THE “HOW” OF WAKING EARLY, EVEN IN WINTER!

June 9, 2016

I’m sure many of you have uttered the phrase, “i wish I could wake up earlier” or “i’m just not a morning person”. Waking early confers many benefits and it is a habit that many people aspire to achieve. But being nice and cosy under the doona is far too enjoyable than venturing out into the cool morning air. When I was in my last year of school, I developed the 5am morning habit, and it has stayed with me even till today. But even before we get to “how”, you need to be convinced of “why”. What benefits are there, that makes it so worthwhile to get up early?

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Here are some of the things that I do in the extra 2 hours that I’ve created at the start of the day: school and university study; exercise such as running, swimming or gym; yoga and meditation; reading; walking the dog; writing and blogging; contemplating and planning over a nice coffee. It’s also a great feeling that you have done “something” before the proper day has even started. Additionally, it means that there is time to eat a proper breakfast and leave for work early enough without any rush. These benefits have been strong enough reasons for me to continue the morning habit.

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Think it maybe useful in your life? Well here’s a way.

  1. set your alarm inside and outside our room– this forces you to get up and out of bed! Program alarms every 7 minutes. This prevents you from slipping back into deep sleep. Initially it is painful because you are not used to it, but it will get easier.
  2. set an intention to wake early as you go to sleep and have a clear plan for your morning routine. If you plan to exercise, then have your exercise clothes ready next to your bed so that you can get changed straight away. If you need coffee or tea to get going, then have that available. If meditation is something you want to instill into your routine, then set a dedicated space for your meditation practice. Basically, the more you can function on auto-pilot and the less you need to think, the better.
  3. set yourself rewards for waking up for 21 days in a row at 5am. It maybe a present, a massage or something else special.
  4. find a buddy who wants to do this with you. When you are accountable to others as well as yourself, you are more likely to see it through. There are plenty of early morning groups- gym, cycling, running, walking. Groups are a great support and additionally you develop new social networks.
  5. make sure you get enough sleep. Depending on how much sleep you need, you may even need to get to sleep by 9 or 10pm.
  6. keep a clear 2-3 hours from dinner time to sleep. And make sure that evening meal is small to medium in portion size and light in quality.
  7. keep the habit up for 21 days and you are likely to create a life long habit of waking early.

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Good luck!

In Health and Wellness

Ranjit