Is Your Morning Routine Like This?
You wake up groggy, hit the snooze button for the 17th time, and feel like you could fall right back to sleep—even after you’ve taken a shower. Sound familiar?
If so, it’s official: you’re probably not a morning person.
But here’s the good news: you don’t have to settle for a lifetime of brutal mornings! With a few lifestyle tweaks and biohacks, you can start waking up feeling energized and ready to conquer the day.
But here’s the real question: Is it really worth all the effort to become a “morning person”?
Ask anyone who considers themselves a morning person, and they’ll tell you: waking up feeling motivated, energized, and positive has some serious perks. And guess what? Research agrees.
Morning people are more likely to enjoy their job and make more money [1].
Not to mention, it’s pretty nice not to feel like you’d rather crawl back into bed every single morning. So, if you’re ready to start waking up and feeling good, these tips can help you sleep better, get up more easily, and start your day with the energy and positivity you’ve been missing.
Why Become a Morning Person?
We’ve already established that morning people tend to be more successful at work, but that’s just the beginning of the benefits of waking up feeling fantastic.
Here are even more reasons to aim for becoming a morning person:
- Improved Mental Health: Do you often feel anxious or stressed throughout the day? Your sleep routine and groggy mornings might be part of the issue. Studies show that waking up early can better regulate your body clock, reducing the risk of mental health issues like depression [2].
- Less Likely to Gain Weight: Morning people tend to eat breakfast regularly and stick to a more consistent meal schedule throughout the day. They’re also less likely to snack late at night, making it easier to maintain a healthy weight [3].
- Better Physical Fitness: Morning exercisers tend to see better results than those who delay their workouts. Morning physical activity is linked to fat loss, lower blood pressure, and even improved sleep at night [4,5].
- A Brighter Mood: Research shows that morning people tend to be happier than night owls [6]. A balanced body clock affects key hormones, like serotonin and dopamine (which boost happiness) and cortisol (which regulates stress). Healthier sleep habits, common in morning people, also contribute to better mood stability.
- A Sharper Mind: Want to be more successful? Early risers often have an advantage in mental clarity. Studies show that morning people tend to perform better academically and achieve higher GPAs than those who stay up late [7].
6 Tips to Become a Morning Person
How often do you wake up groggy, hating yourself for watching that extra episode on Netflix the night before?
Bad habits like this are sabotaging your chances of becoming a morning person. But don’t worry! With just a few lifestyle tweaks, you can transform your mornings and start waking up feeling refreshed instead of drained.
Here’s how you can make that shift:
1. Keep a Consistent Sleep Schedule
You’re an adult, and ultimately, you have control over your bedtime.
However, it’s important to understand that sleep timing and consistency play a significant role in supporting overall health [8].
Maintaining a regular sleep schedule can contribute to improved sleep quality and potentially help you get adequate rest.
Adequate sleep is essential for your general well-being, and maintaining a consistent sleep schedule may support various aspects of health.
By following a regular sleep routine, you may find that you wake up feeling more rested, which can help you start your day on a positive note.
If you find it challenging to maintain a consistent sleep schedule or have difficulty falling asleep, you may want to consider exploring products designed to support relaxation or promote a healthy sleep routine.
Always consult with a healthcare professional before adding any supplement to your routine.
Melatonin, often called the sleep hormone, is produced by your body. But if your body clock gets out of whack, taking melatonin as a supplement can help you get it back on track.
2. Sleep With the Blinds Open
Natural light plays a significant role in regulating your sleep-wake cycle, which is important for overall well-being. Exposure to natural light, especially in the morning, can help signal your body to regulate important hormones like melatonin and cortisol, which influence sleep and wakefulness [9].
Morning sunlight helps your body produce cortisol, a hormone that helps you feel awake and energized.
If you sleep in a room with limited natural light, your body’s natural circadian rhythm may not function as effectively, potentially affecting how rested you feel upon waking.
To support a healthy sleep-wake cycle, you may consider keeping your blinds or curtains open to allow natural light to enter your room in the morning.
3. No Screens Before Bed
While technology is a central part of modern life, our bodies and brains still follow the same natural processes they have for thousands of years.
As mentioned earlier, natural light plays an important role in regulating your sleep-wake cycle. However, artificial light from screens, such as those on smartphones, tablets, and computers, may affect this process.
