How to wake up early is the title of this post but what we really mean is how to wake up earlier… There are those people who leap out of bed at dawn ready, willing and able to meet the day. If you are not one of them, and I guess you aren’t because you are here, then we have some pointers for you.
1. Get a good night sleep
This point means you need to watch your nighttime routine and ease into a good night sleep. Steer clear of eating too close to bedtime, too much time in front of computer or devices and caffeine, say no to the caffeine. You aim here is to wind down and let your body settle long before your head hits the pillow. A good night sleep will mean you are recharged and ready to go the next morning. Give your body the best chance of doing that by taking these few simple steps.
2. Get enough sleep
Following on from the point above, you can’t expect to get to bed at 3am and find it easy to get our of bed at 6am. You need to get enough sleep. And enough means 6-8 hours for most people. Getting to bed at a reasonable time means that you have longer to get the quality sleep you need to bounce out of bed in the morning.
There are also rumours that the sleep you get before 10pm is the best for restoring and repairing your body. As someone who always loved late nights, I’m sceptical, but that’s what they say. Try at least a few days a week to head to bed before 10pm and take advantage of that.
3. Start with an hour
If you want to get up earlier, just start with a single hour. Normally get out of bed at 8am, start aiming for 7. Then from there you can subtract an hour until you are at your ultimate get out of bed, grown up, time. By doing this, you don’t try to shave 4 hours off your wake up time and send yourself into shock. Or is that just me? Take it step by step, and you’ll soon be where you want to go. It works for most things actually. Hint hint.
4. Have something to do
Why are you waking up earlier anyway? I find I don’t have any trouble (well, way less trouble) when I have something to do or somewhere to be. Other people meeting me adds an extra layer to that as well. If I’m meeting a friend for a morning walk or swim at the local pool I just have to get up. Simple as that. So I do. When there’s nothing to do, no real reason to get up earlier, it is VERY easy to keep hitting that snooze button.
5. It’s a habit
Getting up early is just like making time to exercise or eating your vegetables, it’s a habit and one you can develop if you stick to it. Take it one day at a time, don’t let messing up and sleeping through to midday ruin it for the rest of the week. Just keep chipping away at it. Being a morning person is within your grasp.
Are you a morning person who just stopped by to point and laugh at us non-morning types? Tell us what your best tip is! Please.
Melissa is the Leave Home Blog Boss. She is living the high life in her hometown, didn’t finish her marketing degree & drinks too much on a Thursday night. Blogging since 2009, Melissa decided to put everything she knows into making The Leave Home Blog a light & easy how-to guide for being a grown up.
Tags: BEDTIME, GOT SKILLS, SLEEPING