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6 tips to wake yourself up
with zest
"Early
morning cheerfulness can be extremely obnoxious." ~ William
Feather
Wake up! Come on, get out of bed!
Have you ever noticed that the average
amount of sleep people seem to need is always 'five more
minutes'? The dreaded alarm goes off or your partner yells
at you to WAKE UP! And it's "just give me five more minutes"
- as if 300 more measly seconds will replenish the awakener
all they need for the day ahead.
Of course five more minutes doesn't make
up for a poor night's sleep, but it does make us feel that
we, at least, have time to prepare ourselves for the great
launch into the vertical and coherent world of waking life.
To be fair, some people do seem to be
naturally 'slow wakers', the type who can't make major
decisions (apart from whether to have coffee) for at least
60 minutes after rising. There may be some genetic marker
for chirpiness in the mornings and drowsiness in the
evenings and vice versa, but I suspect so much of the 'lark
and owl' stereotyping comes down to lifestyle habit and
behaviour rather than genetic destiny. Chronic inability to
wake up and get on with the day can be due to all kinds of
things, and it's important to understand what may have been
stopping you waking up feeling the joy of spring (even in
winter). So what makes us feel so reluctant to leave the
sheets come sunrise?
How to wake up to what's been causing
morning drowsiness
Here are some ideas as to what may have
been causing morning lethargy. And some tips to help you
wake up with more zest.
Too little sleep: Yes, you heard
it here first. Actually, it's obvious, isn't it?
Most teenagers need up to ten hours of
sleep a night (1) - a few hours more than the average adult.
So trying to prize your adolescent from under the quilt
after only 7 or 8 hours' shuteye may be like trying to drag
a thirsty horse away from its trough before it's properly
quenched.
Okay, so maybe you're no teenager
(although you might have been once), but we all need sleep -
not only the right amount, but also the right quality.
Different people, it seems, do need differing amounts of
sleep; so if you're struggling to get up in the mornings, it
could just be that you've had insufficient time for sleep.
1) At the
risk of stating the obvious: get more sleep. Be disciplined
about having a wind-down period before bed - which should be
at a reasonable time to give you a shot at catching enough
sleep time. This wind-down time also means no TV or computer
usage for at least an hour before bed, as consuming either
of these 'digital stimulants' will make it harder to get to
sleep.
Too little of the right kind of sleep: It's
long been known that depressed people tend to wake up tired.
In fact, the more they sleep, the less they feel like waking
up and getting motivated. How can this be? Surely if you are
sleeping enough hours, then you will eventually feel
refreshed?
But not all sleep is the same. When we're
happy, or reasonably so, we'll have around 75% deep
recuperative, restful, and re-energizing sleep to 25% of the
much less restful REM or 'dream sleep' (2).
I'm not suggesting you're depressed if
you don't wake up every morning with the energy of a
hyperactive six-year-old on the morning of their birthday (I
certainly don't). But if you seem to be sleeping for a
sufficient time yet are still waking up exhausted, it could
be that you are worrying more than usual at the moment and
that worry is upping the proportion of REM sleep at the
expense of the slow wave 'deep sleep' we all need.
2) If
you feel that your sleep is 'restless' and you wake up (even
after a good quantity of sleep) feeling tired, agitated, or
flat, then look at addressing your daytime concerns and
worries, which may be making it harder to 'switch off' even
when you're asleep.
Sleeping pills: The
old 'sleeper' may well get you off to sleep, but like
daytime stress and tension will deny you the right kind of
deep sleep you need, meaning you wake up feeling
un-refreshed and tired.
3) If
you feel you have to use sleeping pills, be aware of how
drowsy a hangover they can give you and limit your usage -
in both amount and length of time you take them. Nothing can
replace natural sleep. If you feel you're addicted to
sleeping pills, as many people are, then take steps to wean
yourself off with the help of your doctor. No sleep may be
better than some sleep if that sleep is poor quality.
Alcohol: The same applies with the
wee bedtime dram. Feeling 'drugged' in the morning may
happen because you literally are. A nightcap, just like a
sleeping pill (and these of course should never be taken in
combination), may help you go to sleep in the sense that you
lose consciousness, but sleep needs to be untroubled by
booze in order to work at its best. Alcohol disrupts sleep
quality, if not quantity.
4) Don't
drink every night or even, dare I say, most nights; and if
you do, make sure you stop three or four hours before
bedtime. If you feel your drinking has got out of control,
then understand that whilst you're still drinking you can't
expect to feel bright-eyed in the morning and that even one
or two drinks may slow you down the next day.
Blood sugar levels and energy: If
you drink cola by the swimming-pool-load and consume sugar
by the mountain or even if you overdo the sucrose intake
just a bit, this constant spiking of your blood with the
sweet stuff, as well as making it more likely you will get
sick and fat, will play havoc with your energy levels (3).
5) To
wake up feeling a sense of more natural pep and energy, look
to your diet. Is it full of hidden and not-so-disguised
sugar (including fructose and glucose, the two components of
table sugar)? Are you raising your blood insulin levels with
too much unrefined carbohydrate? (This too will play havoc
with your energy levels.) If so, really start to focus on
making your diet less prone to spiking your body's sugar
levels and more about keeping those levels even for
sustainable energy.
But believe it or
not, waking up with more enthusiasm isn't all physical.
Waking up with
the right attitude: If
we expect to wake up reluctantly with all the energy of a
dead trout, then that very expectation can prove
self-fulfilling. Likewise, if we totally equate extra time
under the covers as 'a treat', then this attitude may make
it harder to break free of the comfortable chains of your
bed.
6) Get
into the habit of visualizing yourself leaping out of bed.
In your mind's eye, watch yourself waking up and getting up
with energy and zeal. You can do this visualization exercise
the night before as you are drifting off. And to give you a
helping hand, you can listen to the free audio below.
Getting into the habit of starting the day as you mean
to go on, with a sense of increasing energy and
enthusiasm can ultimately make all of your life more fun
and productive.
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