yourself for setting intentions or to prepare for your day. Needless to say, this is far from starting your day off on the right foot. In this post we are going to provide helpful tips on how to make waking up in the morning easier. So you can have more time to yourself, less late mornings, and overall a more relaxed and stress free start to your day. Sound good? Then let us get started!

Looking to become a morning person?! Click HERE to learn how!

Benefits To Waking Up Early (Or Just On Time)

Like many of us, we know there is benefits to waking up earlier. But, do you know just how many benefits there are? Are list grew quickly once we started looking into all the ways your morning and day benefits. Once you understand just how waking up earlier can impact your overall day it could be all the motivation you need to start doing it.

Less Stress in Your Day

When you are able to wake up on time in the morning you no longer have to feel rushed to get out the door. Or worry whether or not you’re going to be late.

You also have plenty of time to get through all you need to do. Meaning you won’t forget your lunch, or to bring something to the office or homework for class.

Starting your day on an earlier not will help keep your stress levels for way down. You have sufficient time to do everything you need to do and start your day nice and calm. You also no longer have to worry about getting in trouble for being late all of the time!

Click to get our tips on how to create a Stress Free Morning Routine!

Extra Time to Prepare

Ever find yourself realizing you needed to get something done, pick something up, make lunch, or even just mentally prepare yourself for the day ahead?

Then you find you have run completely out of time and you are unable to prepare for the day like you would have otherwise?

Having time to prepare for your day is absolutely one of the top benefits to waking up early/on time. You can glance over your schedule, remind yourself what the day holds before. Set some goals for what you hope to achieve. You can even have a bit of time to ensure you are fully prepared to do everything you need to in order to really thrive.

Add “Me Time” To Your Day

Evenings can often get tied up with time with family, friends, extra activities, errands, cleaning, and so on. Once you get home from work or school those several free evenings hours can fly by without much time left for yourself.

Mornings are a great way to get some of your time back for yourself. You can sit and read, watch your favorite show, or perhaps just enjoy a luxuriously long shower. Getting that time back to invest in yourself and your happiness is a enriching way to start your day.

Fit It All In

When you’re rushed there are things you just do without. Whether it is washing your hair in the shower, eating breakfast or trying to get the dishes in the sink, getting up earlier allows for you to have time to do it all.

By allowing an extra 15-30 minutes in your morning schedule, and sticking with it, your will allow your day to run more smoothly from start to finish. Because you have the time to fit it all in when you need to. You’ll feel much more prepared for the rest of your day if you achieve all that you want to in the morning.

How To Wake up With Ease:

Now that you have so many benefits to waking up early, it’s time to figure out how to do it. But, not just to do it, but do it with ease. Make waking up enjoyable and a habit you can stick with. Below are a few tips on how to start your mornings out on the right foot.

Go to Bed on Time (Without Distractions):

Okay, yes this is an obvious tip but so many of us do not adhere to a bed time as adults! Many of us do not even have a time in which we consider to be a “bed time”. Instead we just stay up doing things, watching tv, scrolling through social media until we pass out. (And yet, we wonder why we have a hard time falling asleep?)

If you don’t already have one, give yourself a proper bedtime and turn off all distractions. Sometimes we just have to set boundaries for ourselves. Even if you don’t feel especially tired, or you lay in bed with your thoughts for a while, head off to bed anyway.

If you really need some kind of something to entertain your mind while you head off to sleep, podcasts, music, meditation are a few great alternatives to watching tv or browsing on your phone.

Want to learn more about the negative side effects tech has on your sleep? Click the link to learn more!

Let The Light Shine:

This tip may sound simple, but it can seriously change your entire morning. Invest in a light that you can schedule to slowly turn on at a certain time. There are smart lights like Philip’s Hue Light, their lightbulbs, go lights or other smart light alarm clocks and so on.

Schedule your lights to slowly start turning on about 20-30 minutes before your desired wake time. This triggers off signals to your circadian rhythm that it is time to start waking up. Which then releases hormones to slowly and naturally pull you out of sleep and wake you up.

Click the link to learn more about different types of Circadian Rhythms and how they work!

