I am not a morning person. I force myself to go to bed early during the week, because I know that I have to get up early for work, but my internal clock fights this every inch of the way. If I had it my way, I’d wake up around 10 a.m. every day. On the weekends, it’s incredibly easy for me to slip back into my preferred routine, which is to stay up until midnight or 1 a.m., and then wake up at 11 a.m. (or later)! But then when Sunday night comes and I’m not at all tired, I know it’s going to be an issue. So I’ve come up with a few things I do every morning to help make it a little bit easier.
Less Snoozing
The first thing I changed was really cutting down on snoozing. This is a continual struggle for me, because I really love snooze time. But I know that the more snoozing I do, the harder and harder it is for me to actually get up. Right now, I have it down to one snooze, which is about as good as I think I’ll ever get.
Buying a Wake-Up Light
Going along with cutting down on snoozing, I bought this Philips Wake-Up Light. It’s not cheap – it’s definitely an investment – but it’s worth it for me. It starts to slowly brighten 30 minutes before the alarm time that you set, just like a regular sunrise. It’s way less jarring than suddenly turning on a bright light next to your face, and it also helps your body adjust and slowly start to wake up. I’ve been using it for more than a year now, and there have been a few times where I’ve forgotten to set my phone alarm, and I’ve actually woken up to just the light turning on, alone (I have the Philips alarm set to silent, since I can’t reach it from my bed). This is huge for me, because it takes a lot for me wake up! I’ve also forgotten to turn it off some weekends, and it still wakes me up – which shows it’s effective, but also really annoys me on a Saturday morning!
Turn on More Lights
Finally, when I am out of bed, I immediately turn on the rest of the lights in my bedroom, and start my morning with a cup of coffee. The coffee I need because I probably have a caffeine addiction, but turning on the rest of my lights helps keep my body from being lulled back to an early-morning sleepiness.
These all sound like small things, and they are, but they’ve made a big difference in my mood in the morning, and help me start my day much happier.
