My favourite part of my room is my bed. You can often find me doing homework, watching a movie, or simply just browsing my phone while I am wrapped up in my blankets and surrounded by my pillows. It is my little island oasis of comfort that I never want to leave, especially when I need to wake up and get ready for school or work. When I was younger, I was able to be up, dressed, and out the door by 5:30 am every weekday morning, but recently I find myself hitting the snooze button a dozen times and struggling to make it out of the door on time. I would go through an entire day barely able to keep my eyes open and I just felt very sluggish, which I did not like. Over Christmas break, I took a step back, evaluated my situation, and created a plan to get my sleep back on track. For the past month, I have absolutely noticed I have been getting a higher quality of sleep and I have been getting out of bed easier for the most part (let’s be real we all have our bad days!). I believe that this would not have happened without doing these 4 things.
Tracking My Sleep
Before I could make any positive changes to my sleeping habits, I needed to evaluate why my previous habits were not working. For 2 years my watch has been tracking how long I have been sleeping by using my heart rate. I could see how late I was going to bed and how many times I would wake up during the night. I think it was finally seeing this information that gave me the push to want to gain control of my sleep. I now check my sleep tracker every morning and seeing how I slept the previous night helps me to prepare for sleeping the next night.
Prepare for the Morning the Night Before
When I have a long day ahead, there is a lot I may need to finish, including packing a school bag, a gym bag, possibly an overnight bag, packing food for the day, and then actually getting dressed and ready. Having to get all of that finished can really add time to my morning routine. Recently I have been breaking up the tasks I need to get done by doing some of them the night before. I will make my lunch and place it in the refrigerator with all of my snacks that I need to bring with me, and I will clean my water bottle and make sure it is beside the refrigerator so I remember to fill it up in the morning before I go. I also try to make sure all of the bags I need are good to go. I will make sure my notebooks are in my bag and all the pages I need are printed out. If I have a lab, I make sure that my lab coat and goggles are packed and not left in my closet. I charge all of my devices overnight so I know that they will be fully charged when I use them. Doing all of this may only take 30 minutes but doing it at night really cuts down on the time I need to get ready in the morning and prevents me from worrying that I’ll forget something.
Using a Sunrise Alarm Clock
As much as I love to sleep, I am a very light sleeper. I wake up from the smallest noises and I will also wake up the moment the sun shines into my room. Unfortunately, when I wake up for school it is often a couple of hours before the sun even starts to rise. I kept seeing these sunrise alarm clocks on TikTok that mimic the sun rising and decided to get one during a Boxing Day sale. It is incredible! You can set and customize the colour, the sound, the brightness, how long it will take to “rise,” and how long it will last before it turns off. I can also use the clock as a regular alarm clock and a radio which is an added bonus. There is even a timer you can set. When it runs out, it will turn off the light. This is something that I have used every single day and night and I am very happy that it works for me. Some days I even wake up before it is at full brightness, and it makes it that much easier to get ready for the day.
Customizing My Alarms
Although I use the sunrise alarm clock, I still set up an alarm on my phone just in case. I have never been able to find an alarm sound that I have been pleased with because I just don’t like any of them. I recently learned that I could link my Spotify account to the clock app on my phone. I can then pick out a song or a playlist to use as my alarm sound. This is an absolute game-changer. I have a playlist already created that I love to listen to when I get ready in the morning and I now use it for my alarm sound. The best part is that I do not need to turn off the alarm since once I unlock my phone it will transfer to the Spotify app and keep the playlist going.