Waking up early in the morning can be quite a struggle now, especially during the pandemic where everyone was confined to their homes for a prolonged period of time and as a result developed bad sleeping habits. Add to that the fad of binge-watching. Staying awake till late and even till early morning has taken a toll on our circadian rhythm (body’s inner clock).
Ask any doctor, and you would be bombarded with the numerous ill effects of staying awake till late and waking up even later. So, if now you want to get your hands on the mantra of waking up early, we have got you sorted.
Here’s a list of tips that can help in figuring out how to wake up early:
Find your motivation
The basic concept behind anything is motivation. Remember Rebekah, saying in The Vampire Diaries, “A woman can easily kill a man, with the right motivation”? Nobody is killing anybody here but the point is, anything can be achieved when it is driven by something important. The same way, for you to wake up early you need to tell your brain that I have to get up and get a certain thing done. For example, I need to get up and go for a run at a specific time. But this works when you genuinely want to take that step, not if there’s a pressure from somewhere else.
Don’t force yourself to sleep early
It’s a huge misconception that to wake up early, one needs to sleep early as well and for that, people tend to force themselves to sleep early. However, what people don’t know is that this specific behavior can actually trigger insomnia and disrupt whatever schedule one has for themselves. The logic behind it is that that if the body starts waking up earlier than usual, then in a time being, it will start getting used to the routine and will adjust the sleeping hours accordingly.
Try to change the habit slowly
Lifestyle changes take a considerable amount of time both to grasp and to ditch. And sleeping cycles are one of them. You can’t expect yourself to change your habits in a matter of hours and dates. It takes a lot of time. Now coming to waking up, you can’t directly jump from 10am to 6am and even if you do that for a day or two, you won’t be able to stick to it. So, a better way to do it is decreasing like 15 minutes from the waking time each week and gradually reach the goal.
A relaxing bedtime routine
The most common practice that is in circulation these days is being on the phone screen 24/7. No matter what, everyone has a tendency to turn on their phones, scroll through social media, and then doze off, which is clearly unhealthy because the brain can’t switch so fast between attention needing activities and sleep. Engaging in mentally stimulating tasks just before bed will affect the kind of sleep we will get. The best way to curb is creating a bed time routine which is basically telling the brain that it’s time to shut down. It can include light reading, yoga, breathing exercises, meditation or just talking to a person.
Keep record of your caffeine intake
Caffeine has a tendency to stay in the body for really long after it has been consumed. It can also mess up brain’s functionality if consumed in larger quantities at any point of the day. It can induce hyper activity, mood swings, fatigue and disrupt sleep after a certain stage.
No eating before bed
Eating too close to the sleeping timings is a big no no, as it can end up with us having tummy issues in the middle of the night and there won’t be any sleep on the table. There should be a gap of at least two hours between dinner and the sleeping time.