Each day starts out with a morning. You may wake up because your circadian rhythm is in total sync with the sun. Or, you might have woken to the shrieking sound of your frantic alarm clock, forcing you to start the day.
But any way you end up waking up, morning is the first part of the day. It’s when you have the most important meal of the day. It’s when you get ready to conquer the day ahead of you. For some people, it’s the only time alone they get before the rest of the day comes breaking their door down.
So why not try to make every day start off as a good day?
Waking Up
How we start the day is how we end the day. And we begin our day by waking up. But here’s the question: How do you get out of bed? Do you wake up grumpy and frustrated? Or do you wake up feeling grateful and excited? Consider this idea, if the first sentence to your paragraph is weak, nobody’s going to read through the rest of it even if the rest is beautifully scripted.
The same goes for your morning. If your morning doesn’t go the right way, no matter what happens through the rest of your day it’ll remain a bad day because of the way it started.
It’s an inevitable chain reaction that you can prevent if you simply pay more attention to how your morning goes. The first step is waking up in a better spirit. The easiest way to do this is by rising early.
Now usually when you wake up early, you feel horrible. You see the time and groan wondering why woke you up at such an early hour. But what’s making you wake up in such a bad mood is the time you fall asleep.
And the question is, what time did you fall asleep? How did your sleep go? What caused your bad night? How can you prevent that bad night from ever happening again so your mornings are better?
If you haven’t realized it yet, this is all one big cycle. To have a good morning, you need a good night’s sleep. To get a proper night’s sleep, you need the right amount of sleep and, you need to go to sleep feeling good. In order for you to have a peaceful rest with a happily tired mind, you should’ve had a good day. To have a good day, you need to wake up on the right side of the bed.
This cycle never ends, but there will always be a starting point. Hopefully, with this knowledge, you can have a better understanding of your future path and how to navigate your destiny.
How To Start Your Day
No one can tell you how to live the perfect day. What’s a perfect day to you could be a disastrous day to someone else. So the most anyone can do for you is point you in a direction that you might like.
Clichéd but true; any good morning starts on the right side of the bed and in most cases, the right side of the bed faces the window in your room so you can catch a glimpse of the first rays in the light blue sky.
Any morning you want to be worth it involves all of your favorite things. This could be a bubble bath or a warm cup of espresso to kick start your mind. Some people read a book while their mind is fresh to reminisce about their favorite characters throughout the day.
When you’re starting a day, try never to start it on a bad note. Typically, if your day commences well, then the rest of the day doesn’t seem so menacing and you can better handle situations you face through the morning, afternoon, evening, and night.
Don’t tackle anything stressful in the morning. Things you know will take a long time and hard effort, save for after you’ve spoiled yourself a little in the morning.
Most people assume that time for yourself is at night or in the evening when the day comes to an end. While this is an understandable assumption, time in the evening should be dedicated to wrapping up and completing your day.
The best time to spend on yourself is in the morning, when the sun is high and the day begins. Yes, you have to prepare for the following outcomes and responsibilities of the day, but that’s why it’s better to start your days earlier.
Starting them earlier gives you more time to yourself, enough time to make the morning an enjoyable routine rather than one you resent.
Value The Time
Time is a precious aspect of life, which is why you should always be thankful for what you have. All the time you’re given, shouldn’t go to waste. Plan out your day, think of how to make use of your time each day decisively. Each passing minute is a minute you’ll never get back, so make them all count.
If you humble yourself, you’ll be less pessimistic and enjoy each moment a little more.
Don’t get the wrong idea, this isn’t an easy persona to adopt. It’s much easier to hate, blame, judge, and resent than it is to relish, cherish and be thankful. To those who are naturally positive and appreciative of all they have, salutations to them. But for all the others who still aren’t as grateful as they should be, there are steps you can take to get there.
For instance, make a list of all the things you can’t live without. These are the things you must be thankful for. Every night, go to sleep right after you read through the list, remembering all the things you have and should appreciate.
When you wake in the morning, whether you realize it or not, you’ll subconsciously reflect back on the last thing you did before sleeping. If that was remembering your gratefulness, then your first emotions in the morning should be relief and relaxation, knowing you have your necessities.
You’ll also realize the more grateful you become, the longer your list will get. The longer the list gets, the happier and more fulfilled you’ll feel figuring out how much of your life is truly a blessing.
In a way, all you’re doing is opening your eyes to the reality of what can be taken away from you, and in this world; that’s everything. It’s an odd and simple way to uncover your inner gratitude, but it works anyhow.
Enjoying Your Day
After the morning, the rest of the day still lies ahead. What you do with the rest of your day will affect the way you sleep when night time comes, and how you sleep will determine the primary outcome of your morning. Remember, the cycle never ends and it’s up to you to keep up.
So since your morning has been taken care of, and your thoughts of nostalgia and respect claimed by the silence of the night, what’s left for the day?
Everything else. Chores, responsibilities, errands, and hobbies that deserve some recognition all fit into your day. Now that you’ve spent the whole morning to yourself, it’s time to go outside and spend the rest of the day with others. This could be at work with your colleagues, keeping in touch with your social life, or visiting relatives for a long-due family lunch.
In the day time when the sun shines on your path, you can surely find something to keep your mind active and occupied with optimistic thoughts. Stay light on your feet since anything can come your way. Think of the things to be thankful for, recollect on the great moments you have experienced again and again to keep your spirits high.
