Five top tips to help ease the pain of waking up

With the dark mornings set to become darker still when the clocks change next weekend, it’s likely to become even more of a battle to lever ourselves out of bed without reaching for that snooze button. If you’re like a bear with a sore head when you have to get up in the mornings, try our top tips below to help make the process that little bit easier:

1. Avoid long lie-ins
   If you work long and hard all week then yes you are certainly entitled to a lie in at the weekend. However, waking up at a regular time will help your body to get into a natural rhythm which will in turn prevent those groggy Monday mornings. As a compromise, set your weekend alarm for one hour later than your weekday alarm.
2. Schedule in bedtime
   As mentioned above, your body has a natural clock so where possible it’s important to try and keep it working to a rhythm. Just like it’s advisable to wake up at the same time each morning, making sure you go to bed at the same point each night could make mornings a little easier.
3. Buy a body clock alarm
   Nowadays, most of us rely on our mobile phone alarm clocks to wake us up in the mornings. While this is perfectly sufficient for many, if you struggle with the dark mornings then a ‘dawn simulator’ alarm clock could be just the ticket for you. This kind of alarm incorporates light technology that gently wakes you up by simulating the rising sun. This also means no squinty moments as your eyes work to adjust to you switching on the lamp.
4. Regulate the temperature
   The optimum temperature to sleep and wake up in is between 16c and 18c. Anything warmer than this may cause discomfort and restlessness during the night.
5. Allow a little natural light
   If you don’t have any light pollution directly outside your bedroom window e.g. a street lamp, it might be worth leaving a slight gap in the curtains. Doing this will allow a small amount of natural light to seep through in the mornings – helping you to wake more naturally.

Tiredness and lethargy strike us all at times, but if you are continually struggling to get up in the mornings and are finding it difficult to keep your eyes open throughout the day, there might be other elements at play. Often, stress in our lives can impact our sleeping habits and knock us off balance. For information about how life coaching could help you to understand your stress and move forward, please see our stress fact-sheet. 

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