8 Tips For Getting Up Early This Winter

We all struggle to get out of bed in the mornings sometimes, and winter just makes it harder. It’s cold and dark outside and your cosy warm bed just seems too tempting to leave. But if you want to feel fresh and awake in the mornings (and not have a mad rush to get to work in time!) try these tips: 

Keep a glass of water by your bed

Drinking water as soon as you wake up will help stimulate the body and help you stay awake. So keep a glass or bottle of water next to your bed and have a sip as soon as you wake up.

When you wake up, get up

You wake up and look over at your clock to realise that you still have 10 minutes before you need to get up. Great yeah?! 10 more minutes sleep! No, don’t do it! If you’ve woken up naturally then you are probably feeling fairly awake. If you try snoozing for another 10 minutes, chances are you will actually feel sleepier when you’re alarm goes off 10 minutes later. So when you wake up – get up!

Don’t press that snooze button

As mentioned above, snoozing is bad! You will only doze off into a light sleep which means you won’t actually feel any less tired when you finally decide to get up. So basically, you will have just wasted 20 minutes of your morning. If you don’t have the will power to not press the snooze button in the morning, you can usually remove the snooze function on whatever device you use.

Have something to get up for

Have something nice to do in the morning that you will enjoy – a book to read, a magazine to flick through, something delicious for breakfast. Focussing on something nice to get up for will motivate you to get up and will also put you in a positive mood to start the day.

Have a shower straight away

The water and change in temperature will get your circulation going making you feel more alert. You could also treat yourself to some invigorating shower gel; mint and lemon are both known to facilitate the wake up process & they also smell great. Bonus!

Go to bed when you’re tired

This seems obvious, but listen to your body. If you’re feeling tired then start getting ready for bed. If you stay up watching television until 2am, don’t be surprised if you are pretty tired when your alarm goes off 5 hours later. Lack of sleep doesn’t just affect us mentally but physically, so if you’re not giving your body enough time to rejuvenate then your body will start to struggle.

Resolve problems before bed time

It’s not just about getting into bed at a decent time. If you’re body and brain isn’t at rest then you will struggle to nod off to sleep. Try to resolve any problems or worries before bed time. If you’re lying in bed worrying about things it is very hard for your brain to start to rest. It’s also a good idea to avoid chocolate and caffeine in the evening and these stimulate the brain – not great if you are trying to sleep!

Wake up at the same time every day

Your body becomes conditioned to when you wake up and will regulate your sleep pattern accordingly. You get more of that precious REM sleep and when you have a regular wake time, your body actually begins the process of waking up long before your alarm sounds. Clever right?!