Sleeping / Waking Up Issues – Experiment Results, Exact How-to and Some Helpful Suggestions
As you might already know, over the past few months I’ve been experimenting with techniques to help rid me of a life-long problem… not being able to rip my sorry arse away from my soft, comfy bed sheets each morning (did I just make that sound as though I shit the bed??).
I’ve had the ups and downs and off days and hectic party weekends throwing me out of sync as I’ve gone along, but I’ve noted every single thing I’ve found out along the way… and it’s all here.
The plan was to learn to rise early every single day (which is what I did for the first six weeks)… and what you’ll learn here will make it possible for you to do that… but for me, getting up at the crack of dawn every single day is just not realistic with my lifestyle. On a weekend, I sometimes like to party until around the same time I’d get up during the week. Obviously I knew this from the word go, but I wanted to know the exact method to get up every morning at the same time… on demand. So I figured it out.
- Don’t be alarmed!
Whether you want to be an early riser every single day or just some, like I did, you need to make a few weeks commitment to do it every day. This is to teach your mind and body that they can do it. Once you have it down, you’ll be able to enjoy the benefits of getting up early whenever you want/need to. So…
First, do these:
- Don’t go to bed until you’re tired… v. Important.
- Aim to wake up (set the alarm) at the same time every day.
- Have a reason to get up. Whether it’s something to do, a nice cereal, a nice coffee, a schedule, a magazine to read etc.
- For productivity purposes, have a list of things to do, pre-written the night before. Try to make the first thing on the list something good, as per above, for extra persuasion.
- Keep well hydrated and eat reasonably well during the day so you’re body isn’t suffering physically when you wake up.
- Keep your alarm (and that damn snooze button) out of arms reach.
- As soon as you wake up, whilst still laying in bed, have a huge stretch. Stand up and treat yourself to another.
- If you live somewhere not very warm, have a dressing gown or something similar at the side of the bed, or maybe set your heating to come on when you get up… it’s far too easy to stay in bed where it’s nice and warm and comfy. You won’t be glad you did… believe.
- Be careful of what you eat for the four hours before you turn in. I’d say scrap crap stodgy, carby and fatty type foods like pasta, bread, rice, chips, and anything that tends to leave your stomach feeling like an over-inflated basketball. Instead, opt for fruit, veg and salad type stuff.
Then these:
- Notice which methods work best for you after first trying them all.
- Make sure you are able to use those every morning, to make the best progress.
- If possible, share the commitment with someone you live with. Put a bit of pressure on yourself to keep it up.
This might seem like a lot of work at first (and it does) but you won’t regret it in the morning when you wake up feeling strong, motivated, inspired and healthy. Beats waking up feeling like swollen, asthmatic road kill with dry, puffed up eyes that you can’t open properly and breath that could take the paint off a picture!
[picture source: Copyright (c) 123RF Stock Photos]
