When I was in high school, I was notorious for sleeping through classes. I could barely get out of bed in the morning. I went to bed late, and I almost always slept through my (VERY) loud alarms. I knew that not only did this make me look irresponsible, but it was bad for my health. However, everyone advised I do the same thing: “go to bed earlier”. And to this I would say, I’ll try. Sometimes I would. I’d get good at going to bed early for a week or two, but then I’d fall back into my old ways pretty quickly, and even before I fell back, I still would sleep through alarms. When I got to college, I realized I had to do something. So I decided to join a team that held practices early in the morning, that way I HAD to get out of bed and start my day. Then, if my logic was correct, by the end of the day I would be tired enough to sleep at a decent hour. Well, I was right. Here is how I went from being basically nocturnal to someone who wakes up every day at 5 am.
Have one designated time to wake up
Set your alarm for the same time every day. This will help your body know when it’s time to wake up. I found that by doing this I started to wake up just before my alarms went off. Waking up at the same time will help regulate your circadian rhythm, which is basically your body’s internal clock. It’s harder to control when you fall asleep than it is to control when you wake up. Things get in the way of you getting into bed, and sometimes you just can’t get yourself to relax. But by controlling when you wake up, you will in turn also start going to bed earlier to accommodate your new wake up time. Now, I’m not saying you need to be as extreme as me and start setting your alarms for 5 am, but pick one time that will get you out of bed with a reasonable amount of time to prepare for your day. For example: say you have a 10 am on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and a 9 am on Tuesday and Thursday. A good time to wake up every day would be 8 am.
Have a place to be
If not practice like me, class, the library, the dining hall, Starbucks, or the gym are all valid substitutes. Try and have a place where you go every morning that way you get out of your dorm. It’s all about overriding the temptation to stay in bed, so make it your goal for it to be something you look forward to. If you have people willing to do this with you, all the better. That way someone is holding you accountable for getting out of bed.
Put your alarm on the other side of the room
Not only does it help you resist the urge to fall asleep looking at your phone, but it will make you get out of bed to turn it off. This way, you can’t just hit snooze in your sleep (c’mon, we’ve all done it at some point). Walking will also get your blood flowing, which wakes you up more. This may sound extreme but I even put my phone in a difficult to reach place before I go to bed, this way I have to use my brain to get it.
Start cold showering
I know this sounds horrible- especially if you’re used to showering at night, but it has done wonders for getting rid of my grogginess. I’m not saying you have to take the whole shower cold, but a couple of minutes under the cold water will go along way. And if you wanna get fancy, buy mint shampoo. Mint wakes my brain up, maybe it’ll wake yours up too.
Overall, getting out of bed is difficult, but it’s not impossible. My life and health have improved in such obvious ways since I started maintaining a sleep schedule. It is totally worth it to start your day a little earlier and get into your grind. If you follow these techniques, I hope it will make a bit less of a painful transition.