Avoid Taking Sleep Aids & Too Much Melatonin:

Many sleep aids can make you feel drowsy in the mornings. Even some brands and dosages of melatonin can lead you to feeling groggy and make it more difficult to rise in the morning.

You may not even notice it is having such a big affect on your until you stop using it. If you are taking a prescribed sleep aid, we of course suggest talking to your doctor before you stop taking it.

That being said, if you are able to get to sleep at night without a sleep aid, even if it takes a bit longer for you to actually get to sleep, you will be more likely to wake up feeling fresh.

Learn more about Melatonin and how it works in our post: A Guide To Using Melatonin

Don’t Linger in Bed:

Get out of bed. Lingering in bed, scrolling through your phone, slowly stretching and waking up while still cozy under your covers makes it far too easy to simply slip back into a deep sleep. It also prolongs the waking up process.

When you choose to “wake up in bed” you get in this funky in between stage of not really resting and not really waking up either. It can keep your body from feeling like it really time to start waking up until you finally decide it is time to get out of bed.

Wake Up on The Move:

Stay out of bed. If you struggle to wake up in the morning, then the sensation of feeling tired while walking around and starting your morning is probably an uncomfortable one. Most non-morning people tend to try and slowly wake up while still in bed. Grasping on tightly to those final moments of cozy comfort before getting up.

Instead, we suggest getting out of bed and waking up while you slowly move around and start your day. Even if you are stumbling to the bathroom, we promise it will wake you up far faster than if you were to try and wake up in bed. Eventually your body will get used to you getting up and moving first thing in the morning and it will become less of a struggle.

Work Out in The Morning:

Not only is a good workout a great healthy choice in general. Morning workouts help to wake you up and energize you.

Getting for blood pumping and endorphins kicking in is a great way to feel energized even early in the morning. You will also be left with a sense of accomplishment as you start the rest of your day.

Working out can also increase sleep drive in the evenings. Which will make it easier to get to sleep naturally. All so you can wake up early the next day and do it all over again.

There are so many benefits to daily workouts! Click the link to learn how working out can help your sleep life.

Cold Water Time:

Many of us wake up just a bit dehydrated, we suggest drinking a large glass of cold water before you hit the caffeine. This helps to rehydrate and energize you. Washing your face or even showering in cold water can be a great way to wake up your sense and get your blood flowing.

Even if you have to start the shower warm and steamy, give yourself a cool blast right before you jump out. Not only is this a fantastic way to quickly wake yourself up for the day, it is also great for your hair and skin.

Learn more about the benefits of hydrating for your energy in our post: Sleep & Hydration

Say No to Hitting Snooze:

If you are ever going to get into the habit of getting up on time, then you have got to stop hitting the snooze button. The habit of pressing snooze in order to squeeze in a couple of extra minutes of sleep, can actually lead you to feeling more exhausted than if you had simply gotten out of bed when your alarm first went off.

When you habitually smash the snooze button or set 10+ alarms to get yourself out of bed each morning. You are training yourself not to wake up with an alarm at all. Which will continue to make it more difficult for you to wake up in the morning as time goes by.

Just say no to pressing snooze and get out of bed with your FIRST alarm. Make this a new habit for yourself and with time it will become second nature to you.

Eat Breakfast:

Our circadian rhythms are not just for our sleep schedule. Outside stimulus like light, exercise, and eating can change our bodies natural rhythms. By eating first thing in the morning this kick starts your body into go mode.

If you continue to eat in the morning regularly, you will also find hunger kicking in if you are considering sleeping in. Which of course makes pressing that snooze button a little less appealing when you’re hungry for breakfast.

Click HERE to learn more about the benefits a low carb diet has on your sleep!

Wake Up! How To Guide on Waking Up – Final Thoughts:

At the end of the day, the most important takeaway here is to be consistent. Our bodies love consistency when it comes to our sleep schedules. When you force yourself to get up in the morning and go to bed at night at the same time, eventually this becomes second nature. You will find if you loose track of time you will begin to feel sleepy before bed anyway. Or on the weekends you are waking up at the same time even without an alarm clock. Which is truly great news, because it means the frustration of forcing yourself awake is only temporary. Once you create the new habit, it becomes way easier to maintain.

Have a question for us? Feel free to contact us with any questions or comments! We would love to hear from you and help out in any way we can.