Do you have trouble getting up early in the morning? Have you tried everything and nothing works for you? Don't despair, in this article we bring you 12 psychological strategies to get up early.
As you know, a good way to get up early is to have slept well. For this we must apply a series of sleep hygiene strategies. We explain what these consist of and some more strategies to get up early.
12 psychological strategies to get up early
The psychological strategies to get up early that we bring you, include measures in relation to the environment, our body, stimuli, routines...
These strategies encompass different aspects that we can control and modulate so that we do not have difficulties when waking up early. It is important that you try to apply them every day so that your body gets used to a series of routines and associates them with sleeping early and getting up early. That is, this is also trained!
Let's see what these strategies consist of next.
one. Maintain good sleep hygiene
The first of the psychological strategies for getting up early encompasses a series of measures, typical of sleep hygiene. Since, the most important thing if we want to get up early is to sleep well and rest properly.
And what does sleep hygiene consist of? It consists of all those measures and strategies that help us achieve quality sleep, through which we rest adequately.It implies taking care of our sleep, and for that, taking care of our environment when it comes to going to sleep.
Thus, we consider this point the essential point to address if we want to get up early, since by sleeping well, we will rest well and get up with less difficulty. Some of the measures encompassed within sleep hygiene, which can also be psychological strategies for getting up early, are:
1.1. Avoid caffeine
The first measure involves avoiding caffeine before going to sleep (ideally not drinking caffeine after 7:00 p.m.). While it is true that there are people who drink caffeine and can sleep so peacefully, if we stop consuming it in the afternoon we will reduce the risk of possible insomnia. This will make us sleep better.
1.2. Maintain an ideal temperature
The environment is very important when it comes to resting well. Among the environmental factors we find temperature; This must be adequate, since to sleep well we must not be cold or hot.
1.3. Go to sleep at the same time
Ideally, we should have time guidelines when it comes to going to sleep; It doesn't have to be the same time every day ( although that would be ideal), just go to sleep at the same time range (for example, between 10:30 p.m. and 11 p.m.).
1.4. Do not do a stimulating activity before going to bed
If we do sports right before going to sleep, or some other stimulating activity, it is very likely that we will have trouble sleeping when we go to bed, since we will be overactive.
Many think that if they do sports they will get more tired and that will make it easier to sleep; however, it is not entirely like that, and it depends a lot on the time the sport is done (if it is done the hour before bedtime, a bad sign), the person, and the type of sport. So let's keep an eye on it if we want to sleep satisfactorily (and as a consequence, we have to get up early).
However, it is worth mentioning that doing physical activity during the day will help you rest better, since your body will "get tired" and fall asleep when it sees bed.
1.5. Establish a routine
The next of the psychological strategies to get up early, within sleep hygiene, is to establish a bedtime routine. This involves going through a series of steps in the hours (or minutes) before going to bed: for example, eat dinner, listen to relaxing music, have a glass of milk, turn off the lights, get into bed, etc.
If we also perform these actions at the same approximate time each day, our brain will associate these patterns with bedtime and this will facilitate sleep.
1.6. Only use the bed to sleep
It is essential that our brain associate our bed, automatically, with sleep. It is a classical conditioning process (the association of stimuli and responses).
This can be trained, and it's as easy as doing nothing in bed but sleeping (or having sex). This includes not eating in it, not watching series, etc.
1.7. Take care of your dinner
Another of the psychological strategies to get up early that we propose is to eat dinner two hours before going to sleep, little and light. Copious dinners will not let you rest well (they will make it difficult for you to have a restful sleep); In addition, you must give yourself that two-hour window for your body to digest.
2. Calculate the hours you will sleep
Another of the psychological strategies to get up early is to sleep enough hours (around eight). Resting well, as we said, will increase the probability that we will wake up more easily and early.
If we go to sleep at 10 pm, for example, and we have to get up early, at 06:00 in the morning, we will have slept 8 hours, which is ideal. In short: go to bed early if you must/want to get up early.
3. Put the alarm clock away
If we are one of those people who find it difficult to get up, and above all to do it early, a good strategy is, the night before, to place the alarm clock far away where we sleep (not on the nightstand, for example).
The fact of having to get up in the morning to turn it off yes or yes, will make us at least make that effort and "clear off" minimally.
4. Play music when you wake up
We have talked a lot about measures to sleep well, and, as a consequence, get up more easily. But, and when we wake up? Another of the psychological strategies to get up early is to play motivating music (and a little loud) right when you wake up.
It has to be music that we like, lively, and that “invites” us to get out of bed. If we activate our body and our energy, it will be easier to get out of bed.
5. Try a sleeping app
It is a reality that today there are practically mobile applications for everything. The same thing happens in the field of rest, so another tip that we give you to get up early is to use an app that helps you get up early.
Some of them are: “I can't wake up!”, “Drive me awake” or “Wake up or die” . How do these apps work? Some of them, for example, require you to complete a series of activities to turn off the alarm (for example, perform a numerical operation).