March 21, 2017, by Andrew
6 simple steps to become a morning person
You know who they are. They’re the person whose smoothie-blending wakes you up at 7am every morning. They’re the person who’s just come back from a run as you drag your hungover cadaver into the kitchen to reheat a slice of last night’s pizza for ‘breakfast’ (by now, of course, it’s 11am and you’ve already missed that seminar you promised yourself you would get up in time for). We all live with that one awful person – the morning person. Loathed by their more sloth and listless counterparts, but secretly envied for their fresh-faced enthusiasm even at times in the morning that you consider to be a myth. I, dear reader, am one of these weird people. But I certainly wasn’t always!
I too used to stay up endlessly perusing Netflix before frantically hitting snooze on my alarm at 7am like Morse code. Unfortunately, this regime is not conducive towards productivity. So here’s 5 easy changes that I made to slowly break myself away from my unstructured sleep and to embrace the light of dawn (wind and rain of 6am).
1: Have a bed time. It may seem a little childish, but setting yourself a time to go to sleep will provide some much-needed body-clock consistency. Pick a time and stick to it – be prepared to face some restless fidgeting for the first week, but stick at it and you’ll find yourself sleepy by 10 in no time.
2: Pick up a book. Reading words on paper always makes me sleepy. Half an hour before you plan to go to sleep, grab a book and dive in.
3:Turn off your tech. This goes hand in hand with reading; don’t read at your desk and don’t keep checking your phone. Turn them off and keep them out of reach.
4: Reduce your evening caffeine intake. Swap your 9pm americano for tea instead, and let your central nervous system take a siesta for a while.
5: Get up stupidly early for a week. Set your alarm for 5am and force yourself to get up at it for just 1 week. After ‘hell-week’ set your alarm back to your preferred early-morn’ time, and suddenly it won’t feel bad at all.
6: Get up! There’s no point in waking up at 6am and then nodding off again. At the first sound of your alarm; get up, turn the light on, and splash some cold water on your face.
Follow these simple tips and you may find yourself suddenly finding enjoyment in early morning activities and better focus in 9am lectures. Or not. I’m not a sleep-pattern-ologist. Maybe your body needs more sleep. Maybe you’re nocturnal. Maybe you should stop reading this and go back to bed. Your choice. But you’re missing some of the most glorious spring sunrises out there!
The ‘hell-week’ tip is actually a really great idea! Might try it…one day…