Being a morning person sounds fab, doesn’t it? Rising with the sun, spending some leisurely time getting ready, making breakfast – maybe even exercising – before starting work refreshed and unfrazzled.
Getting up early has proven to help improve your mental health, so you could get a mood boost, too.
But how to achieve morning zen and embrace getting up early? Here are some tips…
Check up on your sleep hygiene
If you’re waking up feeling knackered every day but confused as to why because you’ve had a full nine hours, it might be worth checking the quality of your sleep.
Health tracking watches like the FitBit and Apple Watch can help you see what was actually going in your sleep – from how long you were in REM to how many sleep interruptions you had throughout the night.
If you’re waking up frequently, it could be worth improving your sleep hygiene by ensuring the room is dark and cool, removing devices and not having coffee in the afternoon if it keeps you up all night.
Give yourself an incentive
If going to the gym is your thing, plan it so you go in the morning and have more reason to get yourself out of bed. Or a good incentive could be just de-stressing your morning routine by giving yourself more time.
You’ll know what’ll work best for you, but try and put a goal at the front of your mind to stop you from hitting the snooze button.
Develop a solid routine
With our modern lives, it’s hard to get to bed at the exact same time every night, but aim for a rough time – say 10pm – to give you a full seven to eight full hours of shuteye.
You could start by winding down with reading instead of binging a high-energy Netflix show (can you tell I’ve been watching a lot of Queer Eye?) and not eating a couple of hours before bed so your digestion isn’t in high drive.
Create some boundaries
Apparently, 70% of us use tech in the bedroom – and no we’re not talking about the sexy kind. Smartphones, iPads and laptops all emit blue light which stimulates our brains and confuses our circadian rhythms. Try to stow away your electronics for the night in a separate room and invest in a wake-up light as an alarm to wake you up naturally.
Be consistent
Consistency is key in most areas of life, whether that’s work targets or dating or hitting the gym, and it’s important when it comes to sleep, too. In fact, one study showed that consistency with sleep habits should be encouraged for better health outcomes.