If you’re a person that always struggling to wake up early in the morning, it should happen due to several reasons.
Who doesn’t hate getting up in the morning? Especially if you have to get up early because there are important events that start early.
Of course this can be very annoying because you feel a lot of your sleep time is interrupted. However, waking up early doesn’t have to be miserable.
1. First of All, Know The Reason You Need to Get Up Early
If you are used to getting up late and want to change the habit, the first thing you need to keep in mind is the reason why you want to change your habits. Try to think, what is your motivation so that you want to change the habit of getting up late to get up early.
Maybe the reason is indeed because your new job requires that you get up early, or you want to exercise early in the morning before doing your activities, or maybe you want to have more time to relax in the morning before starting your activities.
Once you have determined your reasons, you can tell the people around you (at least those who sleep near you) about this habit you are about to change. Believe it or not, this situation is as efficient as your alarm clock to get you up in the morning.
2. Put The Alarm Clock in Unreachable Spot
This sounds funny, but it can help you wake up in the morning. Make it hard for you to turn off your alarm clock.
If you put an alarm that is very easy to reach, you will immediately go back to sleep. By putting effort to turn off your alarm, then you are “forced” to get up to turn off the alarm.
3. Know Your Body’s Hours to Sleep
If you have been sleeping for a while late at night and have been forced to wake up in the morning, you may not know exactly how many hours of sleep your body actually needs.
Your body makes changes in anticipation of when you will sleep, such as lowering your body temperature and heart rate, and releasing melatonin into your bloodstream an hour or two before you go to sleep.
After that, your body will reach level 3 or 4 in your sleep cycle, then your body begins to prepare the process for you to wake up. One way to work around this so you can wake up easily in the morning is to set your hours of sleep, and stay consistent with those hours of sleep.
For example, you have to get up at 7 in the morning, so that you can sleep for 8 hours, then at least you should have gone to sleep at 11 at night. Do this consistently for weeks, even though it’s a holiday. By doing this, you’ll surprise your body will get used to it as it becoming your habit.
4. Turn Off All Lights Before Going to Sleep
Of course, the ease you get up in the morning depends on you sleeping at night.
Avoid doing activities in front of the screen, such as TVs, laptops, and smartphones before going to bed, because these activities can make you not go to sleep.
If you use your smartphone as an alarm, set the alarm configuration one hour before you sleep, then turn off your smartphone.
5. Turn on The Light Once You Wake up in The Morning
A bright light for an hour or two as soon as you wake up helps hours of sleep in your body to recognize that now is the time to wake up in the morning.
This light can come from sunlight, table lamps, or your bedroom lights. If you have time, it is even better to take time to take a walk outside in the morning sun to build your mood before your move.
6. Organize Your Activities at Night
Try to check what activities make you unable to sleep on time. For example, if you go to the gym after you have dinner, this activity can make you sleep soundly.
Experts suggest that the right time to exercise is not at night. If you fall asleep due to having to finish your work, look for ways so that you can manage your work. Maybe you can share your work with other colleagues, and so on.
7. Stay Awake Early on Off Days
Of course, waking up on a Saturday afternoon Sunday feels wonderful. However, this actually disrupts your overall sleep hours, because it means your sleep hours are not what your body normally recognize.
Whatever the schedule goes to sleep and wake up on weekdays, apply it also on holidays.
Experts say that if you are consistent with your hours of sleep every day (including holidays), then you can get a better quality of sleep and more easily wake up in the morning.
8. Try Melatonin
Naturally, your body produces melatonin which stimulates you to sleep. You can consume melatonin to help you rearrange your hours of sleep. Try taking melatonin in low doses (about 0.5 to 1.0 mg) five hours to six hours before you go to sleep, for several days.
After a few nights, your body will get used to your new hours of sleep, so you can sleep faster at night and get up early in the morning for the following days, without the need to consume melatonin again.
However, it’s important to remember that melatonin supplements sometimes don’t work for some people, and even cause problems. Therefore, people with immune system disorders, diabetes, taking birth control pills, taking sedatives, or taking blood pressure medication should consult the use of this melatonin supplement with a doctor.
Bottom Line
After you make your effort to get up in the morning, try evaluating the results every week. Try checking if you feel more energized?
Or instead your mood becomes messy? Or do you still continue to get sleepy in the morning? If you find that you fail to get up in the morning as you wish, try another method. Conversely, if the method you have applied works, then continue the method.