by R. L. Pound

Created on: February 15, 2009

No matter who you are or where you live, waking up early can be a real effort. If you are warm and relaxed in bed then there is nothing more appealing than staying there and pressing the snooze button on your alarm! However, waking up early can bring with it many benefits. It can help improve your routine and increase productivity. Here are a few tips that should make waking up earlier, with more energy, easy.

1) Establish A Routine: The secret to feeling more energised is simply to form a routine. This means getting up and doing certain tasks every morning as well as looking at your sleeping habits. Getting enough sleep every night makes it a lot easier to wake up every day, and going to bed at roughly the same time each day will mean the occasional late night shouldn't have too much impact.

2) Never Press Snooze: The snooze button can be your worst enemy in any attempt to wake up earlier. However, did you realise that pressing snooze will leave you more tired? This is because our body is programmed for 90 minute sleep cycles, and going back to sleep for an extra 5 minutes is going to leave your cycle broken. Try putting your alarm clock out of reach so you are forced to get up as soon as it goes off.

3) Take A Shower In the Morning: Make it is a habit to get out of bed and head straight for the shower. Taking a slightly cold shower is great for waking up your whole body, though it will take some getting used to if your house is cold in the winter.

4) Breakfast: Once you are showered make sure you always eat breakfast. The importance of breakfast can't be emphasised enough; it helps get you going for the day and stops you snacking later on. It also helps you to establish your routine.

5) Look Forward to Your Day: There is nothing to help you wake up like having a pleasant day to look forward to. Unfortunately not all of us look forward to getting into work, but there is always something from your day that you can focus on. If not, work on creating something positive to look forward to.

6) Intend to Get Up: You might manage a few days of early rising before giving up altogether. The truth is you need to put in all of your effort for it to work, and getting used to it will take time. Every night, before going to sleep, make it your intention to get up early and start the day properly.

Getting up early is something that will take some getting used to. You may be tired at first, and it takes a lot of will power to stick at it. Once you do, you will wonder how you ever managed without that extra time in the morning.

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