Your destination is eventually the night where you’ll rest for the next day, so make your goal to reach the starry lit sky in high hopes for the following day called tomorrow. Read a good book, indulge in some hobbies, work out to shake off any stress or energy you may have left in the day.
Your day reflects your morning. Haven’t you ever had someone look at your facial expression and immediately say, “Rough night?” or “I see you woke up on the right side of the bed.” Your morning has such a strong impact on your day, it literally shows on your face! So keep your head held high because you want everyone to know that you own the day!
The Early Bird vs the Night Owl
There are two kinds of people in the world; those who are capable of rising with the birds, and others who rather be known as the “night-owl”. These people are distinguished with two different names because they function best at different times of the day.
If you’re a morning bird, say even a rooster, you’ll always be awake in the morning to coo when the light comes from the east, but you’ll be dead asleep as the west consumes that light. An owl will never coo at sunrise because they’re always too busy sleeping. They don’t cherish the sun because it interrupts their slumber.
Unfortunately, most people nowadays are night owls and they sleep their days away when they could’ve been doing something else. The brutal truth is that while morning birds are living all of the benefits of waking up early, night owls don’t experience anything other than the downfalls of sleeping in, and that does eventually need to change.
Another issue is that once you’ve chosen aside, it’s hard to convert to the other side. Seeing early birds rise will annoy the owl as it tucks its feathers tightly over its beak. When the early bird watches the owl sway hypnotically in their sleep, they’ll always feel frustration and angst towards the owl since they’ll never be awake in the morning with everyone else.
Once in a while, a balance can break between the two where the afternoon becomes the overlapping hour, but time after that is simply too different from acquainting with.
At the end of the day, humans aren’t owls. We can’t be nocturnal creatures because that’s not how we were made to be. To live a healthy life, we need to thrive off of the sun and communicate with others on a daily basis. So naturally, there’s something that has to be done for all those grumpy night owls.
Downfalls Of Waking Up Late
To encourage you, even more, to wake up early, here are some important reasons you shouldn’t be sleeping in.
Primarily, there is the issue of fatigue. This can drag throughout your day, making it seem longer and more tiring than it really is. Staying up late for too long can make you dizzy and relatively light-headed.
Fatigue is not something you’ll notice at once, but it steadily builds up until you’ve reached points where even going to relieve yourself may seem like too lengthy and tiring of a task.
Another issue experienced with late sleepers is their exposure to developing illnesses. Though sleeping in late has never been the cause of many sicknesses, it has been found to aid in its development and give out a feeling of overall malaise.
Plus, staying up late always brings out the inner pig inside of you. When you stay up late, you crave heavy junk food for snacking. Even though it feels good when you stay up like the rebellious soul you are, you actually satisfy your gluttonous half that doesn’t care for the healthy balance you must maintain.
So before you grab for that bag of chips to binge-watch an entire season of your favorite show, remember what you’re going to end up with.
Another aspect of this issue is that sleeping right after eating isn’t good for you at all. Instead of letting your food digest, you’re forcing it to sit idle in your stomach which can create gastral issues throughout the night.
Your sleep is actually your body’s natural time when your immune system is strongest. As you rest idle and immobile, your body can freely fight against illnesses, viruses, and bacteria that may have infested your body.
But if you don’t get the right amount of sleep, or it becomes inconsistent, you don’t allow your body the time it needs to protect your body from getting sick.
So before you stay up late for no reason better than your own guilty pleasure, remember who’ll have to pay the price for the lack of sleep.
Why Some People Wake Up Easier Than Others
As humans, we’re all made differently. Some people can apparently wake up fresh as a daisy, as though stabbed with adrenaline. Otherwise, there are horrible sleepers that collapse off the bed and come crawling out of the sheets as though they fought with their pillows and lost.
Whichever you are, you are what you are. And most of the time there isn’t much you can admittedly do about it. What you can try to do is change the time you come either crawling or pouncing out of your bed.
Some people fail to sleep on time, get enough of it or just resort to a more lethargic life than others which makes them less energetic than most. Whichever it is, if it’s affecting your mornings, you might want to change your ways.
Sometimes, on days when you work more, perhaps exercise, or do heavy lifting and muscle work, your body requests more rest than usual. If this builds up faster than your metabolism can handle, you’ll probably develop longer sleeping periods than others.
There are many things that affect the way you sleep. The position you sleep in is an important factor. If you move around, you’ll probably wake up more often than someone who sleeps in one position.
The way you slept as a child also creates a more variable sleep habit. If you were raised in a busy city, you’d probably enjoy the noise of the night time city crowd. If not, then the noise will probably rattle your brain beyond comprehension and force you to buy earmuffs.
If you need a warm environment, you’ll most likely suffer during the winter. Those who prefer the cold side of the bed will most likely hate when the blankets come out to ruin the chilling experience.
Then, of course, there are those who are light and heavy sleepers. Light sleepers will wake up to the sound of a pin dropping and then cry in angst as they can’t return to their sleep. Those who are heavy sleepers will sleep through their alarm clock and then curse the darned thing when they’re late for work.
It’s all extremely variable and there is no solid answer to why we all sleep differently. All you can do is try to understand yourself and your personal needs to make your sleep more comfortable and fulfilling so you can wake up as nicely as possible in the morning.
