Final Expert Article

Mastering the Art of Waking Up

 

How to Make Getting Out of Bed a Pain-Free Practice

 

Not everyone is lucky enough to be an early bird. In fact, waking up may be the worst part of your day. However, like many things in life, waking up is a science — a science anyone can master with the right tools. Applying these practices into your daily routine will help make waking up early easier, and maybe even enjoyable. 

 

This article will provide you with these tools. From having a smaller dinner, to adjusting your light settings, to finding personal motivations — here are the steps to ease your morning routine. 

 

 

Step 1: Dine Like a Pauper

 

A wise person once said, you should “eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dine like a pauper”. While this commonly known proverb relates to a range of health benefits, it is especially true for good sleep. 

 

A smaller dinner leads to better quality sleep because it reduces blood pressure before bed (Mayo Clinic). This is because a high intake of energy, and particularly fat and sodium, causes a steeper drop in blood pressure and sugar levels, triggering adrenaline and cortisol during your sleep. Have you ever had night sweats? This is probably because you dined like a king. 

 

Research shows you should also be eating dinner at least two hours before bed to allow enough time for primary digestion. I know what you are thinking— I have to eat a small dinner and it has to be early? The answer is yes. This is because your body becomes less sensitive to insulin at night, so eating earlier allows your body to sufficiently break down the glucose (Yoshino et. Al). Ensuring that primary digestion occurs before bed also means that you can enter REM, your deep sleep, earlier and therefore have a better night of rest. 

 

Think about your grandparents who probably eat a small and early dinner. What time do they wake up? 

 

 

Step 2: Let There Be Light

 

Now that you have mastered the food portion of the puzzle, let’s look at light. There is in fact a chemical reason why we wake up when the sun has risen and feel more tired when the sun goes down. This is called a circadian rhythm. It is our internal clock that uses changes around us to manage our sleep cycles and is particularly sensitive to light. Have you ever been camping and noticed that you woke up earlier than usual? This is because you didn’t have modern black-out shades to help you fight the outside world. Ever wondered why birds chirp early in the morning? They wake up with the sun—and so should you.

 

Studies show that circadian rhythms are triggered by light (Burgess et. Al). Therefore, try keeping your blinds open a crack to make it easier to wake up. You may even find you beat your alarm, allowing you to start your day without a harsh ringing, or whatever sound you have designated as the most triggering. 

 

Circadian rhythms also affect when we feel tired at night, so try to switch into ‘cosy mode’ a few hours before bed. By dimming the lights in your house, turning down the brightness of your screens, and maybe even lighting a candle, you are allowing your brain to recept the time of day more effectively. Research shows how light, especially blue light, exposure at night can disrupt your sleep (Tähkämö et. Al). This is because blue light mimics daylight, tricking your brain into thinking it is daytime (Tähkämö et. Al). As a result, your body does not produce enough melatonin, the hormone that manages our circadian rhythms. 

 

Since blue light is the type of light that our electronic devices emit, it is particularly important that you avoid using your phone before bed. I will admit, this part is difficult. However, research by the Cleveland Clinic shows that there is a difference between ‘active’ and ‘passive’ types of phone use before bed (Cleveland Clinic). For instance, they share how setting your alarm or checking your calendar for the next day will not have a large effect on your biological clock. However, if you are actively engaging with your phone for long amounts of time, such as by scrolling on social media, this could have a noticeable effect (Cleveland Clinic). This is not only because you are exposed to blue light, but also to a range of emotions that the content may provoke, therefore keeping you engaged and awake (Cleveland Clinic). So, to ease this transition, you could use your device ‘passively’ by listening to music or a podcast before bed. 

 

Step 3: Catch the Worm

 

Now you have the scientific tools to help you wake up. But it’s hard to wake up if you don’t have a reason. I am not talking about a reason such as job or school, but an actual purpose to wake up. This purpose is as simple as one thing that makes you excited to be awake in the morning. I can assure you that the proverb, “The early bird catches the worm” is not talking about getting to a boring day job. So, whether that is a delicious homemade coffee that you look forward to every day or a workout class that you feel euphoric after— find your worm to catch. It may sound cheesy but finding something that brings you joy in the morning is a much better incentive to leave your warm duvet than facing your moody boss.

 

 

Waking up is not easy. Sometimes you are exhausted, dreading something that day, or simply just feel low. But whether you are a morning person or not, you can make the process of waking up feel a lot easier. Think about when you have an exciting event the next day. You have a healthy dinner, you give yourself a lot of time to get ready for bed, and make sure you fall asleep early, so you wake up feeling fresh. 

 

Nothing beats the feeling of waking up and wanting to get out of bed, so use the tools to make doing this every day a little easier. 

 

 

 

Works Cited

 

Burgess, H. J., Crowley, S. J., Gazda, C. J., Fogg, L. F., & Eastman, C. I. (2003). Preflight adjustment to eastward travel: 3 days of advancing sleep with and without morning bright light. Journal of biological rhythms, 18(4), 318–328. https://doi.org/10.1177/0748730403253585.

 

Chang, A. M., Aeschbach, D., Duffy, J. F., Czeisler, C. A. (2014). Evening use of light-emitting eReaders negatively affects sleep, circadian timing, and next-morning alertness. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1418490112.

 

Cleveland Clinic. (May 20 2022). Why You Should Ditch Your Phone Before Bed. Cleveland Clinic, https://health.clevelandclinic.org/put-the-phone-away-3-reasons-why-looking-at-it-before-bed-is-a-bad-habit/.

 

Mayo Clinic. (2022). 10 ways to control high blood pressure without medication. Mayo Clinic, https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/high-blood-pressure/in-depth/high-blood-pressure/art-20046974.

 

Tähkämö, L., Partonen, T., & Pesonen, A. K. (2019). Systematic review of light exposure impact on human circadian rhythm. Chronobiology international, 36(2), 151–170. https://doi.org/10.1080/07420528.2018.1527773.

 

Yoshino, J. Almeda-Valdes, P., Patterson, B. W., Okunade, A. L., Imai, S., Mittendorfer, B., Klein, S., (2014). Diurnal Variation in Insulin Sensitivity of Glucose Metabolism Is Associated with Diurnal Variations in Whole-Body and Cellular Fatty Acid Metabolism in Metabolically Normal Women. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, https://doi.org/10.1210/jc.2014-1579.