How to Wake Up Early
Two surprising ways to make your early morning feel more refreshing.
“Nighttime routines are just as important as your morning routine. It’s important to find a way that helps you fall asleep.”
Every day you wake up tired and annoyed, having to get ready for school or work as soon as you get out of bed. You’re exhausted, you look like a zombie, and you don’t want to do anything.
You’ve probably heard many people tell you, “Sleep early, wake up early!” or “Don’t press snooze on your alarms!” But as a student going to bed late doing assignments and having no mind control to not snooze my alarms, it’s practically impossible to wake up and feel good in the morning.
Most of the time, it isn’t waking up that’s difficult. It’s the fact that you are feeling too lazy, or that you don’t want to get up to start your day. So how can you wake up feeling refreshed, healthier, and more productive? What some people might not realize is that your daily routines make a huge difference. Sleeping and waking up early doesn’t matter if you aren’t doing it right!
The Morning Routine
This method is crucial and should be a daily routine. You can feel better in the morning, especially if you wake up feeling exhausted and grumpy. Get up from your bed, and start your day! Give yourself at least 30 minutes to wash your face with cold water, work out, take a quick shower, and eat breakfast. Here are some morning routines you could try.
Working out isn’t a crucial part of your morning routine, and it isn’t needed to be done in the morning. However, it is recommended by many studies that you exercise once a day. Exercising increases your endurance, strength, health, and mood. It could be push-ups, curl-ups, jogging, or any other workout you like. If done in the morning, you can wake yourself up from sleepiness and might feel a bit more productive.
The most important part of your daily routine is your diet. Eat a proper, healthy breakfast, like fruits, salad, smoothie, yogurt, rice, and others. These foods provide you with energy throughout your day, helping your brain and body to work. They also improve your health, concentration, performance, and mood.
To feel motivated and make the routine more fun, you could also play your favorite songs. Working on some kind of arts and crafts could also set the mood for your day, too! Puzzles, drawing, making a vision board, quick writing, reading a poem, and just one chapter of your favorite book could change the way you feel for the entire day!
The Nighttime Routine
Nighttime routines are just as important as your morning routine. This is especially important if you want to sleep early. Wash up, prepare your bed, and turn off the lights to sleep. Keep your phone away from your bed. You can place it on your desk, or if you have a hard time controlling yourself, put it in another room. It’s important to find a way that helps you fall asleep. Getting ready for bed isn’t hard, but falling asleep is. It’s different for everyone, so some have a harder time sleeping than others. Here are some suggestions from my personal experience on how to fall asleep quickly.
I’m an overthinker, so sleeping is difficult for me sometimes. I usually turn on white noise in the background, like an air conditioner or running water. I play it on YouTube but if you are the type of person to be on your phone at night, get a white noise machine, or have some noise in your house like a running fan.
This is a method I use when white noise doesn’t help me with my overthinking. I usually play calm music, like an instrumental or to a singer with a soft voice. I like Kpop, so I sometimes play a piano version of Kpop songs on Spotify. You can find a sleep timer on the app, which lets you play a playlist and automatically turns off when the time is up. Again, if you have a difficult time getting off your phone, many things on Amazon can help, such as pillow speakers. If this is out of your budget, then use a computer or laptop instead. Make sure you don’t get distracted!
Drinking warm drinks helps me relax and calm myself. Don’t get sugary drinks like hot cocoa. Milk and water are the best choices. According to many studies, drinking warm milk helps you relax and make you more sleepy. It contains an amino acid called tryptophan, which can reduce your anxiety and promote relaxation.
You can do workouts any time before bed. It could be a quick run or walk around your neighborhood before or after dinner. It could be yoga or workouts like push-ups and curl-ups. Exercising is great for your health and reduces stress. I often find myself falling asleep more quickly on the days I exercise a lot. Writer Michele Ross explains in his article, “Physical activity causes the muscles to deplete the supply of glycogen, resulting in muscle fatigue and the potential to evolve into sleepiness.”
Lastly, writing a journal is a helpful way to wrap up your day. Reflect on what you did and how you felt on this day, and use prompts to make it even more interesting! Some prompts might include: “What are you grateful for?” or “What good choices did you make today?” You can also use creative prompts if you’re into creative writing. “Write a story about a girl named Dot, but don’t use the letters, i and j,” or “Write a paragraph but use at least 10 words that rhyme with ‘he’.”
As helpful as these methods may be, don’t push yourself to achieve them all. You might have to wake up extra early for your morning routine or simply have no time to do all of those things. The nighttime routine methods may not work on you as well. Take it easy at first and slowly build up to achieve them one by one naturally.
Comment below to share what worked, or didn’t work, for you.
Works Cited
Ross, Michele. “Feel Sleepy after Workouts? Here Are 5 Ways to Perk Back Up.” The Output, 20 Nov. 2023, www.onepeloton.com/blog/sleepy-after-workout/.
