Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Rise and Shine, Stop Hitting Snooze!

One of my New Year's resolutions was to stop procrastinating, and I often seem to procrastinate at getting out of bed in the morning. My alarm is set to go off at 4:30 a.m but I just keep hitting snooze until 5:00, sometimes a little later. Sure, I still have 2 hours to get ready for school, which is plenty of time. But what is the sense in having my alarm set for 4:30 when I know I won't be waking up until 5:00? I'm sure that I'm not the only one that does this, some people may keep hitting snooze for even longer than I do, it may have even made them late for school a few times. 

If there's one thing that many of us can agree on, it's that waking up early in the morning for school or work sucks. Nobody wants to leave the comfort of their nice warm bed, especially not to go to school. But like most of the things we procrastinate on, it has to be done. And as with trying to break any bad habit, you have to have some kind of a strategy to beat the wake-up procrastination. 

If you're like me and you typically get out of bed the same time every morning, as long as it isn't making you late, set your alarm for that time. Honestly, it would be much nicer to have 30 extra minutes of uninterrupted sleep, rather then having to reach for the snooze button every 9 minutes. It can also be very easy to lose track of how many times you've hit snooze, 30 minutes can turn into an hour or more if you're not careful! If you don't like getting out of bed with your first alarm, you may allow yourself ONE snooze, and one only. Do not use this time as a nap, turn on a light and sit up so that you don't fall back asleep. Use this time to collect your thoughts and wake-up a little more. It's best if you keep your eyes open and your mind active during this time. Reading a little bit, or even checking Facebook or Twitter will keep you from falling back asleep. Use your one snooze simply to keep track of time, and begin your morning routine once it goes off again.

If you feel that you're going to fall back asleep if you stay in bed, but you still need some time to wake-up before you start your day, get out of bed and go sit somewhere else. You may also want to consider having your alarm away from your bed where you can't reach over and shut it off. Use your "snooze" time to watch a little TV, read a little, or sit on the computer for a few minutes. Do not go and lay back down! If you still feel a little groggy, you can try gently patting cold water into your tear ducts. Not only does this help to wake you up a little, but it also helps to clean out that icky goo that forms in your tear ducts overnight. 

Keep in mind that how you feel in the morning, and throughout the day, also depends on how well you sleep at night. It's recommended that you get at least 7-8 hours of sleep at night, which I know that I, and many others, do not. That's another thing I need to change this year. You may want to consider moving back your bedtime to an earlier time. 

How do you get yourself out of bed in the morning? 

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