Getting up in the morning with an alarm clock deprives a person of the opportunity to start the day with pleasure and ease. Loud sound at 6–7 am is annoying, and this negatively affects your mood and well-being. Many people mistakenly believe that they won’t be able to wake up at the right time without an alarm clock. Experts say the opposite and strongly recommend against forced awakening. To do this, you need to learn how to manage time using your internal biological clock. Every person has them and helps prepare the body physically and emotionally for an early rise.
Goals and general attitude
“Humans are creatures that seek instant gratification. And so you will look for any excuse to sleep longer, especially in the first few days. The main thing you should know is that you really have to sacrifice a lot. And you must be prepared for this,” explains the author of the material.
Your productivity will suffer at first. And you'll have to let go of the idea that you're just not a morning person - that's a myth.
The most important thing, the author of the note believes, is to set your goals correctly. Goals motivate a person, he believes. And the more emotional the goal, the harder a person will go towards it. In addition, goals define activities—systems that must be followed to achieve them. “To start, you need to identify three main goals for the coming year and the systems that will help you achieve them.”
For example. Goal: lose 5 kg by April 1, 2021. System: eat less than 2000 calories a day, eat healthy - exclude candy, fast food and snacks. Do cardio training twice a week (swimming or running). Lift weights twice a week. Once - yoga.
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3. Find out how much sleep you really need. The average person needs 7-10 hours of sleep every night; for adults it is usually between 7-8 hours, but individual needs vary. Sleeping 9 hours a night is also normal. Getting enough sleep is the most obvious way to help you wake up at the desired time.
Evening classes
“Many people think that you need to start by organizing your morning routine, but this is not so. Firstly, even before going to bed, you need to tune in to waking up early,” writes the author of the material. He suggests several ways this can be done.
Stop using your smartphone, tablet, or other technology devices before bed
Blue light, the entrepreneur writes, negatively affects the quality of sleep. Therefore, about an hour or two before bedtime, you should stop using any devices - smartphone, tablet, laptop - and devote them to other activities.
Prepare for tomorrow
The author suggests taking care of a few things in the evening so as not to have to deal with such problems in the morning and free up time for more important things. He believes that in the evening you need to answer three questions:
- What are the top priorities for tomorrow?
- What clothes to wear?
- How to spend breakfast, lunch and dinner?
Evaluate your day and imagine your ideal morning
“Time flies quickly, and if you don’t learn to stop and think about the things that matter to you, you will feel like something is missing in life. Every evening ask yourself: what turned out the way you wanted today? What have you done? What are you grateful for? What made you happy?
The author then recommends imagining your ideal morning. In his opinion, this will help him not to put off getting up in the morning, but to get down to business right away.
Read
“It’s difficult for a modern person to find even 30 minutes to read. But if you get rid of all the technological devices before bed, you can easily find time to read. And it doesn’t matter whether it will contribute to personal or professional growth,” says the author.
How can an owl learn to go to bed early?
If a person is an owl, then closer to night he becomes active and active. But the morning is a real problem for them. Can owls cheat their biorhythms? It’s possible, you just need to find a period to fall asleep on time. What time and how should owls go to bed?
Preparing for a night's rest.
- Before going to bed you will have to relax. Turn off the computer and TV about an hour before. It is recommended to go to bed at 21:00.
- Be sure to ventilate the bedroom and turn on quiet, relaxing music.
- You can go for a walk, walk at a slow pace for half an hour.
- A warm shower, a massage with lavender oil, a cup of mint tea with honey will help.
Relaxation technique
Direct your gaze to some object. Look at it for so long until its outline begins to blur. Remember a pleasant event from your life, imagine it again.
Wake up time
Set your alarm clock in the next room so you don't have to flinch at the sound of it in your ear. Change the melody whenever possible. In the evening, imagine drinking a cup of aromatic coffee in the morning.
Don’t lie in bed, forget about “five more minutes.” Take a contrast shower with the scents of pine oils or citruses. Rub your earlobes and palms. For owls, you need to have breakfast after getting dressed for work. Therefore, prepare your clothes for tomorrow in the evening. Loungewear will relax you and prevent you from becoming active.
Start imagining: you will come to work now, look through the papers, and so on. So plan your day in order. This will drive away drowsiness and infuse new strength for achievements.
