We’re living fast-paced lives and one of the main casualties of this lifestyle is our sleep. We’ve all had those days when we’ve woken up feeling tired (it’s more normal than we think).
If you’re prone to having one of those days – here’s a look at how you can help the situation.
Here are the 16 techniques that we can use to fight the morning fatigue
- Get seven to nine hours of sleep (as often as you can)
- Create a bedtime routine
- Don’t hit the snooze button
- Take a cold shower or splash your face with water
- Avoid having sugar until lunch
- Reduce your caffeine intake
- Have a reason to rise in the morning
- Practice good sleep hygiene
- Drink a glass of water first thing in the morning
- Stretch out with yoga
- Address your stress
- Go deeper with mental health
- Skip the nightcap
- Do not take a nap during the day
- Eat breakfast soon after waking up
- Let the light in
One of the most important things that you should take care of is the sleep cycle and the number of hours you sleep every day. Ample sleep means you won’t create a sleep debt that will put your body back into sleep.
Your sleep and wake times should be consistent so that your body gets used to your routine, and this will let your brain know when to switch off and when to normally wake up. This is more important than we realise. It’s part of what we call the body’s Circadian rhythm or cycle. This is our bodies’ internal process that regulates the sleep-wake cycle and repeats roughly every 24 hours. So try and go to bed at a particular time every day.
When you get up and go to bed at the same time every day, your body’s internal clock will be in sync, and that will automatically help you wake up fresh in the morning. So pressing snooze will have a negative effect on our sleep and body, as these short periods of snooze don’t allow the body enough time to fall back into restorative sleep.
Try the 90-minute sleep cycle trick by setting two alarms, the first one for 90 minutes before you want to wake up and the next one for the actual time that you want to wake up.
Having too many sweet food items or sugar in the morning can leave you feeling drained as certain sugar items like coffee drinks, pastries, and cereals can spike blood sugar.
Reducing the amount of coffee intake will help you stay active, as chugging a big mug of coffee early in the morning will contribute directly to morning fatigue.
During our sleep, our muscles are paralysed, and in the morning, when we wake up, they are all ready to reactivate; that is why it feels really nice stretching in the morning. So if you have 30 minutes in the morning, doing yoga will actually help you get rid of the tiredness.
Alcohol will make you feel dizzy and giddy in the morning, so it is advised to not drink alcohol at night before going to bed or at least 2 to 3 hours before going to bed.
Morning fuel is the most important and mandatory thing that your body requires as this is the most important meal of the day. Your body requires energy in the morning to function, so even if you don’t have an appetite, it is advised to have some kind of food in the morning for your body to duction normally. Give your body some calories to put it into action at the start of the day.
As soon as you wake up, open the windows and curtains, the bright light will help your body clock accept the wake-up time, and automatically, your body will automatically wake up at that particular time all fresh.
So, do practice all these techniques to feel all fresh in the morning and to kill the morning fatigue. You won’t be tired of feeling tired anymore if you start to practice all the 16 things, and this will also help you optimise energy throughout the day.