Balancing a Routine
If you truly want to change your ways and start waking up earlier in the day, one thing you must establish is a routine. Every person functions more efficiently when they’re working with a routine.
Your routine might be to get up, get ready for work, and then work a 9- 5 shift. After that, you come home, have something to eat, finish chores or responsibilities and maybe go outside for a while. Then you sleep to start the day again. This is simply a generic routine; it doesn’t apply to everyone though.
If sleeping late is something you often do, then it becomes part of your routine. Routines are similar to habits; once you’ve developed them, they’re hard to shake off. To change your daily routine means that you’re committed to dedicating a portion of time and effort every day to get things done. This can be tricky since you’ll always prefer going about things the easier way. It’s human nature.
In order for you to submerge a new habit into your day, it’s essential that progress occurs one step at a time. Don’t try to skip to the end results, where you’re an early riser and you wake up sparkling like a sunflower in the prairie fields; life isn’t that easy.
You can only advance at a steady pace, and that pace can be slow at times. You may not even wake up as you wanted to on the first few days. You may not even get yourself to sleep on time even if you’re tucked in bed at nine. It’ll all take time and baby steps to change your routine into a better one finally.
Since you’ll be taking one step at a time, the first step you must take is waking up early in the morning.
Waking Up In The Morning
This is the main goal, so this is where you’ll start. Yes, this may seem counterproductive to the statement enlisted above, ‘take baby steps,’ but the truth is, this is the first baby step you’ll have to take. The only way you’ll ever start is by starting large, seeing where that leads you and discover what’s stopping you.
When you fail to wake up fresh in multiple attempts, you should figure out the reason why. It could be because though you went to bed early, you actually fell asleep late and therefore required more sleep.
It could also be that though you went to sleep early, you had nothing provided to help you wake up so early, which resulted in your subconscious waking you up as it usually would.
When you go big the first time, you’re bound to go wrong. Mistakes are what you’ll learn from and from there, you make better and smarter choices. After a feeble attempt the first time, you can correct your mistakes to make for a better prepared night and a healthier, happier morning.
Another point to remember: your morning should never be a struggle. If you find that you woke up on the wrong side of the bed or your morning isn’t going well at all, then rest some more and try again tomorrow.
No matter how hard we try, not every morning is going to be perfect and if it were up to us, we never would actually rise early. Sleep is great and if you’re not getting enough of it, you’ll never be the morning angel that awakes with the call of the sun.
Sleeping At Night
Sleeping on time is just as important as waking up on time. Though no one will ever force you to do so, it’s better to sleep early. Your parents only ever yelled at you to go to bed because they knew the horrible feeling of waking up late and hating the rest of their day.
All parents want their children to raise happy and full of energy. That’s why like any parent, you’ll have to be on your own back, pestering yourself to sleep on time.
Everyone has heard the saying ‘the night is still young and yes, it’s a very fun motto to live by. Yet, it’s also an unhealthy motto to succumb to. Though it seems to be all fun and games when you hoot amongst the night owls, the day to come, the day where you’ll be spending time with work colleagues and people that matter to you won’t be as much fun.
The truth is that the day was made to fulfill opportunities and experiences, not so you could lounge around and do nothing. Being active in the day is much more important than being active at night and so, sleeping early becomes the next step to your progress.
Every person requires 8-10 hours of sleep daily. So, if you plan to wake up at 7 in the morning, you’ll have to sleep at least 11 in the night for 8 hours. If you think you’ll be better off with 10 hours of sleep, then you’ll have to go to sleep at nine at night. It may seem cruel and bring along nostalgic memories of school nights, but it’s for the best.
Once the late nights are gone, the mornings will be easier to manage. You’ll eventually start waking up in the morning feeling much better and staying up at night will become much harder. This balance will make for a healthy routine and a sure-fire habit of rising with the sun.
The Reaction Of Your Actions
While you become the increasingly positive morning bird, you’ll have to watch out for other pesky habits that can prevent you from staying up too late and returning you back to your lethargic ways.
It’s always easier to return back to the way things were. If you fall asleep late once and wake up late, you may stray on this routine for days before you can fix your schedule once more. In order to prevent this, there are some other habits you may have to shake off.
Perhaps you end up procrastinating your chores until the end of the day. You may watch television in the night or even simply enjoy the quiet starry sky above your head. There’s nothing wrong with any of these hobbies or habits, but they will interrupt your attempt to rise early.
Anything you do after the sun sets will affect your sleep. Therefore it’s better to wrap all of your chores and jobs before the sun sets so you can properly finish the day.
If you make late night plans with family or friends, pre-plan them so they don’t fall too late into the night. It’s alright when once in a while you stay up late, but staying up late is an easier habit to catch than waking up early.
Before you do anything, think about what the result will be. Naturally, if you have coffee at 8 in the evening, you’re not going to sleep anytime soon. Going out for late night movies are most likely going to keep you up for the next few nights. Hangovers and late night parties aren’t any help either for the morning.
Sleep First to Wake up
Sleep may not always be in your control, but in the control of your subconscious. You don’t even realize it but your body works on a mental schedule that has steadily developed over time. If sleeping in is what your body is used to, then that habit has become a part of your routine. All of your hours awake and asleep work based on what you are accustomed to.
