by Leigh Goessl

Created on: March 24, 2008   Last Updated: October 24, 2009

Learning how to wake up early can be a tough goal. Especially if all your life you've been a night owl and you're at your best after the sun goes down. If you're the type of person who has never quite understood how people can be so chipper and wide awake in the morning because you find the late hours which are appealing, almost electrifying, the prospect of learning how to wake up early may seem daunting.

Most people are creatures of habit and once we get into a routine, it's often hard to change. Sleeping and waking patterns are no exception, because people tend to fall comfortably in sync with their internal clocks and live by them.

What happens if after years of being a night person, you are suddenly required to wake up early and become one of those people who come alive in the early dawn hours?

Change is hard, but by taking a few new approaches you can learn how to wake up early. There are a few techniques you can use to effectively train your internal clock to reset itself. This will result in your being able to wake up early.

Here's what you do:

*Head to Bed Earlier

If you're up burning the midnight oil, you are not going to awake easily come morning. Each day make a goal towards ending your day a bit earlier, this way the change is not too drastic and your body can adapt a little at a time.

Even though you have to wake up earlier, you don't want to skimp on hours of sleep, and by giving yourself more time to rest, morning will be much easier to face. Try not to make any drastic changes, go to bed a few minutes earlier each night until you train your body and reach the bedtime goal you need in order to get adequate sleep.

*Use an Alarm Clock

Each night as you go to bed an hour or so earlier, your ultimate goal is to learn how to start waking up at an early hour. An alarm clock can successfully help you battle the desire to sleep into the late hours of the morning. One key factor to remember, even if you are tired and tempted to hit that snooze button, try really hard to resist that urge.

Even if the sandman is strongly calling to you to follow, force yourself to get up because if you use the snooze button repeatedly, this is going to disrupt your transition in training your body to wake up earlier. If the snooze button is too alluring, place your alarm clock out of reach so you have to physically get up out of bed to turn it off.

*Plan for the Next Day the Night Before

If you feel less overwhelmed you are less likely to have that feeling of "dread"

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