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Let’s face it, not many of us are lucky enough to be a ‘morning person’. We don’t want to get out of the cosy covers, only to face a cold walk to the bathroom when ten extra minutes between the sheets seems so much more appealing. Deep inside we know that work is looming and the alarm clock is becoming more and more unforgiving. Thankfully we’ve got some great advice to help us pull back the covers and lift ourselves out of bed.
Identify an evening routine, similar to the one your parents had for you as a child. This works because when your body learns that a particular event means that it’s nearly time for bed it will start to relax. This could be having a bath every night before bed, after doing this for a week or two your body will soon realise that when you have a bath it’s nearly time for bed and you’ll get tired. Muscle memory at its finest.
When waking up in the morning it’s easy to think about something negative that you’ll have to face during your day, and why bother getting out of bed if we know that it’s coming? Even if a dreadful day awaits us we must learn to pick the positives from it and use these to motivate us out of bed.
In today’s world, sleep is becoming less and less important. Mobile and tablet devices are now the last stop before Mr Sandman calls but for good sleep we need to draw the line earlier. If the end of entertainment and the beginning of sleep is clearly defined then this prevents the brain from staying switched on even after the device has been switched off. Turning off electronics two hours before sleep is believed to allow your brain sufficient chance to unwind.
When you get hooked on a Netflix series, evenings can turn into nights and nights can turn into mornings. A solution to this is to put alarms on the devices that we use to avoid late night binging. These will hopefully remind us to flick the switch and get off to sleep.
There are many drowsily justified reasons that make us want to hit that sleep button but, with a bit of motivation and willpower, we can reduce the temptation to extend our slumber.
In addition to these significant changes there are some small adjustments you can make to better your sleeping pattern. It is believed that if you sleep with your curtains open in the summer months then the gradual increasing light from the dawn smoothly brings you to consciousness rather than the jarring buzz of an alarm clock. However in the winter you can be waiting up until 8:30am for the sun to rise. The lack of light in the mornings is no excuse as you can use a light timer. Set your timer to flick on your lamp so the light peaks just at the time you want to wake up.
Hopefully these tips will help you to get up much earlier and easier in the mornings and to overcome the comfiness of Sleepland’s beds!
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