Last updated on September 1st, 2018 at 07:27 am
There are many benefits of becoming a morning person – you get some time to work out and plan your day well in advance. But, waking up early is not so easy, especially if you are not a morning person. I was never a morning person, right from the college days, until a few years ago; I had no morning life. And when you are not a morning person, you wake up late in the morning. And you will have no time to eat breakfast or think and plan your day. You will be rushing all the time, will be late to work, have breakfast in the noon and end up staying at work till late hours. You will be back home, late, eat junk food, check emails and whats app and sleep late.
That’s how my life looked like. I used to be late for work, almost every day. I felt tired, lazy and stressed. I had to skip social gathering because I was busy doing nothing.
Even if I knew, that if I get up early in the morning, I will have a couple of hours that I can use well to workout, to plan my day, to take care of morning chores and avoid rushing for grocery and vegetable shopping while returning from the work, late in the evening. I used to set the alarm clock at 6:00 am. And I used to hit the snooze button, hoping that I will get up in next 5 minutes. And when I wake up, it’s never just 5 minutes, but 45 minutes. And, this is how I failed and stayed miles away from becoming a morning person.
But not anymore!
I have become a morning person now!
Wondering how?
It all started in December 2015. There was marathon here in my city and few of my friends were participating for fun run. They asked me to join and I said I will be happy to participate, but if only they can wake me up in the morning. One of my friends agreed and he kept calling till I got off the bed in the morning at around 5:00 am.
It felt annoying at first, but once I left the home and joined my friends at the marathon (fun race), I felt magical. And I promised to myself that I will become a morning person, no matter what lifestyle changes I have to make. I started reading tips and ideas to become a morning person, got help from friends, and ended up becoming one.
Trust me, its magical! And if you are struggling to get up early in the morning and want to become a morning person, I am willing to share all those tricks that actually worked for me. And I am sure; it’s going to work for you as well.
Benefits of becoming a morning person
I actually experienced the joy of waking up early and that changed my life. I sleep on time and wake up early in the morning. I get a couple of extra hours in the mooring. I go on a walk. I see the sun early everyday and I feel rejuvenated and stress free. And to top it all, I have free time in the Morning when I am at my best and I use it to plan the activities for the day.
There are many other benefits of becoming a morning person, such as:
- Getting up early in the morning helps you to improve the quality of sleep, because you have to go to bed, on time. Each of us have a sleep cycle, and that cycle is complete if you have 8 hours of sound sleep.
- Waking up early makes you rejuvenated and makes you stress free.
- You find some extra time to work out and sweat out some extra calories.
- When you do physical exercise, and breathe fresh air, the blood circulation and the body metabolism rate increases, keeping you energetic for the whole day.
- You do not feel sleepy the whole day, mornings are the times when the body stores the maximum amount of energy after restoring the energy levels due the long sleep of the night.
- You tend to have more hours in day than you previously had, and it is totally worth it.
Most of us already know about the benefits of becoming a morning a person. But still, many of us, who want to become a morning person, fail at it measurably.
I have shared some of these benefits to let you know about the dividend of getting up early in the morning. It actually helps you live a healthy and happy life.
18 Tricks that helped me become a morning person
The first thing that you need to become a morning person is the motivation. All of us like sleeping in the morning, because that’s when you enjoy your sleep. Unless, you realize or get better rewards, you may not be motivated enough to get up early in the morning. And that’s the first and sure shot trick that works.
1. Stay motivated to get up early in the morning
The motivation to get up early may come from anywhere. A friend of mine, who have put on lots of weight, felt motivated, because she felt embarrassed and humiliated when family and relative started to taunt her about her weight. And she promised herself to become a morning person, and since over last six months, she gets up every morning, go for a brisk morning walk and have lost reasonable weight.
I myself experienced the joy of getting up early, walking and breathing in the fresh air and that motivated me to become a morning person. So the very first trick is to find the motivation and stay motivated about getting up early, day after day, every day, even during the weekend.
2. Know what’s on stake in being a night owl
Apart from killing the most productive time of the day in sleeping, you actually become lazy, if you are not a morning person. Sleeping till late hours could have many negative impact on your physical and mental health, including
- Becoming lazy and feeling dull
- Obesity
- Headache and back aches
- Lack of concentration
- Stress
- Lack of time
- Almost no social life
And when you recognize what’s on stake if you sleep till late hours, you may feel motivated enough to become a morning person. As I said in my case, I was always restless and felt like too occupied. I always felt like rushing and having no time to live.
3. Go to bed at the right time
Becoming a morning person is not just about getting up early, but it’s a lifestyle. You suddenly start respecting time and become sincere with all the activities. If you are feeling too sleepy while waking up in the morning, then this means that your body is devoid of sufficient rest; your sleep is incomplete and may be insufficient. Most of the adult needs 7-8 hours of sound sleep in order to rejuvenate our body and mind.
Make a routine that works for you but try and go to the bed between 9:30 to 10.00PM to wake up early between 5:30 to 6.00 AM. Once you have sound sleep for 6-7 hours, you will have no difficulties in waking up early, because your sleep is complete. It is like charging your phone. We sleep to charge our body, and when we get sound sleep of 7-8 hours, we get rejuvenated and charged.
