Secrets to Waking Up Earlier

Maybe you’re a recent college grad adjusting to the real-life schedule that Mom and Dad have been warning about for years. Maybe you’re a stay-at-home mom ready to reenter the workforce, or a person changing from a late-shift career to the 9 to 5 world. Whatever your circumstance, if you’re finding it difficult to get your eyes wide open first thing in the morning, you’re not alone. There is scientific evidence to support the notion that some of us are night owls who don’t function as well in the morning, but you’re unlikely to find that your boss or your clients are particularly sympathetic. They expect you to be there, bright eyed and bush-tailed first thing each morning, ready to face the world. Though enthusiasm is your responsibility, we do have a couple of suggestions for ways to get yourself up and out of bed earlier each morning with a bit more ease. 1. Go to bed earlier. Needless to say, the most important thing that you can do is to get yourself to sleep a full 7 ½ to 8 hours before the time that you need to wake up in the morning — doing that is the best way to make sure that you’re at the top of your game when you awaken. But beyond that common sense answer, you can also try these three helpful tips. 2. Invest in a great alarm clock. Though most of us just use the alarm that’s built into our smart phones or the old school alarm clock that has sat on our nightstand since our younger days, there is a wide range of new alarm clocks that are guaranteed to make you wake up a lot more effectively. From clocks that run away and hide to prevent you from hitting the snooze button to alarms that recognize you from a distance and let you just wave at them to give you ten more minutes of rest, it’s definitely worth taking the time to investigate the clever new options that are available. [caption id="attachment_730" align="alignleft" width="300"] Even though reaching for the snooze button may feel like the greatest thing ever, research shows that when you use it and grab that extra ten minutes of sleep, you’re actually making yourself feel worse instead of better[/caption] 3. Understand that the snooze button is your enemy. Even though reaching for the snooze button may feel like the greatest thing ever, research shows that when you use it and grab that extra ten minutes of sleep, you’re actually making yourself feel worse instead of better. If you’re awake enough to understand that your alarm has gone off and to reach out to make an adjustment then your circadian rhythms are already activated, and shutting down for another ten minutes can really mess things up. Additionally, keep in mind that ten more minutes of shut eye really doesn’t do a thing for you in terms of providing you with rest. In fact, it’s a lot more likely that you’ll be just about to hit the most relaxing and restorative part of your sleep cycle when you get pulled up and out of bed again.