Waking Up Early – Why is it so hard?

Recently I’ve been doing a lot of research about how to wake up early in the morning. The reason I’m currently fascinated with sleep and waking up is that I’ve been having a hard time waking up myself. There are many reasons why I’m finding it harder to wake up, and the most important one is that it’s winter and there is no sunshine when I wake up. I must mention that I’m waking up at 7:30AM, so it’s weird not having the sun greet me in the morning.

I’ve found many ways to solve my waking up problem. But first I should mention another problem with my wake up ritual: I don’t go to bed at the same time every night. Every now and then I feel the need to push the snooze button, and I get up at 8:00AM instead. This has definitely contributed to my inability to wake up every day at the same time. But as I’ve read in many places, it’s not as important if you go to the bed at the same time every night, as long as you only go to sleep when you’re truly tired and sleepy.

The trick is that you should not spend more than 10 minutes in bed without falling asleep. So if you think you’re still too awake to fall asleep within 10 minutes, stay up longer and do something relaxing like reading by candle light. To make yourself fall asleep make sure you don’t have a lot of light or loud noises, that signals your brain that it’s time to wake up. You should also get into the habit of developing a sleep time ritual. For some people taking a warm bath, listening to relaxing music, reading in bed or giving yourself a good body brushing will do the trick.

Now the next important thing to keep in mind to get yourself to wake up early is to wake up early every day at the same time. Yes, even on week-ends! Otherwise your internal clock will really get messed up and it won’t know when to wake up. If you’re having a hard time waking up at your ideal time, do it gradually. Set your alarm clock only 15 or 10 minutes earlier than usual and work your way to your ideal wake up time.

To make waking up more enjoyable, get rid of your loud jarring buzzer alarm. Replace it with a two-tier alarm that will play soft relaxing music at a low sound level about 30 minutes before you want to wake up. Then having a real louder alarm (it can be your buzzer if you think you won’t be awake by then) at the time you need to wake up. The reason for the almost silent first alarm is that it will wake you up if you’re in light sleep, and you’ll feel more awake and rested if awoken during light sleep patterns.

If this trick doesn’t work for you, or you suffer from SAD (a condition that happens in the winter when our bodies don’t get enough direct sunlight) consider buying a sun wake up alarm. I recommend The Progressive Wake Up Clock because it starts lighting your room gradually 30 minutes before you need to wake up. It will make waking up that much easier and you’ll feel more awake and upbeat when you open your eyes! No need to adjust to the harsh light anymore!