And probably this is first reason why I failed in my previous attempts of getting up early and becoming a morning person. I used to sleep late because my days were not normal. And when you sleep late, you will wake up late next morning.
Discipline of going to bed on time, is going to be the key, to becoming a morning person.
4. Avoid hitting the snooze button
It’s better to set alarm initially, till the time you develop the habit to get up early. But most of us, who set alarm to wake up, end up pressing the snooze button.
I used to do it and I am sure you do it too. But I feel, Alarm clock should not have the snooze button. When I set up an alarm, it should help me get up on that time. No excuse!
But till the time, there is a snooze option; you have to deal with it.
So what you can do is, keep the alarm clock or the mobile phone away from your reach. You should not get hold of the alarm clock from your bed. It’s easier to hit the snooze, when it’s within the reach, you’re your bed. When you can’t access the device from your bed, you have to get up and switch it off. And once you get up and switch off the alarm, you may feel like going to bed again. Rather walk straight ahead to the washroom, and complete your morning rituals.
5. Use Fitness bands and app
Lots of wrist bands and fitness devices and gadgets are available these days that helps in becoming a morning person. I myself, use the MI fitness band. It has an App, Alarm, counts the steps I have walked and so on. Data get easily synced with the App that I have on my phone. And when I see the daily, weekly or monthly report of the calories I have burned, it motivate me.
I can actually see and track, if I am running behind my goal, and when so, I can work out a little more the next day. Similarly, it shows the sleep status and if I feel I slept little less, the next day I can plan to go to be a little earlier and if required, take rest the next day.
The idea is not to take stress to become a morning person, but to get motivated and develop the habit of sleeping on time and wake up early. You have to recognize what’s on stake and the rewards of getting up early. These small things can actually help you in journey to becoming a morning person.
6. Follow a practical routine
Make a routine as per your lifestyle and make sure to follow the routine. In your school and college, there used to be time tables so that you can attend the classes regularly. Similarly, if you make a routine for yourself, then you will find it easier to commit to it.
I have following routine and I follow it from Monday to Saturday. And reward myself by sleeping a couple of extra hours in Sunday morning.
- Have dinner between 8:30 – 9:00 PM.
- Get ready to go to bed in 30 minutes.
- Go to bed by 9:30 and read a book for about half an hour.
- Switch off light by 10:00 -10:15 and sleep.
- Get up early by 5:30 am sharp.
- Finish morning rituals in next 30 minutes
- Off to ground for jogging and exercise by 6:00 -6:15
- Return back home by 7:30 am
Earlier, I used to wake up after 7:30 every day and now, I am almost ready to leave for work by 8:00 am. That’s the magic of becoming a morning person.
Do not consider the waking up as an extra activity; it is just a habit that you can master by doing this for a couple of weeks. You have to wake up at 6.00 AM no matter what, just like taking showers and meals are a part of your day, similarly waking up early is part of your daily routine.
7. Set smaller milestones
Don’t set highly optimistic goal for yourself. If you fail to reach your goal early on, you may not feel motivated enough to continue the efforts.
I was not a morning person and no matter what, I could not get up early before 7:30. And every time I tried to get up early, I used to set the alarm clock to 6:00 am, but I never thought of sleeping early.
And I overcame this by setting realistic goal and tweaking my overall routine. Try to get up just 30 minutes earlier than the usual time you are waking up now. And keep decreasing the time to wake up as you develop the habit of getting up early.
It is important that we stay motivated and there can’t be a better motivating factor than the success. Set smaller milestones like walking for 10 minutes, or doing 15 pushups. Continue for a week and then increase the milestone. And that’s what I did.
8. Don’t drink lots of water just before going to bed
If you are drinking lots of water, and your stomach is jam packed with heavy dinner, then you will have problem in falling asleep. If you are unable to sleep on time, then you cannot wake up early. Drink less water or hard or soft drinks, so that you do not have to take frequent trips to bathroom.
If your sleep is interrupted by going to bathroom, then your sleep will not be complete, and you will feel fatigued, tired and sick in the morning. Also, do not have heavy stomach-full dinner at night, as you may feel uncomfortable and thus unable to sleep at night. Drink and eat less in dinner, and finish with meals at least 1 hour before going to bed.
9. Natural trigger to wake up early
You can sleep beside your window facing the eastern horizon, so that the sun can wake you up. Our bodies are functioned to sleep in the dark, with scarcity of lights, so the morning sun can help you to wake up in the morning. If you do not have a fore mentioned windows to let the natural lights in, you may switch on the lights of your room. As the alarm starts beeping, switch on the lights, and then walk away from the bed, and switch off the alarm. Once the light is on, and you are away from bed, then the next actions are just a piece of cake.
10. Stay away from gadgets prior to sleeping
Researchers suggested that the blue lights emitted from the laptops and computers are far more powerful than the ordinary CFL and LED lights, and they can interfere with your sleep cycles. The lights will not enable to have proper sleep, thus preventing you from getting up in the morning.
