How to look and feel like you’ve had 8 hours sleep

In an ideal world we would all go to bed early, have a perfect 8 hours sleep and wake up in time for work bright eyed and bushy tailed. Real life is sadly not so perfect, heavy workloads, screaming babies, insomnia, indigestion. Is there no end to things which get in the way of our beauty sleep? Well thankfully the Daily Mail have compiled a list of tips which will help you trick your body into thinking it got a lie in.

Light fantastic
Studies have shown that waking up to light boosts your mood, productivity and energy levels for the day. So, for those dark winter mornings why not invest in a dawn simulator. It does sound like a dreadfully complicated piece of equipment but actually its just an alarm clock that steadily fills your room with natural light before beeping you awake.

Fill up with fuel
Although we are told that too much caffeine is bad for us, in terms of perking us up when we are tired it does its job!

‘Caffeine can get a bad press, but in terms of keeping you alert and awake when you’re tired, a cup of coffee in the morning is probably what you need,’ says Fiona Hunter, nutrition consultant.

Nutritionists also recommend you have a low GI breakfast as it is a good way to balance sugars in the morning.

Dale Pinnock, natural health expert and nutritionist (dalepinnock.com), is a fan of natural remedies. ‘A good Vitamin B complex increases the body’s ability to pull energy from food,’ he says. ‘Try Solgar B100 or Berocca.’

Stretch out
Cat Dugdale is founder of women’s fitness specialists SUPERchick and she believes that having a good stretch is just as good as ten minutes sleep.

‘While lying in bed, reach towards the headboard, take a deep breath in, then stretch from fingertips to toes. Slowly exhale, then repeat twice for double the rewards of an extra ten-minute snooze.’

Shower Power
According to life coach Helen Ross-Hamilton we should imagine we are stepping into a magical waterfall when taking a shower and picture it washing away our tiredness.

She says: ‘Visualise any tiredness being washed away leaving you awake and refreshed. Afterwards, imagine stepping out into golden, spring morning sunshine.

There are also some great products on the beauty market that can help to make you feel more alert in the mornings. The Up You Get Emotibomb from Lush is to be placed in the bottom of the shower tray before stepping in. When the water hits the bomb it releases a waft of citrus oils which clear the head and wake the senses.

Alternatively you could pop a couple of drops of lemongrass oil around the edge of the shower plughole for an early morning pick me up!

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Written by Emma Hilton
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Written by Emma Hilton
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