The goal: Be a person who gets up before 7am, goes for a run, and proceeds to conquer the day.
The reality: When your 7am alarm goes off, you hit snooze. Ten minutes later, another snooze. An hour later, you may be up, but barely awake.
Breaking up with the snooze button is a constant struggle. Every morning, I imagine myself waking up all smiley and ready to take on the day, and every morning, I turn back to the snooze button.
For those of you who are currently riding the struggle bus on becoming a morning person, I have your back. Here are some things I have done to take back my mornings.
Don’t eat late.
Staying up longer than necessary leads us to late night cravings that you have to stay up even longer to satisfy. If you can, try not to eat too much before you hit the hay. My rule of thumb is not to eat a lot if I’m planning to sleep in two hours. That said, be sure that you eat enough and don’t go to bed hungry.
Don’t press snooze.
No matter how tempting it is to hit the snooze button, don’t do it. Give yourself a pep talk and resist the temptation. I’ve learned that when I snooze I feel groggier for a longer period of time than when I just get up at my first alarm. Plus, you don’t sleep quite as well when you’re hitting snooze every few minutes; hitting the snooze re-starts your sleep cycle.
Get enough sleep.
Sleep is so important. Classes and work and socializing make your schedule hectic, though, which results in sleep deprivation. If you manage your time wisely and don’t overextend yourself, you can definitely avoid this. Make it your goal to get 7-9 hours of sleep at least 3-4 times a week. Getting up in the morning is a lot easier when you’ve slept enough the night before.
Hydrate and get moving.
Once you’re out of bed, drink a glass of cold water and do a quick stretch or workout to get your blood pumping. Why drink cold water? Because it will instantly wake you up so you can feel energetic. In addition, getting active in the morning will help you feel more alert and motivated to conquer the day.
Eat breakfast.
The moment I lay down to sleep, I start dreaming of breakfast. I just can’t help but think that sleep is like a time machine to breakfast – sorry I’m a foodie at heart. Seriously though, don’t skip breakfast. After a long night, your body needs some fuel to pump that blood sugar and metabolism up. I feel like breakfast provides me with energy I need to get through my day and wake up my brain.
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