5 Ways To Become A Morning Person

I have always teetered the line of WANTING to be a morning person, but loving my bed too much when the alarm goes off. I even had a solid few years in/after college where I was so consistent with 5:30 AM mornings! But somewhere between COVID and all that came with that season, I stopped setting the alarm so early and in turn, lost the discipline I had developed. Things are a bit different now (ie. caring for a tiny human every day while working), but I realize that the only way things are going to get done in my day (like quiet time or workouts), I’m going to have to get back to my rhythm of discipline.

Hence, why I started Rhythm Reboot to begin with! If you need a kick starter to getting better habits in your life, head here for a 70-day challenge to better habits.

Which leads me to getting back into the swing of those early-morning alarms… And actually getting out of bed when they go off. Here are 5 ways to trick yourself into being a morning person and setting yourself up for success.

Make Sure Your Sleep Is Solid.

In order to feel good in the mornings, we obviously have to start by making sure sleep — and the way you wind down before bed — is renewing. Nothing is worse than not feeling rested when you wake up. Although there are some unavoidable parts of your days, like working late or waking up with your baby at night, let’s focus on the things that will improve your sleep hygiene. Here’s some ways to set yourself up for success:

• Check your sleep space. Does your pillow support your head? Is your mattress comfortable? Is your room cool enough at night? Those all play a huge part in your recovery and staying asleep in the night.

• Add in a wind-down routine, even if it’s 5 minutes. Do your skincare routine with a dim light, read a little bit, use a sleep essential oil roller, make a sleepy-time tea. Whatever it is, make whatever ritual will help you get excited to get cozy and move towards you starting to relax. Gonna double shout out using a sleep roller, because it’s changed the game for me when it comes to sleeping through the night — lavender and vetiver are life savers.

• Dim the lights! The science shows that it’s best for us to start dimming lights (especially blue light) after the sun goes down. That doesn’t mean sitting in darkness, but especially the 30 minutes before you head to bed, try turning the blue light off your phone at least. Better yet, stop using screens the last hour before bed. It cues your brain to know to begin slowing down. Oh, and on that note, do yourself a favor and stop using your phone in bed. It seriously messes with your brain to keep yourself stimulated when your body is signaling you’re in your sleep space. I stopped sleeping with my phone next to me (it’s plugged in across the room) and it has helped me SO much winding down knowing I’m not just going to get distracted and reach for it, not to mention avoiding the blue light.
• Don’t self sabotage. I know the feeling of wanting to stay up a little bit longer even though you’re tired, but if you’re like me and need at least 7 hours of sleep to feel fully human, I’m here to remind you that it’s not worth it. The extra time scrolling won’t make you feel better, you’ll just feel more tired in the morning (@ me).

Set Yourself Up For Success.

When you’re working on that evening routine, take two extra minutes to make your life easier for the morning. If your morning routine includes working out, set your clothes and shoes out for the morning. If you want to eat better breakfast, meal prep it for the week for easy grab-and-go. I have had my seasons of scrambling to get out of the door, so even if you don’t have a long morning routine, do whatever you need to do to avoid those kind of mornings. Start your day with your to-do list ready, outfit planned, and bag and keys by the door. Watch your morning stress become minimal — you may even begin to like your mornings *shocker*!

Stop Snoozing.

I know, this one hurts me, too. But I can confirm that was the thing that kept me consistent in that pre-COVID season of getting up early for years. Slipping into the habit of snoozing was the start of my downfall. I hate the alarm going off as much as the next person, but here’s what has helped me change my perspective on it. When your alarm goes off, your REM cycle ends. If you snooze your alarm and go back to sleep, you start a new REM cycle during that short time period, a REM cycle that never gets to finish, which is why you feel more tired after snoozing. So snoozing is FAKE extra sleep, anyway, so you might as well do yourself a favor and get up and not make it worse on yourself.

The problem still remains: convincing myself I’m still tired 30 seconds after waking up from my alarm and deciding I’m too cozy to start the day. The only thing that’s worked for me to convince my brain out of it: counting down from 5 and getting out of bed. No more time to think about it, sometimes you just got to do it to get in a better habit to stop giving your drowsy sleep brain too much power in your day.

I’ve also seen a lot of studies show the use of a physical alarm clock helping a lot, too! Probably has something to do with that late night scrolling I mentioned earlier. My favorite alarm clock (RE: much cheaper Hatch Sunrise clock) has been this sunrise alarm. You can customize it, so I have mine set to start “sunrising” 10 minutes before my alarm time, so the light will slowly turn on gradually before my alarm goes off. It helps so much because I’m usually slightly awake by the time the alarm goes off. And my alarm sound is birds chirping, which is so cute. It also has a wind down “sunset” option that I use every night to read for 20 minutes and I know when I want to go to bed for the night. It’s a super great option if you don’t want to spend too much on a real alarm clock!

Wake Your Body Up.

Okay, now you’ve counted down five seconds and you’re out of bed, now what? Give yourself a few minutes to become a human, and do it in a way that science says helps your body wake up! I’ve personally been loving a short cold shower. Do I hate when I first do it? Yes. But it’s so fast and I’m immediately woken up and ready to get on with my morning. An added bonus: science shows that starting your day with something challenging (ie. something that takes a bit of push back to complete, like convincing yourself that you want to take a cold shower haha) boosts your confidence and willpower through the rest of the day. If you hate the idea of going all in on a cold shower, try an ice roller (or just an ice cube) on your face. Another way to wake yourself up: getting yourself in sun light for 5-10 minutes in the mornings naturally tells your body to start getting your energy flowing. Stretching, and working out for that matter, are also great ways to get your body awake!

Make Your Morning Routine Rewarding.

There’s something to be said about having a challenge in your day, as I was just saying, but the truth is, if your mornings don’t have *something* you look forward to, that cozy bed is going to be hard to resist. Making your morning routine something you enjoy not only helps you feel good about mornings, but it also can start setting your day up on the right foot. If you’ve never been someone with a morning routine, take it from someone who trained themselves to enjoy mornings, that once you get into a groove of something you like, you’ll start your days feeling so successful because you prioritized time to yourself with things you want to do! For myself, I know I’ll always look forward to reading outside with my coffee in silence. There’s just something about doing that before the chaos of the day that is so peaceful, so I love to start with that. Once I’ve done that, I’ll move on to my workout routine. Although that is something I do enjoy (once it’s over, at least haha), I always start with the reading because that’s something I will want to do, where the working out is something that I do better with when I give myself a little more time in the morning. I know if my morning was filled with habits I don’t like to do, it’s not going to last.

Building good habits around mornings and evenings is just as important as finding the rhythm that works for you. That rhythm will likely include the perfect balance of habits you want to prioritize, and things you like to do. Give it a few weeks and you’ll probably find yourself looking forward to your quiet mornings before the chaos of the day! For more help on building habits, join the 70-Day Rhythm Reboot.