TeamIt is okay to be a night owl, however, a piecemeal approach towards moving your sleeping –wake times and heightening your sleep hygiene can help you become a morning person. In our society, morning people are portrayed as hardworking and organized; a case in point is the common saying ‘the early bird catches the worm.’ However, not everybody is inclined towards having a perfect morning routine. Therefore, if you are a night owl, it may be counterproductive to wake up in the morning without a proper strategy. Here is how to become a morning person effortlessly.
Come Up with an Exciting Morning Routine
A morning where you wake up late and laze around in bed may not only be unproductive but also set you up for a lazy start to the day. Such routines are good for relaxing but may slow your week down. Therefore, the best way to ensure you are excited about mornings is by creating an exciting routine. Using your morning for yoga, workouts, and morning walks is a good way to make your body feel fresh. Jumping out of bed and refreshing your mind with such positive habits makes you productive in the morning and throughout the day. Activities like organizing your room, meditation, and taking in nature may also help you reduce grogginess in the morning.
Set a Realistic Waking Up Time
Your new sleep routine should meet your sleep needs. It would be best to unlearn poor sleep habits by channeling your brain to embrace good sleep hygiene. The essential thing you need to note when coming up with a new sleep routine is sleep debt which arises if you have not been getting enough sleep for fourteen days straight. This sleep build–up affects everything from your productivity during the day to your ability to wake up in the morning. Therefore, as you set up your new wake up time, ensure you also factor in when you will be sleeping. It may be hard for night owls to beat insomnia, but to become a morning person; you must set new bedtime goals to ensure you meet your sleep needs.
Shift Your Sleeping Time Gingerly to Become a Morning Person
Once you have identified the best wake-up and sleep time, it is time to meet your goal gradually. You can achieve your goal by slowly shifting your current wake-up and sleep time by fifteen to thirty minutes. As you change your wake-up and sleep times, ensure you also adjust your mealtimes to achieve an earlier routine. It may be hard to sleep and wake up early instantly if you struggle with insomnia. Therefore, you should not be hard on yourself; instead, come up with a gradual shift that you can adapt to easily.
Give Yourself Ample Time to Wake Up
Hitting the snooze button is a temptation even morning people can’t resist. Therefore, you need to take it easy on yourself. Sleep inertia is real and may contribute to an unproductive day; thus, you need to give yourself at least 90 minutes after waking up before indulging in strenuous activities. For night owls, this time is essential in helping you get your energy levels in check. You can beat sleep inertia through:
- Meditation
- Morning walks
- Yoga
- Taking coffee or other caffeinated drinks
Have a Consistent Sleep Routine
It can be easy to get back to your night owl schedule, especially after a weekend of binge-watching and sleeping and waking up late. However, interrupting your sleep schedule may lead to social jetlag, which may make you feel fatigued throughout the week and may also ruin the new routine you are building up. Therefore, you need to be consistent with the wake-up and sleep schedule even on days when you are indoors. A consistent pattern helps meet your sleep which makes it easy for you to become a morning person.
Take Caffeine at the Right Time
Caffeine has an approximate half-life of up to five hours, meaning it can last up to five hours in your system. Taking caffeine past midday might interfere with your sleep routine since your system will still be infused with some of the caffeine. Therefore you can use caffeine as a stimulant in the morning, but also, take care not to have it when it is close to evening or your targeted bedtime.
Wrapping Up
Consistent sleep routine, proper sleep hygiene and having an exciting morning routine can help you become a morning person effortlessly. Remember, the goal is to enjoy your mornings; therefore, you should not be too hard on yourself, nor should you jump into difficult tasks after waking up to ensure you slowly become a morning person.