It is changing this though it is not as easy as reading an article. It takes a lot of devotion and constant reminders. An intuitive habit isn’t something you rub off, it takes a long time to change as it does to develop, which could be months. It could even be years.
Nonetheless, sleep is what comes before waking up and therefore is the impacting action that will either help you or hold you from waking up on time. That’s why it’s what shall be thoroughly addressed in this chapter.
Don’t confuse this with getting enough sleep or not, but this instead addresses how you sleep, the pattern your sleep has gotten accustomed to.
This topic discusses your possible sleeping patterns. As further discussed in detail, your sleeping pattern is the natural custom you follow to fulfill your necessary amount of desirable slumber. Now the unfortunate part is that nowadays, as lives get busier and schedules more tedious, people tend to completely overlook their sleep and develop negative sleeping habits which aren’t good for mental or physical health. It’ll also never let you wake up nice and early with the rising sun.
Sleeping Patterns
Sleeping patterns refer to the routine of sleep you receive daily.
A good, healthy sleeping pattern will be 8 to 10 hours of consistent, uninterrupted sleep. Of course, in today’s hectic world there is no such thing as a normal sleep schedule for anyone.
If you’re a stay-at-home parent, then you know there are the eight hours you get at night and then the extra six you guiltily claim when the kids are at school. If there’s a baby in the house, then you’ll most likely have to take away half of all that sleep you were primarily getting.
When you’re a student in college or university then sleep doesn’t exist here either, does it? There are the studies, the lectures, (that might be where you sleep) the social life, and part-time jobs. Any time you get to yourself would be the right time to sleep, but then there are those days when you’re too tired to go to sleep. Those are the cruelest of days.
When you’re a working professional, you’re off to work, you’re doing work at home and then in the office, you’ll most likely experience those days when the whole load of the day can’t be accomplished in your regular hours. Then when it comes to sleeping, you have a home, possibly friends and family to attend to, food, and that shower you deserve.
Sometimes it feels like there aren’t enough hours in the day to get anything done. But yes, there are 24 hours in a day no matter what your brain tells you and that’s more than enough to tire you out to the bare bones.
You could be a bodybuilder fixing the physique of others, a cashier smiling at all the passing faces, someone whose face is hidden behind a cubicle from 9 to 5, or a mother finally putting two menacing toddlers and one bawling baby into sleep. All of you have enough hard dutiful work to do and once the day ends and the sun sets, you’ve earned that night’s worth of sleep.
But not everyone can get the sleep they need. Why? Because of your sleeping pattern.
Positive Sleeping Patterns And Their Benefits
A good sleeping pattern as mentioned before is one that consists of 8 to 10 hours of uninterrupted consistent sleep that occurs at the same hours of each day. This is the ideal sleeping pattern to have for the healthiest balance between your days and nights.
With this kind of sleeping pattern kept in mind, you can apply this to the schedule you have. Surely in between the family, friends, acquaintances, and work, there are eight beautiful hours just waiting for you to arrive and greedily consume them with the heavy-duty sleep you need.
Those that have a healthy sleep pattern will always have a fresh burst of energy to complement their newfound joy of the new day. They’ll also have a mind at its highest peak of productivity and creativity.
The benefits to sleeping well make you a happier, healthier, and more positive person in general. Since humans work best when on a schedule, a steady sleeping pattern will make you a steadier person.
This sleep should be steady, peaceful and in the most comfortable bed, you have. Sleep is when your body can rest, heal, repair and refresh. In this timely process, you have to keep your body relaxed and soothed so you’re ready for the following day. It’ll almost definitely welcome you with the warm embrace of another cacophonous blasphemous routine. Sadly, this isn’t what people tend to get, and instead, they move to the other type of sleeping pattern.
Negative Sleeping Patterns And Their Downfalls
This type of sleeping pattern is the one that most people work on nowadays. This is an inconsistent, tedious, and horribly timed sleep hour schedule that breaks into sections of your day.
As people nowadays can’t find the time for themselves, it’s evident that they also don’t find the time to sleep. Now you might think that you’re getting all the sleep you need, but you’re most definitely not getting the sleep you deserve. With a chaotic schedule, constant running around, and endless errands to attend to, you’re sleep is probably divided, limited and scanty.
What does this bring you? Nothing good. Eventually, you’ll become grumpy, disheartened, and unenthusiastic about everything because you aren’t getting your complete sleep.
You won’t wake up happy and instead reluctantly. Rather than tackling your day with willpower and optimism, you’ll feel as though you’re being dragged by the neck to each and every destination on your agenda.
Split hours of sleep don’t satisfy your requirements and instead agitate them further. When you’re not getting good long sleep, you’re missing out on the break your body needs to recover from working all day.
Getting too little sleep isn’t the only issue, getting too much sleep can hurt you too! If you’re getting more sleep than you need, you can become a lethargic and weakened soul, since your body isn’t moving and your mind not working as much as it should. When you’re tired all the time, sleep can make you crankier than usual and you’ll wind up in an endless cycle of frustration.
Your sleep can make you the most approachable, friendly, and sweet person in the world, or turn you into the bitter, crude, and grumpy troll that crawls out from under the bridge only to taunt the others around them with pessimism.
What Stops You From Waking Up Early?
There are so many things that keep you from waking up on time. One of the main things that stop you would be yourself. All of the things you do to avoid sleeping at the hour or distract your bored mind from dozing off keep you up at night and ruin your sleep.