Sleep quality
“Most people do not know what and how affects their sleep and what can be done to improve its quality,” writes the author of the note. He cites several factors that improve or worsen sleep quality.
- Stimulants. At least six hours before bedtime, you should stop drinking coffee and alcohol and keep only green tea and water in your diet.
- Heavy food. Before going to bed, you should not eat heavy food - it burdens the digestive system and impairs the quality of sleep. The author recommends eating a small snack, nuts, or drinking a glass of milk before bed to avoid waking up hungry.
- Water. Before going to bed, you should drink at least one glass of water. If a person already drinks one glass of water before bed, you can increase the amount to two.
- Sports activities. Before going to bed, you should avoid physical activity for at least three hours. “Exercise is invigorating, and it will be more difficult to fall asleep afterwards.”
- Sleeping conditions. You need to purchase a quality mattress and pillow, and also make sure that the room is dark (if it is impossible to make it dark, a sleep mask will do). It is also worth paying attention to the temperature in the room.
- Time. You should go to bed at the same time every day. At first, the entrepreneur writes, it will be difficult, but soon the body will get used to it and the person will begin to feel tired just at the right time.
- Sleep optimization. The entrepreneur advises finding the ideal time to go to bed - one so that after waking up you really feel rested. “When you sleep, you go through certain cycles. Light sleep, deep sleep and REM sleep. The full cycle lasts about 90 minutes and is repeated several times a night. To feel rested, you need to wake up when the cycle is completed - after an hour and a half, three, four and a half, six, and so on. Of course, you won’t guess down to the minute, but over time you will understand what is more comfortable for your body.”
What's stopping you from getting up without an alarm clock?
There are several things and bad habits that prevent you from getting up without an alarm clock. These include:
- long daytime sleep;
- drinking tea, coffee or alcohol in the evening;
- evening overeating;
- sleep in light, in noise;
- the habit of falling asleep to music, with the TV on, with a smartphone in hand;
- overwork;
- lack of sleep.
Forming a sleep culture requires time and effort, which are not always available to a person. Night rest contributes to more productive performance during the day. There is no universal formula for how to wake up early in the morning without an alarm clock - it is a long process of forming a healthy habit that everyone needs to acquire.
Waking up and morning routine
The entrepreneur offers two strategies to help you wake up earlier.
- Immersion method. A person sets the desired wake-up time and immediately begins to stick to it. “This method has its merits, but you must take into account that such drastic changes will initially negatively affect your energy.”
- Gradual method. The entrepreneur considers this method to be the most effective. The idea is to gradually get closer to your desired time, setting your wake-up time 10 to 15 minutes earlier every three to four days. “It will take time, but the impact on energy will be minimal.”
After the reader has decided on the method, the author of the material suggests checking a few more things.
- Alarm. “The day should not start with a tune that scares or irritates you - this distorts the whole point of the new habit. You need to find a melody that gradually helps you wake up and that makes you happy. Over time, she may become hateful - then you will need to find another one.”
- Responsibility. The author suggests telling one close person about your idea. He will have to make sure that he wakes up on time. “All you have to do is text or call that person 10 to 15 minutes after you wake up.”
- Gamification using the Jerr and Seinfeld method. “Comedian Jerry Seinfeld says he has a one-page year-long calendar prominently displayed on his wall. Every day when he completes a task and writes something, he crosses it with a red marker. After a few days, a chain of crosses is formed. And you will have no other goals than to continue this chain.”
- Activity. The entrepreneur helps you find something that will help you quickly get out of your sleepy state. “For example, try immediately drinking a glass of water, washing your face and brushing your teeth. Make your bed. Open the window and let light into the room (even if you get up at five in the morning, a little fresh air will not hurt." Then the author suggests doing something especially pleasant that you would like to wake up for - for example, drinking coffee and reading a book.
What to do after waking up depends on the goals and objectives of the person himself, writes the author of the material. The basic rule that he advises to adhere to is to devote about an hour to work. “Trying to devote three hours to new habits is likely to fail,” he says.
The entrepreneur offers several options for activities in the available time, but notes that the decision remains with the person himself - he can choose anything:
- setting and reassessing goals;
- physical activity;
- meditation;
- reading (or watching courses);
- working on side projects;
- communication with loved ones;
- cooking food.
