I have written many posts on how to have a positive or productive morning routine and how to wake up early in a good mood. However, I haven’t exactly walked you through how I manage to wake up at 5 AM each day and how I maintain a productive routine. I’ve simply just talked about it either in my posts or on my email. Therefore, here are some practical ways on how I wake up really early (whether that means 4 AM, 5 AM, 8 AM, whatever is “early” for you!) and the steps I take each morning to create a more productive and happy routine.
I know waking up that early seems difficult. However, I can ensure you that waking up at 5 AM can be easily done after you establish a productive morning routine and get into a good flow of your morning routine! With the help of some simple morning habits, you’ll be on your way to waking up early in no time!
1. Start with a healthy and sufficient night’s rest
Research has found that the time you spend looking at your device screens before bed creates much more harm than good. Blue wavelengths—which are favorable during daylight hours since they boost attention, reaction times, and mood—seem to be the most disruptive at night. The blue light on your device mimics the sun’s brightness, which, tricks your body into thinking it’s daytime. In return, this tells your brain to stop producing melatonin. The lack of melatonin could lead to not only poor sleep quality, but vision problems, depression, and forms of cancer as well.
One tip that has always worked for me is to either put my phone face down on my nightstand or to actually put it further away from me on my desk or even in another room to charge overnight. This way, I’m not tempted to go on it right before bed.
2. Wake up to a different alarm
I’ve heard of many people changing their alarm clock sound to something loud and annoying to wake them up fast. However, although it probably does work to wake you up quickly, I feel like it would really affect my mood in a negative way. Instead, I prefer to wake up these two different ways:
- An upbeat song that starts off slow to gradually wake me up.
- Use my sunrise simulating alarm clock.
The sunrise simulating alarm clock is essential! Since our body’s circadian rhythm is affected by sunlight, using a sunrise-simulating alarm clock simply eases you awake. That way you wake up gradually and more refreshed! This alarm clock puts off a warm-glow light, that will turn on about thirty minutes before your set alarm and gradually brighten like a sunrise. Basically, the slow exposure to this light will help bring you into a lighter sleep stage, making it easier for you to wake up when your alarm goes off.
Additionally, when it comes to waking up early after my alarm clock goes off, one trick that I like to do is count to three, and as soon as I hit 3, I immediately have to get out of bed. Along with this, as soon as I get up, I quickly make my bed as well so I’m not tempted to get back into it.
3. Find your reason(s) why you want to wake up early
When it comes to waking up early, you definitely want to make sure that you find a reason or several reasons to wake up at an earlier time. I don’t know about you, but just waking up early for the sake of waking up early, doesn’t always cut it for me. When I have no intention to get up at 5 AM, I’m more likely going to hit the snooze button and go back to bed.
This is why I always plan to work out first thing in the morning. Now that it’s warmer outside, I like to finish my workout before it gets too hot. Therefore, my purpose of waking up early is to get my workout in before my garage gets too hot and I end up dreading the workout. Not to mention, planning my workout to be early in the morning also creates accountability!
Along with this, set your intentions! Ask yourself: why do you want to wake up early? Is it for your health and wellness? To meditate and pray? Is it to relax? Or do you want to wake up early to prep for work? Whatever your reason is for waking up early be sure to write it down the night before. This really helps in the morning when you’re half asleep trying to remind yourself why you’re up so early haha.
Here are some examples for each category that I mentioned to maybe help you out!
Health and wellness:
- Workout
- Eat a healthy, filling breakfast
- Go on a morning walk
- Stretch and do yoga
- Straighten up or clean up your space
Meditation and Prayer:
- Practice mindfulness
- Read a passage in the Bible
- Spend time with God
Relaxation:
- Catch on your “you” time
- Watch an episode of your favorite show
- Listen to music
- Relax and drink coffee on the couch
- Write in your journal
Prep for work or school:
- Preparing and packing your lunch
- Answer emails
- Studying
- Making a to-do list for the day
4. Have something to look forward to in the morning
Along with setting my intentions, another tip that works very well is to have something to look forward to in the morning, which will help you get out of bed easier. Whether this is maybe a new smoothie recipe you want to try, or you baked some healthy breakfast muffins, or you want to watch the TV show you recorded the night before. Whatever it is, be sure you save it for the morning so you have something to look forward to! Waking up early doesn’t have to be an awful thing! It allows you to create more time for yourself and get a head start on your day.
5. Make it a habit!
Your body is so adaptable and it loves routine! Therefore, make it a habit, and continue doing it each morning. Eventually, your body is going to adjust and get used to waking up at this new time. So, if this means you’re waking up 10 minutes before you usually do, that’s already a great start! And you’re adjusting your body to begin waking up 10 minutes earlier, then 20 minutes earlier, then 30 minutes earlier each day, until you hit your desired wake up time. 🤗
I hope that these tips help you if you’re trying to wake up early! I promise that it does get easier! Waking up early doesn’t have to be an awful experience or feel like a chore as long as you have the right mindset, purpose, and intentions!
What are some of your tips for waking up early? I would love to hear some of your suggestions!
Have a beautiful day!
xo, Cydney
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