Refusal to wake up because you have nothing to do in the morning, no one to see or no plans can also keep you lounging in bed for a few more hours. Anything that holds down your lifestyle is naturally no one else’s fault but yours.
Before you continue reading, take some time to compare your routine in the morning and your routine at night. If you concentrate hard enough, you’ll realize that the morning routine is more automatic and basic than your nightly routines. All the fun exciting things happen either in the afternoon or closer to the evening rather than first thing in the morning.
So here’s a quick question to consider; what would your day look like if your morning was more exciting?
Unshakeable Habits
Some habits can be so irritating. They simply refuse to leave you alone. The only issue with these habits maybe that they interrupt your sleep and mornings.
Now most habits, especially when you reach an independent age ranging over 20 years have firmly become fixated on your personality. Anything you develop after this age will also be hard to shake off.
Some habits are positive, mind you, not everything has to be a bad aspect of your personality if you enjoy keeping your surroundings clean and organized, then good for you since that’s a wonderful characteristic of yours.
Unfortunately, the focus here wouldn’t be your positive characteristics, but those negative ones that interfere with routine.
When you’re going to bed, do you immediately remember your devices, maybe, in particular, your phone? Do you have the need to check your phone before you sleep? This is an extremely common habit people have.
But it isn’t just phones that create this habit, it could honestly be anything. When you’re by yourself, you have nothing to do and your mind starts to wind down, you suddenly remember a million and one things you want to do and feel the sudden urge to do them.
This habit of yours and most people around you are the most common interference that prevents you from getting the right amount of sleep. Just as it’s important to have a routine in the morning, you should also have a balanced routine at night.
When you know it’s time to go to bed, wrap up everything at least half an hour beforehand. Turn off all the lights, electronics, lock the doors, shut the windows put the rest of the house to sleep before you do so that there’s nothing left to do. Keep your devices and distractions out of the room you sleep in. This way, you can rest peacefully knowing that the day has been successfully wrapped up.
Mind your eating and drinking habits close to bedtime as well. For instance, avoid caffeinated items before heading to bed. If you must opt for something relaxing like camomile tea instead, don’t work out too late in your day or you’ll have an adrenaline surge before bedtime. Experts recommend keeping a slightly cooler temperature for an optimal sleep experience and keeping the lighting in your room dim enough simply for sleeping and nothing else.
Sleep Deprivation
You may have the routine, the alarm clock, and the determination to wake up early, but what if you’re not getting enough sleep? Some people don’t have normal working cycles, they could be working two jobs at once or maybe they’re heavy travelers.
For all of these people, their routine looks a little different and that means their sleep patterns are different as well. They may not be the healthiest lifestyles, but there is always a way to make things better.
Sleep deprivation is an issue that develops over time. The first few days that you miss out on sleep may not even phase you, but it’s after a week or so when you feel the pressure of sleep deprivation.
Abnormal routines usually host long hours of staying up and shorter hours of sleep and rest. You’re used to sleeping at night and waking up in the morning, but if you resort to night shifts or traveling for a profession, the night may not be the right time for you to sleep.
So routines have to be altered, keeping in mind that you need at least eight hours of consecutive sleep. This could mean that the afternoon becomes your night or even your mornings. Unfortunately, for those whose schedules don’t work out for nights or mornings, there isn’t much you can do for early mornings other than look for other options that allow you to have the night for yourselves.
For those that don’t have such requirements, nothing is holding you back from conquering the nights besides yourself. 8 to 10 hours is what you need and if you’re not getting this rest consecutively, you’re going to suffer.
You can’t try cutting corners, getting three hours in the afternoon and the other five during the night. That isn’t how a proper sleep pattern works.
This brings us to the next topic which is the opposite of sleep deprivation is getting too much sleep.
Lethargic Lifestyle
Having too much of anything is bad for you. Naturally, staying up too long without rest is going to make you tired and lazy. Your head will feel light and your mind fuzzy since it’s been working for far too long.
But when you decide to let out your inner lethargic lion sleep for eighteen hours a day, you’ll start feeling different side effects. Instead of a light fuzzy head, you’ll have a heavy throbbing head, pulsating because it’s been out of work for once again, far too long.
After sleeping for too long, you’ll always be tired, mind heavy from all the silent hours it rested and now suddenly, it has to get back to work. It’s just like coming back to work after a long two-week vacation. Though you know the break was going to end, the longer you postpone it, the more reluctant you are to go back.
Your mind is the same. It’s been sleeping for so long, a few more hours wouldn’t hurt. But the truth is, they will. Eventually doing nothing and relaxing becomes an addiction, something you can’t get enough of and constantly hunt for more. This makes you lazier, more tired, and less willing to perform tasks.
What you must realize is that there’s always a time when work returns and you have to stop resting. Even though you are getting enough sleep and plenty more, getting up in the morning becomes harder though you may be using an alarm clock and open curtains.
So a minimum of 8 hours is good to keep you running for 16 hours. Anything over 10 hours will force you into hibernation that’ll wake you up crankier than any grizzly bear after the winter.
Benefits of Waking Up Early
The equation to a perfect morning is simple; a good night’s sleep is complimented with an early start to the morning. Being an early bird isn’t something to be embarrassed about, it’s something to hold your head proudly over. A lot of people look enviously at those who can wake up in the morning happy and full of energy. If you’re one of those people, then stop wearing the color green since becoming one with the flock isn’t as hard as it seems.
The saying ‘rise with the sun’ comes from somewhere and is basically trying to imply that the most natural healthy way to wake up is when the sun does. Natural light is the friendliest light to have brush against your skin in the misty morning. With the vibrancy of fresh light and a long night to help satisfy your tired mind, waking up properly is the only way to make each day count a little more.
Increase Your Productivity
The first thing that you’ll notice is perhaps how your productivity levels rise when you wake up with the sun. Given the scenario of modern life, early risers make the most of their day even before your morning coffee kicks in. Let’s just say, busy lives cater best to those who wake up early.
Looking at well-known success stories, most such individuals report waking up at 5 am or even earlier. Apart from the obvious benefit of gaining more clock time hours added into the day, early hours also means fewer distractions.
The mind also tends to be more alert in the morning and allows for focusing better than when surrounded by interruptions. Thinking clearly also goes to benefit better decision making and increased productivity during the day.
Getting a head start on others in this way lets you add value to your mornings at your own discretion.
Enjoy More Control
Making sure your day starts off early comes with a lot of rewards. First off, being the first one to wake up is a good enough reward. It means you’re in control of your morning, and not the people bustling around you that have already awoken.
You can choose what you want to do, what you have for breakfast, where to start your day off. Having everything under control is a riveting experience and once you’ve had one taste of it, you’ll want it more and more.
With your own head start on the day, you can watch as the rest of the day wakes up around you. All that you need to be done can be completed before you even have to do it. Control is something no one can’t get enough of.
Imagine driving on the free open road; it’s most likely the best feeling anyone can have. With your hands on the steering wheel, the speed pulling you along for the joy ride, the smooth wheels imitating the feeling as though you were flying and all the control is fiddling through the spaces between your fingers.
It may not look like the same feeling, but it’s indeed exactly what you feel when you wake up early. No one to tell you what to do; this is what waking up early can offer you, and honestly, it isn’t something you want to miss out on. With a little dedication, you can have the world to yourself, even if it’s just for an hour.
Improve Your Health
People who wake up early have a natural inclination to invest in their health. How so? It’s fairly simple. Everyone knows that as the typical day progresses, things tend to become crazier, faster. Things that you would like to do for yourself tend to take a backseat.
Just think about the workout you’ve always wanted to fit into your busy schedule but never actually got around to. Or the jog around the block to keep you healthy and fit. Even meditate to get stress out of your system before you dive headlong into your day.
It’s very easy for such personal goals to get sidelined or completely fall off the radar. The flip side to this is that it is these very items that can help you de-stress and increase your productivity. For most people, it’s much easier and more realistic to make personal time for such activities in the morning before the daily grind starts.
You’ll see that early risers always have some slot of physical activity in their mornings. The benefits include waking up in a good mood, staying in a good mood daylong, and ending the day on a good note. Of course, with such positivity comes greater stamina, better performance, and improved concentration.
Exercise is great for setting up your day with energy, focus, and enthusiasm. So whatever morning ritual works for you, whether it is going for a power walk all pumped up, or taking time out to delve into meditative breathing and yoga, make time for it in your mornings.
Waking up early will be worth the sacrifice. You’ll be a more productive person, enjoy more time out in the sun, have and relish the creativity peak you can only produce armed with your morning cup of joe. The results slowly show on you as well. It’ll be harder for those black bags to sit underneath such revitalized, lively eyes. You’ll carry that unsuspecting skip in your step others can only crave. Your posture, positivity, and personality will suddenly become contagious elements people compliment you for over lunch break.
You Get To Have Breakfast
Now, this may seem like a no-brainer to most people, yet so many don’t have time to make themselves a decent breakfast and enjoy it in peace before heading out for the day. After all, the caffeine lying at the bottom of your coffee mug isn’t what is going to make your day a good one, it’s time you have with that coffee.
Those who do enjoy their breakfast will tell you that it’s the ideal fuel to run your brain and body. Breakfast not only kick starts your metabolism but also gives you the energy to get things done during the day. It puts you in a happier mood (unknowingly for most people) but because you simply function better on a filled stomach.
In the same way, a good breakfast keeps you from snacking or bingeing away unnecessarily. If anything, it’s the perfect way to stabilize and then maintain your blood glucose levels during the day.
So have a hearty breakfast with some fruit or nut topped cereal, a smoothie, or just go with traditional egg and toast if you like. For a true health boost, some people also like to start their day off with juicing to get their fill of vitamins and minerals.
You can opt for whatever works best for you, but do keep in mind that you’ll have to make time for breakfast, even if it means starting your day a little earlier.
Every day is a new one, every experience will last forever and make you the person who stands before yourself today. This kind of progress doesn’t happen overnight, though. It may take months, but the future prize will last for years.
With every day being an opportunity, take each opportunity by the throat, start it off the best you can, and never let it get away.
Habits to Help You Sleep Early
When starting your new developing habit of waking up early, you can try out new techniques and habits to help yourself. One thing to keep in mind when you are going to try new techniques is to wake up early; not everything will work for you. So just pick one or two that will work best for you and your daily routine.
Pick and choose some ideas that you think may work for you. If they don’t then fret not, there are so many more helpful pointers you can find. You may not even need help waking up other than an alarm clock.
