Have you ever seen the sunrise, heard the birds sing, or walked on wet, green grass while the cold and refreshing breeze run through your face? If you are a morning person, you know what we are talking about. Early morning could have such a visible impact on your day that you won’t realize until you become an early riser yourself.
Why is it Important to Wake up Early?
People who wake up early in the morning often sleep early at night, which gives them a healthy amount of sleep (7-9 hours a day). A night of proper sleep can fill you with more energy, positivity, and productivity that can reflect in some of your important activities during the day. Your brain is naturally more active and alert in the morning. And especially after a good night’s sleep, your brain can pull off many productive tasks and activities. It also enables you to make better decisions, think clearly, and improves your ability to focus.
Early mornings can also offer you some quality time to spend with your family, as everyone gets dispersed during the rest of the day, doing their 9 to 5 jobs. This can be an excellent opportunity for the whole family to sit together and have conversations, where joy and positive energies are shared.
But the process of waking up early is not as simple as it sounds, especially for people who are not habitual to it. You can’t go from being a late riser to an early riser in a day. It requires time, hard work, willpower, patience, and a bunch of motivation. Don’t worry because, in this article, we are letting you in on some secrets of waking up early without feeling awful.
12 Tips to Help You Wake Up Early
1. Find a Motivation That Excites you
People who wake up early usually kick off their day with an activity they enjoy, which gives them a reason to get up early. Nobody else can help you find the right motivation better than yourself. It can be anything, like meditation, reading a new book, listening to your favorite podcast, making breakfast for yourself, or dancing to your morning playlist. All you need to make sure is that you enjoy it, so it makes you want to wake up early again the next morning.
2. Put your alarm at a Distance from the Bed
One of the most challenging struggles of many people not being able to wake up early is their relationship with the alarm clock. Even though you want to wake up early, you still keep pressing the snooze button again and again until you have wasted an hour or so. This battle with the alarm can be minimized to a large extent if it is kept across the room. In this way, switching off the alarm will get you on your feet and away from the bed.
3. Time for a Double Alarm System
We have already established that keeping the alarm away from your bed helps, but there is another method that many people have been talking about, the double-alarm system. The first alarm is intended to wake you up, while the second alarm is to get you out of bed. The first alarm has to be in your arm’s reach so that you can switch it off without getting out of bed, whereas the second one should be away from the bed so that you can get out of bed.
4. Create your own Ritual for Sunrise
Sunrise is one of the most beautiful times of the day, other than the sunset. So, give yourself a chance to wake up early enough to enjoy it. Set a ritual of your own that you do every day at sunrise, like dancing, having coffee, or doing yoga. Seeing the sunrise every day will make you feel punctual and organized.
5. Befriend an Early Riser
Being friends with a person who wakes up early will help you not feel alone or like an alien. To keep things interesting, you can join a group of people with whom you work out, go for a walk, cycle, or anything else. This will motivate you to wake up early and get ready to see your friends.
6. Get Enough Sleep at Night
It is not fair to expect that you sleep late at night and still manage to rise early. Your body needs a sufficient amount of hours to prepare you for the next day. If you don’t get enough sleep, your body won’t be ready for the next day. It will make you feel irritated, tired, sleepy, and confused, which will make it hard for you to be productive or complete your tasks successfully. However, if you manage to get 7-9 hours of good and healthy sleep, it will be easier for you to wake up fresh and early in the morning.
7. Introduce Yourself to a Nighttime Ritual
There are several nighttime routines and rituals that have quite a positive impact on waking up early. They encourage you to fall asleep, provide you a deep and peaceful slumber, and make you feel fresh in the morning. These rituals can vary but usually include calming activities, such as taking a warm bath, reading a book, listening to music, or journaling. The nighttime routines help your brain to separate the day from the night and clear your mind to help you fall asleep.
8. Say No to Stimulants
The consumption of caffeine is one of the most common practices by young people and adults to stay awake during the day. But too much use of it during the day can keep you awake at night or offer you poor and disturbed sleep at night, causing your mornings to be awful.
Similarly, too much alcohol before bed can be a reason for improper sleep. Although some people claim that alcohol actually helps them sleep, in reality, it acts as a stimulant against your brain. This can affect your quality of sleep and make your mornings nauseous and unpleasant.
9. Let a Lot of Light and Fresh Air In
Even if they somehow manage to get out of bed, many people still feel drowsy and sluggish in the morning. The best way to introduce some fresh energy in your body is to open the curtains, blinds, and windows and let your brain see that it’s morning.
According to the clinical psychologist Janet K. Kennedy, “fresh air and sunlight help boost energy by suppressing the body’s melatonin. Melatonin is a hormone that induces sleep at night and can be responsible for sleepiness in the morning.
10. Adopt a Pet
Generally, most people with pets are more responsible and organized than the ones without them. Having a pet is similar to having a child. They take your time, attention, and energy.
Pets play a significant role in waking you up. There is no better alarm than a hungry cat or dog in the morning. If you train them to have their breakfast at 7:00 in the morning, they will drag you out of your bed every single day to feed them at the same time.
11. Set a Wake-up Time
If you want to wake up early every day, then make sure to wake up at the same time. Your brain arranges sleep patterns for you so that you can get enough. Waking up at the same time every day can help your brain regulate sleep patterns according to it. This will give you a sufficient amount of sleep and make you rise early.
12. No Extra Sleeping Time on Weekends and Holidays
During weekdays, most people are forced to wake up early due to work or school, but weekends and holidays allow them to spend many extra hours in the morning sleeping. This can disrupt their daily routine and sleep patterns and make their sleep hours inconsistent. Hence, this is why your sleep hours should be consistent throughout.
Conclusion
Waking up early is not about showing how great you are as a human; it’s all about you and what you want as a person. It’s just a weapon you need to conquer the world that will make your day begin with positivity and joy. It will also keep your physical, mental, and emotional health in check and help you focus better on your goals.
Make your mornings about yourself so that they excite you to wake up early and start your day with self-care. By following these creative ways of waking up early, you can turn yourself from someone who hated mornings to someone who is a happy morning person.