Many physicians and doctors have advised not to use the mobile phones and laptops before going to bed at night, and this is due to the above mentioned reason. Switch off the gadgets or don’t use them, at least before going to bed. You will find no good in scrolling the pages of your Instagram and Facebook, so it is better to avoid them. You can read some books, and then go to sleep peacefully. You can read novels, poetry, inspirational fictions etc.
11. Eat healthy
If the diet is healthy and nutritious then you have a comfortable sleep. A bad diet can torment you by giving acidity, indigestion, and other related problems. You will not be able to fall asleep if you are nauseous and sick. Have a lighter and healthier dinner; it is preferable if your dinner is lighter than the other meals of the day. Chicken soups, mixed veggies, pulse, salad, fish, can be in the dinner. But it is important that you adopt healthy eating habits which says you should it a well balanced meal and in right portions/quantity. check the measurements, stop eating when your stomach is 80% FULL. Healthy eating habits
12. Prepare your bed
For getting up early, it is necessary that you get a good night’s sleep, and to ensure that you need a nice cozy room and the proper environment. Make a cozy bed with fresh bed covers and pillows, switch off the lights; you may use a dim night lamp if you wish to. You can switch off all your devices like stereo, PS, PC, TV, and other such gadgets. Close the door before you sleep as it will set a very personal space.
I have personally experienced and can tell you, reading books on bed, work well. Read a book for 30 minutes, and then switch off the light. No checking the phones at this hour, you can also switch off your phone if you want. A calm and peaceful environment is needed for a nice sleep. If your sleep is complete, then you will be able to start your mornings early.
13. Don’t bring your work to home
The professional and the private life must be stages separately so that they do not interfere with one another. You cannot sleep during work, like that; you cannot work during sleep hours. Keep the work pressures and tensions out of your mind, because getting stressed is not going to take you anywhere. When you wake up in the morning, after a sound sleep, your mind will be fresh and ready to overcome the challenges of the day.
Earlier, I used to sleep late, checking emails, responding to messages on the phone and so on. But when I changed myself and stared living in present moment, everything changed. When I am at work, I work, when at home, I be there.
14. Exercise when sun comes up
Get up early, go jogging or for a walk. Experience the joy of breathing in fresh air and bright sun. You will feel relaxed, optimistic and energetic. The first rays of the sun are good for your body and mind, so you must not lose the opportunity. Go out of the house, you will find that there are many people like you who are walking and jogging. You may get company and make friends.
15. Prior preparations
If you want to enjoy yourself in the morning, then you can do some activities form beforehand. You can pack your lunch box, your bag, make the dress ready, chop the vegetables, and do some similar activities so that you do not have to start running immediately after waking up in the morning. For being a morning person, you have to enjoy the morning with some coffee, some exercises, and reading your favourite newspapers or columns. This is the best way to start your day, each day.
16. Be the change
You can change the course of your life if you wake up at the right time, and you will see that all the other activities will fall into places. If you wake up at the last hour, you will have to be in a lot of hurry, you will not be able to take shower or have your breakfast properly. You will feel hungry and tired once you reach office, and the whole day will be a mess.
But when you start your day early, then you will have lots of time for yourself. If you want your life to change, then only you can do it.
17. Rise and Shine
The waking up is not the only thing that you got to do, there is the “shining” part too. You are waking up between 5:30 to 6.00 AM, and then again sitting on your couch with your headphones. This will certainly not make you a morning person. Bright mornings are for exercises, healthy yet tasty breakfasts, some creative works like writing or painting or even reading and this is how you can add value to your life.
Becoming the morning person means you are doing the daily activities at proper times and there is no hurry. You have to use this time to do some productive work, even if you are listening to the songs, then you can add the physical exercise part along with it. It is necessary to rise and also shine!
18. Reward yourself
Once you reach the goal of waking up in the morning, you can award yourself accordingly. You can enjoy breakfast with your favorite fruit or coffee, you can go to the balcony or roof and enjoy the rising sun, you can also go for a morning walk, and enjoy the blush of the eastern sky along with the chirping of the birds. You have been to bed for 8 hours now, and so this is the time to enjoy the natural beauty and the fresh hour.
Summary
Waking up early will not just improve your physical health, but mental health too. Scholars have found that people who wake up early are more creative, optimistic, and active in comparison to those who sleep till late hours.
It’s is not easy to become a person, if you have never been one. But it is certainly possible and here’s how:
- Know, what’s on stake if you sleep till late hours
- Know the benefits of have a couple of extra hours in the morning
- Waking up early is a lifestyle and you should adopt it for your well being
- Make a routine to go to bed and get up
- Use gadgets and alarms to get up early
- Do some workout, plan your day and enjoy a happy life
You know, sleeping till late hours in not good habit. Rather it’s a bad lifestyle which may result in fatigue, lack of time, lack of concentration and a messy life. Get up, take a walk and breathe in the fresh air. See the sun shine. It’s a pure bliss!!
Are you a morning person? What works for you, and what does not?
