8 psychological strategies for getting up early
Getting up early is one of the most complicated habits to carry out for some , especially those days when the outside temperature is cold and you feel like lying down and enjoying the comfort of the bed and pillow.
Surely it has also happened to you at some time, that in spite of setting the alarm with the best of intentions and knowing that it was necessary to be on your feet soon to complete a series of tasks, you have remained in your bed. In fact, you even turned off the alarm and didn’t even realize it.
The differences between morning and afternoon
Although a study from Semmelweis University found that people with a high IQ prefer to live at night, being smart, in reality, involves adopting healthy sleeping habits , which allow you to be more productive during the day, perform better and enjoy greater general well-being (you can learn more about this research by clicking here).
However, some experts say that the differences between people who get up early and those who don’t are that some are morning and some are afternoon. Evening people have great difficulty waking up in the morning , and in the afternoon or evening they feel lucid and energetic. This seems to be related to the “clock” gene, which secretes melatonin at a different rate than the rest. Now you have the perfect excuse to stay in bed until all hours.
You can read more about this in this article: “Smart people prefer to live at night and find it harder to sleep”
Strategies for getting up early
However, it is possible to adopt a series of strategies that help you to get up early so that you can get to everything. They are as follows.
1. Wake up to music
The classic alarm is out of date. Now it’s possible to set some alarm clocks with songs in the morning. You can program, for example, some heavy metal songs that will make the walls of your room rumble and get you out of bed quickly. You’ll have no choice but to turn off that annoying alarm so your ears don’t suffer. However, this strategy is not very useful if you live with other people or if you sleep with your partner . Unless they also want to get up at the same time as you.
If you’re not a big fan of heavy metal you can try other kinds of songs. A good alternative are motivational songs and those that positively affect your mood. In the article “The 20 best songs to get out of bed, according to Cambridge University” you can find a wide variety of music that will help you get up better and be more lucid during the first hours of the day.
2. Set the alarm clock away from your bed
The main problem with getting up early when you’re tired is that, despite setting the alarm, you often postpone your morning by changing the time of the alarm or simply turning it off almost without noticing it. This is something that has happened to all of us, and we usually do it when we don’t really feel like getting up, we get lazy or our body needs more hours of rest.
A good strategy to avoid this situation is to set the alarm away from the bed so that you need to get up to turn it off . If you combine this with the previous point (i.e. play songs at a high volume), you will get up quickly to turn off that song that wakes up the whole neighborhood.
3. Use an app
With the advent of new technologies in our lives, there are many applications we can download to make our lives easier. This also includes getting up early. That’s why in your device’s app store you can find some curious apps such as “Puzzle Alarm Clock.
The feature of this application is that to turn off the alarm users must perform a series of special actions , for example, to complete a mathematical operation. This requires a lot of concentration, so you will need to be wide awake and you will not feel like sleeping anymore.
4. Go to bed early
You may be able to get up early one day if you follow these tips, but if you want to be able to get up early on a regular basis, you need to start going to bed at a decent hour.
Don’t try to get up at 7 in the morning if you go to bed at 2 . “An important factor in being able to wake up easily at the desired time in the morning is to have a control of the circadian rhythm or body clock,” says researcher Leon C. Lack, a professor at the School of Psychology at Flinders University in Australia. To wake up early, much of what we do the day before (or days before) has a lot to do with it.
5. Avoid caffeine after 6
This point is closely related to the previous one, but it is necessary to remember it so that you understand that it is not positive to take stimulants at night. Experts advise not to drink caffeine after 6pm, to avoid a counterproductive effect in terms of night sleep. Remember that not only coffee contains caffeine, but other foods or drinks such as Coca-Cola also contain this substance .
6. Take care of the environment
If you want to get up early, you have to take care of your surroundings. This means having the right temperature in your room, a comfortable mattress and a comfortable pillow that will allow you to sleep well and get a good quality, restful sleep .
You should also avoid having the TV on when you go to bed, because if you like what you see, it will probably take longer to fall asleep and you may have to wake up at night to turn it off.
7. Light dinner
If taking care of your environment is important for getting a good night’s sleep and not waking up in the middle of the night because you’re sweating too much or because you have to turn off the TV, eating light dinner is important. Why? Because heavy meals at night can cause insomnia and hinder your restful sleep.
8. Works sleep hygiene
Sleep hygiene is a set of practices that allow you to sleep well. It does not only refer to the quantity of sleep, but also to the quality of sleep. Having a good sleep hygiene influences well-being and performance throughout the day .
Good sleep hygiene is key if we want to wake up early and be productive the next day, and there are many causes that can hinder it: working hours, habits before going to bed, lifestyle, etc. Therefore, the aim of sleep hygiene is to go to bed and wake up respecting a schedule throughout the week, but it is also its purpose that you sleep in a healthy way, that is, respecting the 6-8 hours recommended by the experts.
If you want to go deeper into this topic, you can do so in this article: “10 basic principles for good sleep hygiene”