Wakey-Wakey! 5 Ways To Feel Fresh In The Morning

Sim Ding En
Sun, 28 Feb 2021 00:00:00 Z

Try not closing the curtains before you go to bed tonight

With WFH come fatigue and lack of sleep - time to reclaim our body clock and zest!Photo: Unsplash/Timothy Meinberg

1. Become your own alarm clock

When it comes to restful sleep, your body appreciates routine. Sleeping and waking at roughly the same times every day turns your body into its own alarm clock. If you wake up at 7am every morning, wash up, then have a glass of water before a slow run, your brain will be conditioned to expect a flurry of activity at that particular time, and you might find yourself awakening a minute or two before your alarm goes off - how satisfying is that?

2. Ditch the snooze button

Once the alarm goes off, resist the urge to hit the snooze button. Your brain knows that the alarm will go off again in a few minutes, so the quality of “sleep” you return to is inconsequential, and you may find yourself feeling even more tired than if you had simply got out of bed when your alarm first went off. When you wake up, rather than reaching for your phone or just lounging, actually get out of bed.

3. Ease into the morning

A pleasant ringtone for an alarm (like Ripples or Harp on the iPhone) is certainly better to rouse you from slumber rather than vexatious ni-ni-ni-nit or foghorn-like options that shock you awake. In fact, opening the curtains just before you hit the sack will ensure that morning light streams into your bedroom - a much better cue that it’s time to rise and shine, since sunlight suppresses your body’s production of melatonin, the hormone that makes you feel sleepy.

4. Skip the tipple before bed

Yes, alcohol is a sedative, but it could result in you sleeping less restfully and waking up more frequently. That’s because alcohol reduces REM sleep - the period when sleep is most restorative. That means waking up grouchy and fatigued. We suggest leaving the libation to dinnertime.

5. Drink water, have breakfast

Leave a mug of water by your bedside and drink it the moment you get out of bed. Rehydrating yourself after eight or nine hours without water fires up your metabolism and gets rid of that groggy feeling often mistaken for lack of sleep. And you know the old “breakfast is the most important meal of the day” adage? Take it seriously. Even better if your breakfast consists of complex carbohydrates (found in things like whole grains), protein (eggs, nuts) and fruit.

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