00;00;00;04 – 00;00;21;20
Rob
All right. Welcome back. I’m Rob from Psych for Life. And in this video section, we’re going to talk about something that probably lots of a struggle with getting up. So most of us don’t have the luxury of choosing when to wake up. We’ve got responsibilities like getting kids to school on time or going to work. And even if you do have the luxury of waking up when you like to or choosing one, you get to wake up.

00;00;22;07 – 00;00;42;10
Rob
It’s important to stay consistent and have the same schedule every day. If you’ve been following along and practicing some of the tips from our modules, about getting a good night’s sleep, that should also help you with waking up better in the morning. However, there are some additional tips for a morning routine that should help you feel a little bit more energized and a little bit more ready to tackle your day.

00;00;42;25 – 00;01;09;28
Rob
In this section, we’ll discuss one keeping your alarm out of reach to getting sunlight when you first wake up. Three What foods to eat in the morning to avoid feeling sleepy for one day, drink coffee or tea five getting morning exercise and six avoiding hitting that snooze button. As you may have noticed, many of these are the opposite of what you want to do before going to bed.

00;01;10;18 – 00;01;28;25
Rob
Let’s take a look at them one at a time. Tip one Keep your alarm out of arm’s reach. If you have to get out of bed, you’re less likely to go back to sleep when you have to turn off your alarm. And once you do get up to turn your alarm off, stay out of bed. Tip to get sunlight when you first wake up.

00;01;29;19 – 00;01;49;17
Rob
Sunlight is essential to regulate your sleep wake cycle and getting sunlight early in the morning will help you wake up. Some options are to keep your curtains open at night so that the sunlight will wake you up. Or open your curtains as soon as you wake up. If it’s still dark when you wake up, try turning the lights on in your house for only a couple of dollars.

00;01;49;17 – 00;01;58;29
Rob
You can buy daylight balance lights that have a blue tint that will replicate the sun and that daylight balanced light will help your body wake up in the morning as well.

00;02;01;19 – 00;02;21;27
Rob
Tip three Avoid foods that will make you sleepy. Remember those tips we told you about foods to have late at night that contain melatonin, such as milk almonds and cherries? You’ll want to avoid those in the morning. Also, just like late at night, you want to avoid the high sugar foods such as sugary cereals because they’ll give you a crash and that will actually make you more tired.

00;02;22;13 – 00;02;50;04
Rob
Instead, opt for something that’s high in fiber and protein because that will energize you through your day. Four. If you drink coffee, try drinking it early in the morning. If you don’t already drink caffeine, stick to that. Because it’s been shown that caffeine can negatively impact sleep even if you only have one cup in the morning. If you’re drinking caffeine, try to make sure that you drink caffeine prior to noon and instead of drinking your coffee all in one shot instead, spread it out throughout your morning.

00;02;50;05 – 00;03;13;21
Rob
Try to drink it slow. Savor that coffee. Remember, your body kind of adjusts for how much caffeine you have and making drastic changes may give you headaches or make you irritable. So instead of making changes quickly, try to make changes slowly over time and make notes in your sleep journal about how much caffeine you’re actually having. As I’ve been doing my sleep journal, I’ve noticed I drink a lot more caffeine than I thought I did.

00;03;14;00 – 00;03;38;11
Rob
I actually drink about eight to ten cups a day. So what I’m trying to do is slowly reduce down to more acceptable number like five or six. Rather than just cutting down to zero. Tip five And this might be one that’s tough for some people depending on your schedule, but try to add morning exercise to your routine. Exercising in the morning is a great way to start your day off with a mood boost from either dopamine or just general stress.

00;03;38;11 – 00;04;03;02
Rob
Relief. And it’s also a great way to make sure that you don’t fall back to sleep. It’s hard to sleep when you’re running. If you’re worried about adding an exercise routine to your morning schedule, try doing little things such as maybe parking a little further away from work. So you have to walk to your desk or standing up a couple of times in the morning when you might be sitting all the time Tip six And this is something I really struggle with, is avoid hitting the snooze.

00;04;03;22 – 00;04;29;20
Rob
So for my personal experience, I know I need to get up at six or six 30. So I start setting my snooze alarms at 5:00, five 15, five 30, five, 40, five and six, when in fact I really should just choose to set my alarm to say six 15 and stick to that. It may be tempting to set five or six alarms when you know that you need to wake up early, but it actually confuses your brain and confuses your body.

00;04;29;21 – 00;04;50;05
Rob
The fourth and final stage of sleep or your REM sleep is your deep restorative sleep. When you hit snooze Your body starts to wake up and then you make it go back to sleep. What this does is it creates something called sleep inertia, where your body temperature and your mind starts racing. But then you actually wake up drowsy at each successive time that you’re waking up.

00;04;50;23 – 00;05;12;04
Rob
So instead of setting your alarm at six for a time when you need to get up six 45, just get up at six 45. Here are key takeaways for getting yourself up in the morning. One. Keep your alarm out of arm’s reach to get sunlight in the morning. Three. Avoid foods that will make you sleepy in the morning.

00;05;12;29 – 00;05;35;12
Rob
Four. If you drink caffeine, drink it slowly and try to drink it only in the morning. Five. Get exercise in the morning and six. Avoid hitting that snooze button. Thanks for joining us. If you are a parent, watch the next video for tips on how to get your kids to bed. If not, jump ahead for the summary of all the tips.

00;05;36;07 – 00;05;36;24
Rob
See you there.