If waking up earlier is on your to-do list, you may be wondering how you're supposed to do it. The thing is, you could be setting yourself up for disappointment. You may not be a morning person if you often snooze your alarm, ask for five more minutes of sleep, and refuse to speak to anybody until you've had your first cup of coffee. Some people are literally not morning people.
If you're prone to waking up early or like to sleep in, your genetics may have something to do with it. There is nothing you can do about your genetics, but there are good behaviors you can adopt that can brighten your mornings. Here are a few ideas to get you started today.
When it comes to waking up early, it all starts with having an adequate sleep the night before. It's not simply the quantity of time you spend in bed, but also the quality of your sleep. To prepare your body for deep relaxation, try some self-care techniques before bedtime and include a sleep-supporting substance like magnesium into your regimen. Magnesium supplementation has been proven in studies to improve both sleep quality and sleep length. It works by inducing a state of calm in the body and lulling you into a deep and restful sleep.
Other suggestions include having a warm bath or shower (a decrease in body temperature as you leave the water signals to your body that it is time to sleep). Diffuse relaxing essential scents such as lavender and cedar; take a spoonful or two of coconut oil immediately before bed to help prevent blood sugar falls. Above all, be kind to yourself.
The snooze button is a typical sleep mistake that experts warn against (but that many of us enjoy), which can leave us feeling less than rested in the morning. When you push the snooze button, you're more likely to go back into a deeper sleep, making getting up even more difficult. And with all the broken sleep, you'll probably feel much more tired throughout the day.
You're also teaching yourself good sleep habits by getting up when your alarm goes off, and studies show that regular sleep and wake-up schedules leave us feeling more rested in the long run, and ready to face the day ahead and accomplish all your goals, whether that's working, making an appointment for mold damage restoration services, or getting some fresh air.
Mentality plays a considerable role in how you feel and what you do. Anxious thoughts while in bed may cause your sympathetic nervous system (the component that controls the fight or flight response) to become more activated. Adrenaline and cortisol are released into your body when your sympathetic system is aroused. As you lay in bed, musing on what could have been, these stimulating hormones will make it more difficult for you to go off to sleep. Practices like grounding and orienting can help calm and control your nervous system so you can get to sleep more easily and, therefore, get up more easily too.
