Waking up early is not anyone’s favorite thing to do if we’re being completely honest. If waking up on time is something comes naturally easy to you, you’re very lucky. For those of us that lack this skill, here are 10 tips on how to wake up early for class, a meeting, work, or just to get our day started:
1. Try not to eat after 9pm
This can be hard for people who get out of class or work late and still need to eat dinner, but it’s super important not to eat a lot of food this late. Digesting can take longer at this late hour and leave you up tossing and turning in bed, which will result in you having a harder time waking up when you finally fall asleep.
2. Drink a cup of cold water as soon as you get up
It’s really important to start drinking water the second you wake up so you can stay hydrated throughout the day, but drinking one glass or bottle of cold water right when you wake up will alarm your senses with the cool liquid and cause you to wake up easily.
3. Try NOT to press snooze
This is definitely really hard. Pressing snooze the second our alarm goes off is something we’re all guilty of. However, try not to. If you press snooze and go back to sleep, waking up the second time will be even harder. Try an app like Sleep Cycle, which I’ve personally used and love. It measures your movements during your sleep so it can tell when you’re at the lowest and highest points of sleep. At your lowest points, it will signal an alarm and you’re more likely to wake up for it—and stay up.
4. Stretch as soon as you wake up
There are some great stretching moves you can find on YouTube that will make you wake up. You can even do them in bed! By stretching your muscles and moving around, you’re going to wake up a lot easier and not be so grumpy. Plus, you’ll feel looser and more comfortable throughout the day!
5. Attempt to wake up at the same time everyday
This may seem impossible for you, but if you wake up at the same time everyday, you’ll get into the routine of waking up then and you’ll no longer have trouble getting out of sleep. Therefore, if you have a 9am class everyday, try to get up at 8:15 every single day, even on weekends and days off. Soon, you’ll be so used to waking up then that your body will just naturally get you out of sleep.