Research suggests that exposure to blue light may influence melatonin production, which could potentially make it more challenging for your body to prepare for sleep [10].
Maintaining a consistent sleep routine is essential for supporting your overall well-being. To help promote healthy sleep habits, consider reducing screen time before bed and choosing relaxing activities like reading a book.
4. Don’t Hit the Snooze Button
While hitting the snooze button may seem like a quick solution when you wake up, it can interfere with your sleep quality.
The sleep you get during snooze mode isn’t restorative, and it may disrupt your body’s natural sleep-wake cycle.
Research suggests that falling back asleep after hitting snooze can potentially trigger hormones that initiate a new sleep cycle, which typically lasts about 90 minutes [11]. When the alarm goes off again just a few minutes later, your body may be interrupted during a deeper sleep phase, which could lead to feeling groggy and disoriented.
To improve your morning routine, it’s best to avoid hitting the snooze button and aim for a consistent wake-up time.
5. Eat Dinner Earlier
Consuming a large meal right before bed can cause discomfort and may impact your sleep quality.
Research suggests that eating dinner earlier, ideally around 4-5 hours before bedtime, could support healthy hormone production, including melatonin, which plays a key role in the body’s natural sleep cycle [12]. This may help optimize your body’s ability to rest and repair overnight.
In addition, eating earlier may contribute to better overall well-being, including supporting healthy blood sugar levels and promoting a balanced lifestyle.
6. Manage Your Caffeine Intake
While many people enjoy their coffee, it’s important to consider how caffeine can impact your sleep quality. Even if you can fall asleep after consuming caffeine, studies have shown that it may affect your sleep patterns, particularly if consumed too close to bedtime [13]. Consuming caffeine even 6 hours before bed can lead to sleep disruption, potentially contributing to issues like sleep fragmentation, which may affect your restfulness.
This disruption in sleep can impact overall well-being during the day, including energy levels and mood.
For a natural energy boost later in the day, consider vitamin B12. This essential vitamin is known for supporting energy metabolism and promoting overall health without interfering with sleep. Additionally, B12 contributes to other health benefits such as heart health and metabolic function.
While we’re not suggesting you eliminate caffeine entirely, switching to decaffeinated options in the afternoon and evening may help support a better night’s rest.
Rise, Shine and Thrive as a Morning Person
Becoming an early bird may seem challenging, especially on mornings when you feel sluggish.
However, it’s possible to incorporate healthy habits into your routine that can improve your mornings. Start with small changes that can have a big impact, such as establishing a consistent morning routine, switching to decaffeinated beverages in the evening, letting natural sunlight into your room by opening the blinds, and adjusting your dinner time to allow for better digestion before bed.
Over time, you can identify a sleep schedule that works best for you and stick to it for optimal rest.
If you’re finding it difficult to fall asleep, consider exploring natural sleep supplements, like Manna Sleep Complex, to support your sleep routine.
FAQs
A morning routine is a set of activities you do every morning to start your day positively and productively. It helps regulate your body clock, reduces stress, and boosts overall well-being.
To stop feeling groggy, maintain a consistent sleep schedule, avoid screens before bed, and create a morning routine that includes exposure to natural light and physical activity.
Avoiding screens before bed prevents blue light from disrupting your melatonin production, ensuring you get quality sleep and wake up refreshed for your morning routine.
Alternatives to caffeine include natural energy boosters like vitamin B12 or Lipo Lean, which promotes energy without disrupting sleep, helping you maintain an effective morning routine.
- https://www.entrepreneur.com/money-finance/people-who-wake-up-early-make-more-money-and-have-higher/300564
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3399900/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4854772/
- https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/19/well/exercise-timing.html
- https://www.news-medical.net/health/Why-You-Should-Exercise-in-the-Morning.aspx
- https://www.livescience.com/20880-morning-people-happier.html
- https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/feb/03/the-five-benefits-of-being-an-early-riser
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33054339/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2557485/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5897701/
- https://www.businessinsider.com/snooze-button-effect-on-sleep-2017-5
- https://www.hindustantimes.com/lifestyle/health/many-benefits-of-early-dinner-how-it-helps-you-lose-weight-sleep-well-and-be-happy-101686889094617.html
- https://jcsm.aasm.org/doi/10.5664/jcsm.3170
- https://sleepeducation.org/interruptions-fragmented-sleep-may-be-same-as-barely-any-sleep/
