Morning Sunshine

You snooze, you lose. The early bird catches the worm. It has been stressed upon, that waking up early is not only good for your health but also your soul. However, some people just want to sleep! Here are a few tips and tricks you can implement to become a morning person, as told by WikiHow.

Think about why you want to wake up early.

If you’re motivated to get up earlier, it can really help in actually achieving that. Think about why you want to wake up early, and work towards doing so. Common good reasons include:

•  Having time to yourself before anybody else wakes up.

•  To catch the sunrise.

•  Getting to work, school, or college earlier, so that you can come home earlier and do other things you want to.

•  To deal with routine matters while you’re alert and ready to get going, examples include paying bills, getting organised or even having a hearty breakfast. 

Go to bed earlier

To rise earlier, you’ll need to sleep earlier. Consider going to bed earlier in increments. Start with 15 minutes earlier, with the expectation of getting up 15 minutes earlier, and then gradually increase this to an hour. Doing this gradually will give both your body and mind time to adjust to earlier sleeping and waking times.

Avoid watching TV just before bedtime, using the internet, or eating. These activities can excite you and keep you awake rather than inducing sleep.

•  Dim your lights one hour before bed to facilitate the release of melatonin, the hormone which induces sleep.

•  Go to bed by 10 o’clock at the latest; sleep experts believe this is the optimal time to sleep.

•  Allow yourself to read in bed. Reading is a quiet activity and it will often induce sleep 

Help wake yourself up

It’s quite difficult to transition from night owl to early bird, but it is not impiossible. Here are some ways you can trick yourself into not only getting up, but staying up.

•  Make your bed. You won’t be tempted to crawl back into it when you’ve gone through the trouble of making it up.

•  Splash your face with water as soon as you get out of bed.

•  Stretch. Stretching can help awaken you gently, as well as improving your flexibility.

•  Put on upbeat music and dance to it a little.

•  Have a cup of tea or coffee to awaken your senses. Some people swear by slightly warmed water with freshly squeezed lemon juice as a refreshing tonic.

•              Exercise. Not only will it help wake you up, but exercising first thing in the morning is more effective than exercise at any other time of the day.

Keep it going

It’s important to wake up at the same time every day once you’re established in your new routine, including weekends. Don’t sleep in on days when you can, it disrupts the sleep pattern. Try your best, follow these tips and you’ll be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed before you know it! 

Published in The Express Tribune, April 16^th, 2014.

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