How To Wake Up – 3 Easy Tips

May 12, 2021
Alexandra Uren

There’s two types of people in the world; those who jump out of bed ready for the day before their alarm clock even rings, and those who feel confined to a life of snooze buttons, bleary eyes and constantly feeling in a rush.

The good news is that with a little practice and preparation, even the seemingly perpetually tired can become early birds.

The work starts before you even get into bed at night, but once you’ve gotten through the first few days, you should find it all gets a little easier. The only difficult part is deciding what to do with your extra hour in the morning!

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Prepare for Bed

Preparing to wake up early in the morning starts the night before. Often, people head to bed with high hopes of waking up feeling refreshed, only to find themselves tossing and turning late into the night, which can make it that much harder to get up in the morning.

Gentle exercise and reducing screen time can help prepare your body for sleep.

Getting a good night’s sleep is the first step, and this starts hours before you head to bed. Many people find some gentle exercise after work can aid sleep, although experts recommend avoiding vigorous activity for at least one hour before bedtime.

A gentle yoga flow or an evening walk can help put you in a more relaxed state of mind.

A bad habit many of us have is late-night scrolling. While a few minutes catching up on emails before you turn off the light seems harmless, even a small amount of nighttime exposure to blue light can trick our bodies into thinking it’s still daytime.

This can reduce our quality of sleep, making it that much harder to wake up in the morning! For a better sleep quality, try to eliminate bright lights (including the television!) two hours before going to bed.

Improve Sleep

Waking up in the morning feeling refreshed will only happen if you’ve made the most of your time in bed. If your sleep quality is poor, you’ll wake up feeling groggy and tired, and you’ll be far more likely to press snooze or sleep in!

A consistent bedtime is key when it comes to sleep quality. Our bodies work on set loops, waking up with the sunrise and winding down with the sunset.

Being inconsistent with your bedtime and wake up time can confuse your body and alter your circadian rhythm. Try to head to bed at the same time every evening. Many people even find they don’t need an alarm clock after a few weeks.

The temperature of your room can also heavily impact your quality of sleep. It can be very difficult to get a good night’s sleep during a heatwave, and it’s very tempting to keep your bedroom too hot especially in the winter months.

Studies have suggested that 20°C is the optimum temperature for sleep, but this can vary from person to person. Generally, being a little too cold is better than being a little too hot when it comes to a good sleep!

Wake Up Routine

Finally, perfect your wake up routine! While many of us head to bed with high hopes of a productive morning, we quickly forget about all our plans as soon as that alarm clock starts ringing!

More often than not, we press snooze and spend yet another day not waking up when we want to.

Moving the alarm away from the bed will help you to avoid pressing snooze. Physically getting out of bed to turn off your alarm each morning will ensure you get up and stay up, even better if you have a glass of water to start drinking as soon as you’re out of bed.

Try putting your phone on the other side of the room, not next to your bed or underneath your pillow!

Natural light is also essential first thing in the morning. Exposing your body to as much natural light as possible when you first wake up can help adjust your circadian rhythm, encouraging your body to wake you up earlier the next day.

In the summer months, have your curtains open a crack so that your room naturally brightens as the sun comes up. In winter, you may find a light therapy lamp can help wake you up on darker mornings, and these have the added benefit of helping to ease anxiety symptoms.

A cold shower is another great addition to a morning routine. A cold shower can wake up your body, improve circulation, and even strengthen your immune system. Even a very short cold shower can offer a range of benefits, and you’ll start the day feeling refreshed and cleansed.

Finally, a morning meditation can be an exceptionally powerful tool when it comes to putting you in the right state of mind for the day ahead. Even sitting up in your bed to focus on your breathing for 5 minutes before your first cup of coffee can give you that serene start to the day you need. MindEasy has a huge range of online meditation courses to help support you through those early mornings and into the day.

Key Facts

Being able to wake up feeling ready to face the day comes down to a good nighttime routine, a quality night’s sleep and the right morning routine!
Gentle exercise and avoiding bright lights can help prepare your body for a good night’s sleep. Many people find a soothing yoga flow can help their bodies to wind down.
Improving the quality of your sleep will help you to wake up feeling refreshed.
For better quality sleep, try to go to bed at the same time every night and keep your room at the optimum temperature (around 20°C)
To help you wake up in the morning, try to expose your body to as much natural light as possible.
Moving your alarm clock away from your bed will mean you have to physically get out of bed to press the snooze button!
A morning meditation can offer the few minutes of quiet your body and mind need before facing the day. MindEasy has a range of guided meditations to help give you the best possible start to the morning.