this story is part 12 days tipshelps you get the most out of your technology, home, and health during the holiday season.
Generally, there are two main reasons why it is difficult to get up in the morning. You are an early riser, but something is so wrong with your sleep that you don’t feel rested in the morning. You have to shift.
If you fit the first group, good news. Yes, you can turn yourself into a morning person by identifying what’s wrong with your sleep and correcting it.
If you fall into the latter group, we have good news and bad news. It can be an early riser, but this change requires planning, self-discipline, and consistency because you’re basically upending your own biology. In particular, you can make it happen by incorporating these 9 tips into your daily life.
read more: how to get better sleep
Here’s why it’s hard to get up in the morning
One of the main causes of harsh mornings is night awakeningsays Barton Scott, nutritionist and founder of Upgraded Formulas, a supplement company focused on improving sleep.
“Nocturnal awakening is ultimately, as a concept, out of alignment with normal circadian rhythms,” Scott said. problems going to bed, falling asleep earlier than expected, [and] I took a nap unexpectedly. ”
You may experience conscious awakenings that you know you are not sleeping well, or you may experience fragmented sleep that includes brief awakenings each night that you are unaware of or do not remember.
Consider these situations to determine if you may have unknowingly spent the night rolling over.
- I took a nap for at least 20 minutes the day before
- you took a nap After 3:00 p.m. the previous day
- I had caffeine in the afternoon
- Ate last meal within 2 hours of bedtime
- your last meal was very heavy
- drank alcohol within hours of bedtime
- I stared at the screen until bedtime
- Incorrect temperature in bedroom
Another factor, perhaps the biggest, is that some people simply aren’t morning people, says Terry Krall, a registered nurse and certified clinical sleep educator. Everyone has their own chronotype that regulates their sleep cycle.
“Night owls often struggle with a society that favors early risers,” says Cralle. “Obviously, if working hours aren’t aligned with your body clock, this can lead to sleep deprivation and all its consequences.”
read more: best alarm clock for sunrise
A good alarm clock makes being a person in the morning much easier. If you’re looking for a customizable, interactive hub with alarms, music, and weather, consider the Amazon Echo Show 5.
Read our Echo Show 5 review.
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9 practical tips for waking up early
If you’re not an early riser, you should use methods such as light exposure and gradual changes to your bedtime to change your body clock. Here are some tips from Cralle.
- Start small: Set your alarm 15 minutes earlier every few days until you reach your ideal wake-up time.
- don’t snoozewhich can make waking up even more difficult (even if you’re not trying to shift your body clock)
- in the morning light, 20 to 30 minutes if possible. Exposure to bright light first thing in the morning suppresses melatonin production and resets your body clock. Draw the curtains or go for a short walk to get that exposure.
- maintain a consistent wake-up timeeven on weekends.
- Use the RISEUP method. R.Don’t hit the snooze button Meincrease activity in the first hour after waking, S.how to wash your face Huhexposed to sunlight, cormorantpbeat music, and P.polish your friends
- avoid caffeine After 3pm
- eat a high protein breakfast right after waking up
- avoid naps If you can. If you can’t do that, shorten your naps.
- avoid bright light There is a media curfew in the evening. Try to put away your screens at least an hour and ideally two hours before bedtime.
If you stick with these daily tactics long enough, you’ll find that they become habits and eventually wake you up in the morning with ease.
Should I be a morning person?
Society celebrates the productivity and success of early risers, but you don’t have to be an early riser to be productive or successful. For many people, getting up early leads to better habits and health overall, but for some people, getting up early just goes against their biological chronotypes.
About 25% of people are natural early risers and about 25% are night owls. The rest of us fall somewhere in between. Genetics definitely play a role in your natural circadian rhythm, and some experts say that trying to change your chronotype can be detrimental to your health.
How to identify sleep problems and wake up early
In addition to the aforementioned causes of poor sleep, attention should also be paid to the overall state of physical and mental health. For example, malnutrition and anxiety are two common reasons people can’t sleep at night, Scott said.
you may want to start sleep tracking If you haven’t already done so, keep a food diary You can also keep a regular diary to find out what is causing your sleepless nights.
For example, let’s say you wrote in your journal that you were worried about a big work project. You were feeling stressed, so you had pizza and ice cream for dinner. Don’t worry too much about why you couldn’t sleep. The answer is written in the diary.
Anxiety takes longer to fall asleep, diet options May interfere with sleep. High-fat foods in particular take longer to digest, acidic foods such as tomato sauce can cause acid reflux.
Once you’ve identified your sleep deprivation triggers, you can implement changes for a better night’s rest. can.
Switching from staying up late to waking up early
There are indeed advocacy groups advocating staying up late to delay school and work start times. Called the B-Society, the group says that while society adores the “A person” (the early riser) and the “B person” (the latecomer), it’s constantly forced to ignore our biological clocks.
their mission? “We need to free ourselves from a 9-to-5 society and a lack of respect for type B persons. Providing people with working hours that match their circadian rhythms will improve quality of life, health, Infrastructure, productivity all improve.”
The group has good points. Research shows that intentionally shifting your body clock to get up early doesn’t always result in the attributes associated with waking up early, such as feeling better and being more satisfied with your life. Instead, the shift can have the opposite effect – feeling worse and less happy.
So getting up early doesn’t always lead to productivity or success. Instead, people who wake up early are more likely to fit the schedule society has set for everyone.
For example, a 17-year-old who is an early riser will probably have no trouble paying attention and getting the job done in the first class, which starts at 7:30 am. Their bodies are still producing melatonin at 7:30 am, which is why they get poor grades in the same class.
Chronotypes can also change with age. For example, young children tend to wake up early, teens tend to stay up late and go to bed late, and older people tend to revert to morning preferences. Your current biological clock may be partly a product of your life stage.
Worried about your natural chronotype affecting your work? If you work shifts, ask your workplace about switching to a later shift. If you work in an office with mandatory start times, ask your boss to change your schedule. They may be more tolerant than you think. Especially when you tell them that if you work with your body instead of against it, you will be much more productive and do a better job.
So unless you really need to change your late-night tendencies, you might be better off sticking with the chronotype you were born with.
The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended to constitute health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified physician if you have questions about your medical condition or health objectives. Talk to your health care provider.