The author of the material notes that at first a drop in energy is inevitable - you should be prepared for this. If you start to feel sleepy in the middle of the day, you should take a nap for 20–30 minutes. He also recommends remembering that developing a habit is a long process, and you shouldn’t expect to be able to follow all the instructions right away. He insists on doing them sequentially - first setting goals, then sorting out evening chores, and then moving on to waking up early.
Second way. Use your senses
1. Take advantage of lighting . The brain will react to the light and bring you out of the sleep state. Open your blinds or curtains to wake up to the sunrise. Retract them if you want to sleep longer. Position the bed so that it receives light at the right time - it may need to be moved from time to time as sunlight hits at different angles at different times of the year.
Remember that the sun rises in the east; in the Northern Hemisphere, a room with windows facing south will be better illuminated, and in the Southern Hemisphere – with windows facing north. Except if you want to wake up when the sun is already high, it is better that the windows in the room face east, then you can “catch” the sunrise.
If you need to wake up before sunrise, set a timer to turn on the lights in your room, which will be less stressful than an alarm.
2. Include sounds. Noise (such as an annoying car siren) will also jolt you out of your sleep state. Listen, what sounds can you hear around and when? The noise of trains, cars, animals, conversations of passers-by may well serve as a signal to wake up. You can take advantage of this by noting what wakes you up and when. We recommend leaving the windows open (weather permitting) to hear more sounds.
Despite the fact that formally they can also be considered alarm clocks, such sounds are felt completely differently. If this option doesn't suit you, you can try special alarm clocks that use music, light, or even the smell of bacon instead of an annoying call.
3. Set the appropriate temperature . The body is very sensitive to temperature during sleep. If you have a heating system with a timer, you can turn it off at night and set it to turn on an hour before your desired wake-up time. Provided you slept at a comfortable temperature at night, this will encourage you to wake up. You can also use temperature in combination with light - once the sunlight reaches the bed, it will warm you up.
You can choose a blanket that makes you comfortable to sleep at night (body temperature drops after midnight), but becomes too hot in the morning (body temperature rises towards the end of the sleep cycle, regardless of external influences).
The National Sleep Foundation has found that temperatures below 75 degrees Fahrenheit (23 degrees Celsius) are the most comfortable for sleep. But individual needs vary, and not all researchers agree on this indicator. You might like to sleep in a cool room. If it's cold, wrap yourself in a blanket.
4. Let a pleasant aroma wake you up! If you drink coffee regularly, the easiest way to use smell as a wake-up cue is to place the coffee maker in your bedroom (or as close to it as possible) and set a timer a couple of minutes before the time you want to wake up. Scent is generally not the most reliable option, so it's best used as a complement to another awakening method.
FAQ
Question: “What about the weekend?” Answer: “It all depends on personal preference. But if you're just starting a habit, I'd recommend sticking to your new schedule on the weekends as well. Later, you can allow yourself one or two extra hours of sleep.”
Question: “How many times in a row can you wake up at the wrong time and not lose the habit?” Answer: “When a habit is just being developed, after 2-3 days it will not be easy to return to the achieved level. Once a habit has been developed, 2-3 days won’t ruin anything.”
Question: “What happens when I travel and change my environment?” Answer: “It’s a difficult question. First, have pity on yourself. Try to stick to your habits, but if it doesn’t work out, don’t force it.”
Question: “What if I unexpectedly have to go to a party?” Answer: “That’s very good. Just have fun. There is no need to force yourself to wake up at the same time as usual - sleep as much as you need.”
Is it worth changing your lifestyle?
It's good to give advice, but it's not easy to follow it. Every person has a question: how long does it take to learn to get up early?
It’s interesting to know how long it takes in practice to change your usual routine? Entrepreneur Zdravko Cvetic tried to learn how to get up early. After that, he published all the practical materials. The author admits that he spent almost 4 years just on developing and testing advice.
The author tried all his developments on himself. I broke down, experimented again, but still managed to get up early. The entrepreneur claims that “the game was worth the candle.”
In the modern world, for some reason, they have come to believe that early means getting up at 5 am. But getting up early isn't just about 5 am. The concept of “early” is determined by the presence of family, work, hobbies, what you do, social circle, frequency of travel and many other definitions.
If a person works in shifts, then after a night shift it is difficult to sleep for 2 hours and get up at 5 or 6 in the morning. But still, every person will be able to find the daily routine for themselves in order to get up early and feel good.
