Becoming A Morning Person: The 5 Simple Steps I Use To Wake Up With Energy

THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS. PLEASE SEE MY DISCLOSURES FOR MORE INFORMATION

becoming a morning personThe mornings are something so many people struggle with. When it’s cold and dark outside who on earth wants to crawl out from the cozy haven of the bed? Well I for one did, I was working a lot at my day job and had some projects I needed to make time for and the only time I had was between 5:30 and 7:30 before I got ready for work.

Definitely the most ungodly hour there is but it was the only time I had, and I really wanted to get working on my own projects so I went for it.

It was brutal.

I was totally unprepared, I had no plan in action to help me utilize this time so I was waking up and feeling too tired to do anything, justifying it by saying “at least I was creating the habit of getting up early”.

How wrong I was.

From there I decided there had to be a better way, apart from quitting my job, and after a lot of research, I found there are 5 simple steps to become a morning person that transformed my 5 am starts into a pleasant and productive experience. And the best part? I’m going to share them with you here!

5 Steps To Becoming A Morning Person

Step 1. Water Is The Key

The first step in becoming a morning person involves water. It’s easy to forget how delicate we are as human beings, that if we don’t get fed and watered properly we basically lose our ability to function properly. This is so true for dehydration. Now think about how long your body goes without fresh water when you go to bed. You’re looking at 10-12 hours without giving your body the basic water it needs so badly.

Now when you’re sleeping your body does of course lose water slower than when your awake but even still if you’re going 12 hours without a drink you’re certainly going to wake up feeling exhausted! Fatigue is one of the early side effects of dehydration and completely ruins your chances of waking up bushy tailed and bright eyed.

The solution?

A glass of water before you go to bed and another as soon as you wake up. Some people advocate for downing a pint of water as soon as they wake up but to me, that’s a little excessive. So just a couple of mouth fulls of water in the morning will have you up and alert in no time. This change had the best results for me and is absolutely the one I first recommend to anyone wanting to become a morning person.

Step 2. Breakfast

In the same vein of dehydration think about how long it is you go without food, especially if you have a tendency to skip breakfast. With dinner at 8pm and then lunch at 12pm the next day that’s 16 hours your going without food! The absolute basic fuel your body needs to function! Now deliberate fasting has it’s own benefits but only when done with careful planning and very intentional meals. Simply not eating for 16 hours is not good.

So start the day with your breakfast. It doesn’t have to be a lot, but give your body the fuel it so desperately needs to keep going. It won’t help you with the waking up stage but it will certainly help improve the overall mood of your mornings and help you get fired up for the day no matter the time.

Step 3. Earplugs

This one was a bit more situational to myself but I’m sure many others will benefit as well. I live in a noisy flat building with neighbours who like to party until 9am. Combine that with traffic noise outside and it’s fair to say my sleep was generally pretty disturbed. I didn’t think anything of it until I bought some earplugs and shut the sounds of the night out. Now I was able to sleep the entire night without incident and this massively improved my morning mood.

It was such a simple changed but it really helped improve the quality of my sleep which in turn helped me feel better in the morning. Check out my guide to the best earplugs for more information.

Step 4. A Consistent Sleep Every Night

Our bodies thrive on routine and getting a consistent sleep each night is a huge part of that. I always hear people annoyed at waking up 5 minutes before there alarm but that’s fantastic! It means your body has completely adjusted to your sleep cycle and you’re waking up after a perfect nights sleep right when you need to. It’s the falling back under that ruins things by messing up your sleep cycles.

I found that going to bed a little earlier to leave time for 7 hours is what worked best for me. If I was getting 7 hours of sleep I could wake up with my alarm, have my water and be ready to hit the keyboard hard before I went to work.

Now the amount of sleep varies from person to person but as a rule, 7-8 hours is a pretty good window of success.

Step 5. The Night Time Routine

I touched on it briefly in the above point but don’t forget to have your night time routine consistent. This is critical for becoming a morning person. It should include time to wind down, relax and really clear out the brain ready for sleep. If your brain is whirring away while you climb into bed it’s going to stay that way. So try add some journaling into your routine to clear your mind of the days thoughts by putting them down on paper.

My personal favorite wind down is reading. I always leave time for about a half hour of reading in bed before turning the light out. It clears my mind by giving me something else to focus on and helps tire my eye’s out in a good way, unlike mobile phones which leave you stimulated.

Final Thoughts

And there you have it, the 5 steps I used and still to use for becoming a morning person. It’s not easy to completely change a routine so if you only make one change start drinking more water before you fall asleep and when you wake up. This has the most notable change to your mood and attitude so is definitely the best place to start your journey of becoming a morning person.

Author Bio: Kieran loves talking about sleep as well as being a lover of books and writing, connect with him on twitter at @thedozyowl or visit his site, The Dozy Owl.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top