How to Ditch the Snooze Button and Start your day right by Waking up Refreshed and Energized

All through my teen years, I have heard my mom quote the age-old adage, “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” Although I understood the power of early mornings, I just couldn’t wake up consistently. For years I tried to set an alarm, at a certain time (5 am) and wished I would jump out of bed when it rang. Almost always I would hit the snooze button and go back to sleep. When the alarm rang, I seldom felt I am ready to tackle the day in front of me. I wondered how others are following this strict perfect routine and I fail time and time again.

About a few years ago my boys introduced me to the bedtime feature in my iPhone. It was a game-changer. All I had to do was set my bedtime, and wake-up time and a reminder to notify me that bedtime is approaching to wind down. When I keyed in, I didn’t think much of it. Within a few weeks into this, I noticed that I was never hitting the snooze button. I started to think about what changed and it occurred to me that I was consistently going to bed at a certain time. The wind-down reminder gave me a chance to complete or close the unfinished task for the day and prepare me for my nighttime routine. In the past, I had tools to wake me up but I had none to keep me on track to go to bed. I simply didn’t understand that to wake up refreshed and energized you need to get the night before right.

So, how can you wake up refreshed and energized?

Here are the things I do to wake up refreshed and energized.

• Understand your Sleep Needs: I have heard my friends say they need just 7 hours of sleep. I think I function best with 8 hours of sleep. So, I work backwards. If I need to sleep 8 hours and I would like to wake up 5 ish I need to be in bed by 9 pm.
• Wind down Notification: My phone sends me a notification at 8 pm to remind me that bedtime is approaching and it’s time to wind down. It’s set for an hour before my scheduled sleep time.  This was a total game-changer. Once I get the notification, it set the tone that the day has indeed come to an end and that I should leave the rest of the unfinished tasks for tomorrow. I head up, take a shower, brush, floss, journal and cuddle up with my book. I have been doing this for a few years now, and I am thankful for this notification. This simple habit has helped me with my next practice, waking up on time.
• Set No Alarm: I find waking up to an alarm makes me groggy. The sound of an alarm puts me in a bad mood. So, I set no alarms. My body has adjusted to this fairly consistent regime that it knows to wake me up somewhere between 5:00 and 5:20. There are times it wakes me earlier than that 4:30 or 4:45. I don’t fight it. I simply step out of my comfy bed and get down to do my morning rituals.

Some people have trouble falling asleep. But others choose to stay awake and end up chronically sleep deprived. Sometimes, it could be work or family obligations that would prevent us from getting enough sleep. But in most cases, habits such as scrolling through your social media feed or binge-watching a show on Netflix are to blame. For most of us, if we prioritize our life correctly, we could get more sleep.

Understanding your sleep needs and giving it the rest it deserves, will have a huge positive effect on your life. Build your schedule around your sleep and guard it well. I try to keep my calendar empty from 8 pm. There are some days that I am committed to things until 9 pm. But for the most part, I try my very best to keep my evenings free. When you do that, you will go to bed on time and will start the day right. You will be ready to face what the day has in store for you. You will feel equipped and empowered to conquer the day in front of you.

You’ll never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.