Why should you become a morning person?
Obviously, there’s nothing inherently wrong with being a night owl. Like it or not, some schedules demand that you work through the night. However, something might come along in your life that forces you to reshape your routine – it could be a new job, an event, or a partner. You might also simply want to be a morning person because of the extra time it gives you.
For me, waking up in the morning means I can see the sun when it’s starting to climb up the sky, and get my daily dose of vitamin D on top of it. And if I’m feeling like it, I also do a bit of reading or studying when it’s exam week. Waking up early gives me the extra bit of time I need to get through the day, and I usually feel good about myself if I wake up before my alarm at seven (except if it’s a weekend).
But really, the biggest reason to become a morning person is that most events in your life, whether it is school or work, start in the morning, and require you to wake up early. Unless you’re Batman, you won’t be prowling around at night every day – the night is for resting, and you should treat it as such.
How do you become a morning person?
1. Set a fixed wake-up time
No matter what, the biggest factor that will convert you from a grouchy night owl to a superior morning enjoyer is this: waking up at the same time every day. My internal clock always wakes me up when the sun rises, and falling asleep after that is hard (thanks to many years of conditioning). If you usually wake up late, though, suddenly changing your routine will confuse your body, and you’ll tend to get headaches and mood swings for the first few days. However, if you think about it, you don’t really need to change much to wake up earlier – even if you go to sleep at 11, you still get a full eight hours of sleep if you wake up at seven. A consistent wake-up time also means a consistent bedtime, so make sure you remember that, though.
2. Wake up to sunlight
Oddly specific, yet works wonders. I don’t mean angling your bed directly under the sun in the morning – you could have blinds or curtains that cast glimpses of the sun onto your face when it rises, and you could use this as your alarm. The sun is your biggest supporter, and you should use it to your advantage ;).
3. Shift your mindset
Waking up early is going to feel like a chore. That’s just a fact of life – you could program a robot to wake up early every day and it will probably start feeling as though there’s no point to it some days. And I agree – some days you just want to sleep in. But if you feel this way every day, you must keep telling yourself that you are now a morning person, instead of saying that you are not. You need to remember that waking up early, most days, is beneficial to you – you’ll probably hate the process of early wake-ups, but rarely will you ever regret it.
4. Eat dinner earlier
Late dinners usually indicate late bedtimes. If you’re experimenting with morning routines, however, it’s important to eat dinner much earlier than you normally would – a full belly at around six in the evening will get you ready for bed at ten. It’s also much healthier for your body, too – you want to be resting while your digestive system works its wonders.
5. Create a good night-time routine
I’m of the opinion that you shouldn’t use electronics at least an hour before going to bed. I’m also of the opinion that I’m a massive hypocrite, and that I can’t keep my word on this one. However, not using your phone right before bed can play a massive part in developing a healthier night and morning routine.
What else could you do, then? You could clear your mind of the day by writing your thoughts down or meditating. You could read a book or indulge in your creative hobbies instead of learning about Italian brainrot on Instagram. The point is, your morning is largely determined by the night prior. You should fix your night-time routine before you start working on your mornings.
6. Force yourself to make your bed
Wow, another tip that makes me seem like a hypocrite. Again, you could probably program a robot to make their bed every day, but you still wouldn’t be able to force it to do this every day. But it does help you to stay up and immediately get active after you get through your morning’s toughest battle – waking up. The important thing is that you get out of bed, as once you’re out, you’re less likely to get back in, especially after you put in the effort to make it.
7. Exercise consistently
Staying active consistently obviously does wonders for your body, but did you also know that exercising is extremely good for your sleep? If you get tired during the day, your body will want to rest and sleep during the night, and some of my best sleeps have been after a long, tiring day. Staying active is key to waking up refreshed and ready for the next day.
8. Put your alarm where you can’t reach it
This is an obvious one, for obvious reasons. If your alarm rings and you want to turn it off, you’ll have to physically get up from your bed to turn off the annoying beeping noise. This is much easier to implement than, say, making your bed every morning, and yields the same outcome. The hardest part about waking up is letting go of your bed, and your sheets, and your cold pillows and your warm blankets, and giving it all away to wash your face and brush your teeth. However, if you have no other choice but to get up, getting back in bed seems pointless.
9. Take a shower after you wake up
I hate cold showers. I probably won’t ever tell anyone to take them, even as a means of waking up. Sure, cold showers make you alert and focused, but warm showers, especially during autumn-spring, are way nicer, and simulate the feeling of being back in bed. Showering after you wake up is nice in general, since you’re cleaning yourself up for the day. I’ve also experimented with showering before going to bed, and while it works, I hate the idea of wasting my clean hair and skin before I get the chance to do anything.
10. Create a morning routine
Everyone’s mornings will look different. So you’ve decided to wake up at seven – what now? Don’t immediately get on your phone, for one – no message or email is that important that you have to check it first thing in the morning. Give your brain something to do, such as dream-journalling or meditation. You could make it a part of your routine to make breakfast, too – preferably roughly at the same time every day. Build something that you know you can maintain well enough to call it a routine, and it’ll become easier quickly.
Sometimes, I’d wish that I hadn’t woken up so early in the morning. I treat it as both a blessing and a curse – no matter how much sleep I’ve gotten, whether it be ten hours or four, I always wake up when the sun rises. This has proved extremely helpful when I need to wake up early, which is more often than not, but sometimes I wish that my body’s circadian rhythm weren’t so optimal and I’d get my much-needed rest until noon. However, nine times out of ten, I will choose to be a morning person, since it’s just much more useful with how my usual days look. It’s beneficial as a student, and I say this as one myself – and if you feel as though you can’t ever be a morning person, you can at least experiment, and judge later.