When it comes to waking up early, you have to keep a positive mindset — most people who wake up early wake up optimistic, energetic, and beaming. In order to wake up in such a good mood, you need a positive approach to your mornings, every morning.
Optimistic Behavior
You need to feel good each morning. As mentioned before, the morning determines how the rest of your day goes, whether you feel elated or down in the dumps. It’s hard and sometimes you simply don’t have control over the mood you wake up in.
If the neighbor’s dog barks the world awake each morning including yourself, it’s easy to see why you may not wake up in the best of spirits. To conquer this, rather than thinking negatively about the neighbor’s dog, think of a positive solution. You can either purchase a pair of earmuffs to block out the noise or to adjust your sleeping time so that you can wake up a little earlier.
Everything has two sides. In order for you to keep an upbeat balance to your days, you need to understand both of those sides. What is the negative outcome, and what is positive? Most times, the negative solution or result is easier to see and commit to. With a little practice though, the positive side can be conquered and when it is, you’ll feel much better about yourself, and the neighbor’s dog.
Just as well, when you see how early you’ve woken up don’t feel disheartened, you should feel better. You’ve definitely experienced a day where you unconsciously woke up early, saw the time and went right back to sleep. It’s alright, everyone loves their sleep.
However, when it comes to turning early mornings a routine, never look at the clock cynically. Look to the time positively; look at all the time you now have to accomplish everything that needs looking to throughout the day.
This brings us to our next point in changing your mental perspective on an early start, and that’s planning out the layout of your day.
Pre-Plan Your Day
When you start your day, a great way to motivate yourself is by having an agenda. Mornings are admittedly hard; working out your breakfast, your schedule, your meals so on and so forth. But what would you do if you’d already planned it all out?
Before going to sleep, think about the coming morning. What are you going to eat? Maybe you’ll go out for breakfast or make an omelet. Even if it’s a vague idea, it’s still a method of motivation.
You can go even further and plan out your entire morning. If it’s a workday, then the morning may be monotonic but if you have a free day ahead of you, make the day fun and interesting with a plan of all the things you can do.
Go out for a run or start a project. Try out some new recipes or indulge in some crafting. Anything can spice up a day, and when your day gets more exciting, you’ll be more driven to start it early.
Having a plan for every day may seem timely, but the truth is the only work behind it can be a few hopeful thoughts before bed. Think about how your day today went, and try to make tomorrow a better one.
If you couldn’t see your friends today, see them tomorrow for an early brunch. Today didn’t go well and you felt tired in the morning, take a shower the next morning to wake yourself up and feel fresh.
If every day isn’t repetitive, then you’ll feel better about each day. This may feel hard, trying to find something new to do every day, still, it’s something to look forward to and actually isn’t as hard as you tend to presume.
One small change on any day is a good chance. Changing something in the morning, for instance, having a different breakfast, going out rather than staying in, leaving the curtains open rather than closed, are all changes you can make with one pre-planned decision that’ll make your day better.
Hold Accountability For Not Waking Up Early
If you wake up late, it’s your fault. Ignoring the alarm clock, shielding sunlight with your blanket, snoozing for ‘only five more minutes is all on your head. Only you can be held accountable for the time you wake up.
Think about all the things you didn’t do. Without the sunlight, you couldn’t go out and enjoy a perhaps wonderful summer day. Brunch with your friends is no longer possible. You may not have time to take out for yourself now that most of the day is gone.
The shrug of your shoulder is not allowed here. The more guilt and responsibility you feel for not committing to your early mornings, the less likely you’ll sleep in.
Think of all the health benefits you miss out on. You are waking up with a smile on your face. No black sinking holes darkening your eyes, no lingering sneer from brushing the irritable tangles in your hair, no horrible day is hating the partition from you and your bed.
There’s so much to gain from waking up early and so much to lose from sleeping in. This isn’t something to think optimistically about. This time, rather than looking to the better side of the story; you most likely got an extra hour of sleep; think of all the things you didn’t receive.
As odd as this may sound, it’s okay to feel bad about yourself. It’s fine, everyone does it all the time. They think negatively about their body, their hair, their habits and you know what they do? They change.
If you hate waking up late and truly want to wake up early, then try associating pain to the days you chose to sleep in. Curse the mornings you didn’t wake up early and resent the chances you missed out. All that resentment will become your strongest motivational push, driving to better mornings and healthier happier days.
Dream of waking up like a perfect coffee ad, where they seem to love the sun’s rays passing through their laced white curtains. It’ll happen soon enough.
Tips To Help You Wake Up Early
Fret not, for when you aren’t capable of changing your mood swings about the early mornings, you can simply resort to the sneaky tricks.
There’s always another way to do things when you can’t change, and that’s to change your surroundings. Everything around you affects the way you sleep, and the way you wake up. No matter what you’ve got in your room, even if it’s a book, it affects your sleep. That’s why the room you sleep in has to be the perfect environment for restful and fulfilling hours of slumber.
There are many parts of your room you must focus on. Is it the right room to sleep in, or are you surrounded by distractions that are going to keep you up? Where your bed is located, and is it really the most comfortable place to have it?
Ask yourself some questions to better your own sleep and always keep in mind, this is for a better, more relaxed morning. The following are some main contributing factors to your sleep that should be primarily addressed for better sleep results.
