Always wanted to be the kind of person who can get up when your alarm goes off (not after hitting snooze for the seventh time!) and bounce out of bed feeling alert and alive? Dragging yourself to the gym straight after rolling out of bed can be a big ask for someone who’s not a ‘morning person’ and becoming one may seem like no easy task. However, it’s actually not as bad as you might think…
Read on for some tips on how you can make the morning your favourite time of day.
Routine is key to tackling the morning head on
According to recent research, early risers tend to be happier, healthier, feel more satisfied with life overall and may even have better immune systems; all pretty good reasons to make the switch if you’re a night owl, right?
Establishing yourself a set daily routine is the key to making mornings more enjoyable. Some good things to do include:
- As soon as your alarm goes off, whip back the curtains. Exposure to natural light is nature’s wakeup call and our bodies do respond to it.
- Try to wake up at the same time each day. This will ‘set’ your body clock so it will automatically start to recognise it as your wakeup time.
- Take the guesswork out of waking up; pack your lunch the night before, set the table or kitchen counter with your breakfast bits, and lay your workout gear with your gym bag at the foot of your bed. That way you literally just need to roll out of bed and into your clothes, get your food sorted and go.
- Ban the snooze button. This button is no longer your best friend; it’s better to set your alarm for the actual time you need to get out of bed.
- Eat a proper breakfast within 30 minutes of waking up and have a big glass of water. Your body’s blood sugar levels deplete overnight, leaving your available energy stores low. Hydrating and feeding your body will give it the wakeup call it needs to get you going.
It may take a few weeks to get into the swing of things properly, but if you can keep it up, you’re more likely to form a long lasting habit out of it.
Getting a better quality sleep
Even if you manage to get through eight hours worth of sleep time without waking up, the quality of your sleep may actually not be that great. This can leave you feeling fatigued from the moment you wake up in the morning, so it’s important to give your body the best sleep possible.
- Eat dinner early enough that it feels digested before you’re in bed. Going to bed on a full stomach can keep you awake!
- Take the time to relax and wind down before you go to sleep. This includes turning off the TV and computer,
- Get into bed at a reasonable time to allow yourself 6-7 hours of sleep time before your alarm goes off.
- Caffeine and energy drinks can also contribute to poor sleep. This deserves a bit more explanation so on that note…
Watch your energy drink and caffeine intake
It’s a good idea to avoid caffeine and energy drinks from the afternoon onwards as some of the stimulants from these beverages can still be in your system 12 hours later! Especially where energy drinks are concerned, it can actually mess with your body’s normal energy levels and cause more harm than good. When you have an energy drink, you’re hit with a fast burst of energy that will shortly drop away just as quickly as it came, leaving you feel fatigued and in need of… another energy drink. Try to make better choices with your meals and the time you have them to up your energy levels throughout the day instead.
Coffee’s not quite as bad (provided you’re not a coffee addict!) and it tends to be as much about the flavour as it is about the energy hit. If this is the case, see if you can slowly convert to decaf or, if that doesn’t appeal to you, try to keep your intake of it in the first half of your day.
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