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6. Use your alarm clock as a safety net . If you have an alarm clock and waking up on time is critical, you can set it to ring immediately after your usual wake-up time in case your body clock doesn't work. In addition, an alarm clock will help you use your body clock, because then you will definitely expect to wake up at that time. Such a clear expectation will stimulate the production of adrenocorticotropin.
Despite the fact that this method does not completely free you from using an alarm clock, you will still enjoy waking up without its annoying ringing.
Don't get on your phone right away
After getting up, the last thing you should do is check the news and messages on your phone.
You shouldn't overload your brain at the beginning of the day. Spend at least half an hour without any sources of information, and it will yield results in productivity.
I am also sure that due to the freed up time, those who start getting up earlier will have a desire to spend this time stupidly scrolling through their feed on Instagram or VK. To avoid this, it is recommended to put it away and forget about it.
Get ready in the evening
If you don’t answer the question: “Why wake up so early?” then, most likely, you will find a bunch of excuses not to do it. So you need a plan, or in other words, a list of things for which you will wake up.
Before you go to sleep, talk through your plan for tomorrow morning.
For example: “Tomorrow I will wake up at 7:00, do breathing exercises, wash myself, do exercises, meditate and go to breakfast.” Or you can convince yourself that you will wake up in a good mood: “Tomorrow I will wake up very cheerful and full of energy, I will be happy with everything that this day has prepared for me.” Repeat these affirmations several times and the next day your subconscious will wake you up.
9. Meditation
After physical activity, do not forget about the mental component. The best way to mentally exercise is to read books.
But before you start reading, do meditation or, as I call it, “staying in silence.” During this period, which lasts 10-20 minutes, you need to make sure that it is quiet around and just relax.
Staying in silence will clear your brain of unnecessary thoughts and make room for new information.
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A few more tips for those who decide to get up without an alarm clock
Practice on the weekends. Whenever there is no urgent need to get up on time, try to wake up without an alarm clock. In this case, even if you oversleep, there will be no problems at work or at school.
Since body temperature is higher in the morning and during normal wakefulness, it is better to sleep in a cooler environment in the morning hours . This will help you fall asleep faster, have a good rest, and as a result, wake up without any problems at the desired time.
Using a circadian rhythm, where you get a consistent (but reasonable) number of hours of sleep each night, is the most effective way for most people to wake up on time. You can combine all three methods to achieve maximum efficiency. If you need to deviate from the established sleep schedule, it is better to use an alarm clock.
Method three: Adjust your biological clock
1. Improve your health. It's very difficult to get your body to do anything if it's not in the best shape.
And it’s not even about the muscle-to-fat ratio or waist circumference, but about how you feel about yourself. Eating right will make it easier for you to go to bed and wake up at the right time.
Junk foods, sugar and fats will make you feel worse. Whole grains, fruits and vegetables will make the process of adjusting your biological clock much easier.
Stay away from excess caffeine. Its use to awaken or maintain alertness interrupts the functioning of natural regulators. Soon enough they will stop working altogether because they will be unnecessary. To improve your daily routine, limit your caffeine intake as much as possible. The permissible norm is 500 mg per day.
2. Find a reason to wake up. Although there is no scientific explanation for this, it is believed that if you clearly know the time at which you need to wake up, you will do it. This phenomenon is somehow connected with the hormone adrenocorticotropin, which begins to be produced in large quantities an hour before waking up.
Accordingly, give your body a reason to wake up. What are you going to do tomorrow that equates to the alarm going off at 7 am? Adrenocorticotropin receptors, get ready. Let's start, pay attention...
Breathing exercises
The first thing I do after getting out of bed is stand by the window and create a “vacuum”. This exercise takes 1-2 minutes, but as a result it supplies the body with the necessary oxygen and invigorates it quite well.
What does this gymnastics include? Here are the main steps:
- Stand by the window.
- Take a deep breath and exhale.
- After exhaling, pull your stomach in as much as possible (as shown in the picture).
- Pull it in and hold it for 10-15 seconds. Don't breathe at this moment.
- When you feel a burning sensation, begin to exhale slowly. Do not immediately throw your stomach out; maintain tension as you exhale.
- Catch your breath and do 3-4 more repetitions like this.