Sleeping Material
Is your bed comfortable? You may have had it for a long time. And yes, that evidently makes the bed a familiar feeling but in truth, is it comfortable?
It doesn’t hurt to look around at some other mattresses in stores. You might find even find something you like. It’s okay to cheat on your mattress, sometimes you need a break from sleeping on the same bulging old mattress. If you do find a new, more comfortable mattress while browsing, don’t be afraid to get it. You need all the comfort in the world to get the best sleep each night for better mornings each day.
Also, look at the pillow type you have. There are definitely different pillow types since everyone sleeps in a different position. Some people sleep upright just like any proper princess would, others tend to sleep on their sides. Some people even admittedly, sleep with their faces inside the pillow. There’s a specific pillow for all these sleeping positions, ergonomic neck pillows, and stiff pillows for strained necks.
Try finding nice fluffy, snuggly blankets to wrap yourself in, or even thermal blankets to make cold nights more bearable. Keep in mind the temperature in your area as well, because on some nights, mostly in summers, a blanket can be suffocating rather than comforting.
Sleeping Earlier
Always keep this in mind. The math behind waking up early comes from a nice long night of sleep that started early. You must give up late nights in order to wake up feeling fresh and productive.
Anything that was once keeping you up before should now cease to happen. Any binge-watching in the middle of the night shouldn’t happen anymore because each 23-45 minute episode you watch is another hour or a half taken away from your morning.
Going out for dinners or night parties, hangouts or anything that leads you out of your house shouldn’t keep you out after 10. It may seem like less fun; the night is the hour for fun, but then you have to face the consequences in the morning when you miss your early daily routine and have to cut through to the middle of your day.
You also have to avoid any blue lights before sleeping that could hazardously affect your mind. What are the blue lights? What color reflects the strongest in your eyes when you stare at the screen of your phone?
That’s unfortunately right. Electronics are the producers of blue light, which means that at night, you shouldn’t be using your devices at all. Phones, computers, tablets, and even your television shouldn’t be near you to tempt you when you try to go to sleep. A dark or dimly lit room with no blue lights to keep you up should be where you sleep.
Use Sunlight To Wake Up
The light around you is very important. While as mentioned before blue light isn’t something you should be close to, natural light is.
Keep your curtains open when you go to sleep so that the morning sunshine can shimmer through your windows when you wake up. There’s nothing better than natural sunlight and it’ll never fail you.
Even if you’re feeling upset or down, you can simply stroll out into the sun. A true fact is, sunlight naturally makes everyone feel happier with sufficient vitamin D. Without the sun up in the sky, you don’t feel happy at all. That’s why rainy days are always the worst. Everyone hates days when the clouds cover the sky and rain on your parade because they’re blocking out the sun.
So if you want to wake up at the right time, no clock works better than the sun. Allow the sun to brush across your skin when the light comes through. Rise with the rest of the world and feel great when you do. For a happier morning let the natural system wake you up, not the bleary alarm clock you’ve thrown across the table countless times.
Use A Friendlier Alarm Clock
Almost every day is another day where you want to strangle your alarm clock. Everyone can surely relate, but then again the alarm clock is only doing its job. There are other types of alarm clocks you can try using that might hold more successful results than the one you own today.
One type of alarm clock you can invest in is a sunrise alarm clock. This alarm clock, rather than blaring you awake will imitate the natural rise of the sun to help you rise. Set up the alarm clock to suit your timing, and watch the magic as the alarm clock mimics the sunrise. Five minutes before your set time, the clock‘s light will start to turn on until it reaches the designated minute where it shines at full power. You can even add calming music in the background that elevates the sunrise.
You can also try waking up to music on its own rather than listening to the cacophonous repetitive beeps of typical alarm clocks. Your favorite song is a much better option to wake up to.
You can also purchase an alarm clock without a snooze button. How is this a friendlier alarm clock? It isn’t. You have to wake up.
Keep Yourself Awake
The next step after you’ve woken up is to keep yourself up and to run, not to collapse onto the couch or to doze off over the kitchen table during breakfast. There are multiple things you can do here to ensure you’re up and ready for the day.
Taking a shower or at least washing your face with cold water is a good idea. The touch of cold water will ironically unfreeze your tired mind. Rather than having a warm drink in the morning, kick the day off with a cup of cool fruit smoothie to freshen up your day.
Get out into the sun as soon as possible. It’ll beat brooding in the dark corners of your home hating your bed for letting you leave it. Sunlight is the perfect sign you need to wake up and take hold of the day with your two hands. A filling breakfast and a quick warm-up will help you wake up your limbs as well.
Get your day started as soon as you wake up, not doing anything practically means giving in to procrastination. Remember that how you start the day is how you end the day, so don’t procrastinate the first thing in the morning! As soon as you get up, your pre-planned day should commence right away to keep yourself occupied.
Conclusion
Hopefully, by now, the logic to the primarily mentioned equation has been completely explained to your understanding. If you don’t recollect what it was, here’s a reminder: the right amount of sleep kicked off with an early morning to boost your spirit.
The only way you can make space for the proper amount of sleep is by creating a suitable routine for yourself. This routine also has to be able to compromise with all the extra time you’ll receive arising so promptly. It does seem to be unfair, getting your late nights taken away by the morning, but they don’t always have to go. Once you have developed a steady mental schedule that wakes up in the morning automatically, you can enjoy those occasional night hangouts.
