Since we’re starting a new year, here’s an updated step-by-step guide on sleeping and waking up early so you can achieve all the resolutions you’ve just set! Hope everyone is having a happy new year! ^_^
THE NIGHT BEFORE
Turn off your devices an hour before sleep. The blue light from your computer and mobile can really disrupt the natural melatonin levels that control your sleep cycle. End the day with some sort of reading, whether that be for leisure or some summary notes at the end of the day.
Swap the tea and coffee for warm milk with honey. If you must, herbal tisanes like chamomile ‘tea’ are soothing. Lavendar essential oils (used as a room fragrance) are also very calming.
Write down a list of what you want to achieve by waking up early. Having a plan motivates you and stops you from crawling back to the warmth of your bed. When the morning you isn’t able to think clearly, let the motivated you make the decisions!
Pick out the clothes you want to wear for tomorrow, and make sure they match the weather! Like with the tasks you want to achieve, it’s not a good idea to let the morning you fumble with clothes and what matches well. Have a jacket or hoodie on hand to keep you from getting back in bed!
Keep your bed reserved for sleeping. Put your smartphone on the other side of the room so that you aren’t tempted to go and check up on your messages on social media. This will reduce the chance that you start a conversation with some night owl friend that ends up continuing past midnight.
Make sure your room is pitch black. This is so that light doesn’t end up disrupting your sleep cycle and so that you condition your body into thinking that it’s time for sleep. Try to sleep without a night light.
Clear your mind. Whether you achieve this by meditating or otherwise, don’t think about anything, lest you stay up tossing and turning. This includes both exciting events tomorrow and sad events from today. Staying up late makes your mind more prone to negative thoughts and anxiety that may be exaggerated. Take anything your mind tells you at night with a grain of salt!
Get either 7.5 or 9 hours of sleep. This is because the brain has sleep cycles that are approximately 90 minutes long, so sleeping past will immediately pull you into the next sleep phase. When you wake up in the middle of deep sleep, you end up feeling groggy and tired throughout the whole next morning.
Roll your eyes up a fraction. Not sure if this will work for you, but I find doing this, just so that your eyes naturally rest as if they’re looking up a little (don’t look up too much) helps me to get to sleep. Possibly related to Bell’s phenomenon, but give it a go!
IN THE MORNING
Reset your sleep cycle by waking at the same time each day. We all have those nights where we absolutely need to finish something by tomorrow but try to keep it constant when you wake. So if you miss the point where you would’ve slept 7.5 hours, go for 6, since you still have a complete sleeping period, and usually that extra hour or so is enough to get the work finished. So don’t think about sleeping in for afternoon classes, because you’ll just feel worse for wear the next time you have morning classes.
Go cold turkey. Willpower is like a muscle, the more you exercise it the stronger it gets. I have tried the gradual method of waking up at 7:30, 7:15, 7:00, etc. but I found the best way is to just so straight to your target wake up time. As long as you sleep early, there shouldn’t be a problem. The first day you feel tired in the middle of the day, but it’s easier than adjusting to a slightly different sleep cycle each day.
Wake up with a full blast of natural light. If your bed is next to a window like mine, then pull up the blinds to let as much natural light in as possible to stop the production of melatonin. This seriously works. I have slept at 2:30am and woken up at 6am refreshed without an alarm.
Set an alarm that you know will wake you up. Whether it be an uplifting song you like or a super annoying alarm bell, choose something that you can associate with waking up in the morning.
Wake up the first time your alarm rings. People who are reliant on their snooze button can diminish the positive effect of a good night’s rest because they are constantly drifting back to sleep only to be abruptly woken up a few minutes later. This causes a shortened, disrupted sleep cycle right before a person starts their day.
Jump out of bed immediately. Don’t lie in bed thinking; you’ll just drift off again.
Have a glass of cold water, but don’t just down a whole bottle in one go, because your kidneys are remarkably good at preventing our electrolyte balance from being thrown out of homeostasis, so downing a heap of water will just make them overwork to reduce the water levels. Best to keep that glass of water next to you as you work and drink a few sips at a time while you are working. If you drink an excess of water, you have diluted the careful balance of electrolytes. Your kidneys will rapidly dump that water to ensure these electrolyte concentrations are not diluted.
Put on your clothes quickly! This one comes from personal experience. Doing it quickly is like a burst of energy to get you going for exercise.
Finish what you were going to do. Remember that list we wrote last night? Do it now and feel great about doing at least one thing extra this morning.
Don’t have a cup of coffee (yet)! On waking, our bodies stop the production of melatonin and start the production of cortisol to get you going. Cortisol isn’t just for stress, it also starts gluconeogenesis to increase your blood glucose levels (which is important for your brain function) and increases your metabolism. Drinking coffee will disrupt this natural waking hormone, and it also reduces blood flow to the frontal cortex which is responsible for higher order thinking and cognition (source). What this means is that although there is more sugar available, oxygen supply decreases. If you do drink coffee, it’s recommended to drink it around 9:00 or so, after the natural cortisol kicks in.
Have an apple instead. It’s been shown to keep you awake better than coffee!
Exercise. There’s no need for me to explain that this is the best way to feel energized and refreshed for the rest of the day and to get your heart pumping! The morning air is dewy and hasn’t yet been tampered by the smell of car fumes and other pollution, so breath in :) Play some music with beats that will get you moving.
Enjoy the benefits of a job well done. Give yourself a pat on the back, because it’s tiring to get up at 6am or earlier! You’ve got your study space all to yourself, enjoy it with a cup of orange juice, and some peace and quiet. Get to work/uni/school nice and early, ready to learn something new and feel proud that you aren’t one of those groggy students with their heads glued to the table!
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