Getting up early is a big drawback to adult life. It’s socially expected that I’m supposed to be up, dressed, and ready to face the day by 9am every single day. It’s not something I ever signed up for, and yet, here we are.

I’ve spoken before about things I do to help me get to sleep but, this time, I’m covering the other end of sleep. If knowing how to wake up early and not be tired has always escaped you, read on to find out how you can give yourself the best start to the day.

Change up your alarm tone

Ever found yourself sleeping through your alarm more and more the longer you have it? Sticking with the same alarm tone for a long time will desensitise you to it and stop waking you up as easily. If you’ve never changed your alarm tone, and are struggling with waking up, change it when you set it tonight. I can guarantee you’ll wake up more easily and quickly.

If you want to make sure you never get used to one alarm tone, invest in a radio alarm clock. You’ll wake up to a different sound every morning.

Turn off the snooze button

Snoozing pretty much teases your body into falling in and out of sleep. In the time you are using the snooze button, you’re getting low-quality sleep that will make you feel more groggy on waking up. The best way to wake up quickly and sharply is waking up with your first alarm. If you need to be awake at 6:30, don’t set alarms at 6:00, 6:15, and 6:30 – set one alarm that gives you the maximum length of high-quality sleep.

Get out of bed

Physically getting out of bed as soon as that alarm goes is the hardest part of waking up. Once you are up and out of bed, however, it’s likely your brain is already half way to being awake and engaged.

Have you ever given yourself a duvet day and felt pretty gross by the end of it? Unless I’m unwell, there’s nothing that tires me out more than spending a whole day in bed. Likewise, I feel awake and ready to face the day much quicker if I get out of bed with my alarm, rather than staying in bed scrolling Twitter.

Keep to the same wake-up time

After a busy week at work, I often want nothing more than to treat myself to the mother of all lie-ins on Saturday. As tempting as it may be, your body doesn’t know what weekends are! Treating yourself to a lie in to 10am two days in a row will feel amazing at the time, but forcing yourself back to a 6:30 wake up on Monday is going to suck.

I’m not about to tell you to completely forgo your weekend lie in, but don’t over do it. If your usual wake up time is 6:30, try to avoid staying in bed past 8:30. You’ll have more of the day to enjoy and won’t impact your sleeping pattern too harshly.

Have something to wake up for

Give yourself a morning routine and build habits you feel you need to stick to. These can be as ‘productive’ as getting up for a work out or as simple as sitting down at your kitchen table with a book and a coffee. Even if your day ahead is full of work meetings and stress, having something to wake up for that you’ll enjoy gives you that extra motivation to steal some time back in the morning.

My own routine is pretty straightforward. I get up, make myself a latte and sit and read for half an hour. In an ideal world I’d be doing yoga, but exercise does not come easy to me. This way I’m building up the habit of waking up early before I start using it for something more strenuous!

I am by no means an early bird, but building these habits into my morning routine has made it much easier for me to spring out of bed more quickly. I spend less time ‘booting up’ or wallowing and have more time to spend on myself.

What advice can you give on how to wake up early?

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash