Wake Up - WITH ENERGY!

This lady, yes the cartoon lady pictured above, she resembles me on most days.  Well, all except for the blond Peggy Bundy hairstyle [was her name Peggy?].  It's only Tuesday and I had the most difficult time getting out of bed this morning.  I dont know what my issue was but I had an issue.  I'm one of those weird individuals who likes to research anything that has to do with improving daily life so today I researched How to Get Out of Bed in the Morning ... WITH ENERGY!  I found some very interesting tips, things that make sense, yet techniques I never thought with my great amount of common sense to try.  Here's the link to the website if you want to look at tips that I may not have listed in this post: How to Wake Up with Energy in the Morning.

So, here are a few that I thought I would point out:

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  Keep your room at 60 degrees or below farenheit.  This tip was new information to me.  Jim, the man who created the website I got these tips from, says that it is important to breathe in cold air so that when you wake up, your eyes will be exposed to this cool air.  He says that this is the most important thing you can do to make waking up in the morning easier.  This one kind of throws me for a loop because even though I dont sleep with my heater turned up to an insanely warm degree, it's actually the coldness that keeps me from wanting to get out of bed in the morning.  I would always prefer to stay underneath my warm blankets than to step out into the freezing cold of my 50 degree temperature room.  I think I will try this one though because the point is to wake up feeling ENERGIZED, not feeling like you're vacationing on South Beach.

• Put your alarm clock at the opposite end of the room; the stupidest thing you can do is put it within reaching distance.  EXACTLY!  I am very guilty of this I must admit.  I use my cellphone as my alarm clock and the only reason it is near me at night is because my somewhat long distance boyfriend calls me every night around my bedtime.  I'm usually not in bed to go to sleep though, I've got lots of homework and studying that I do while I'm sitting in bed.  The point is, I always find myself pushing snooze on my cellular alarm every single morning.  I mean, there is not one morning where I get up right at the first ring of my alarm.  I'm also guilty of not hearing my alarm go off because I've rolled over my cellphone in my sleep haha.  This tip, I am going to try.  TONIGHT.  I personally think this will be the most beneficial tip for me because I'm not one of those people who gets up just to go back to lay down.  Nope, once I am physically out of bed, thats it, I'm up.  My issue is getting out of bed to begin with.

• Make sure your schedule is set up to get a full 8 hours of sleep.  Okay, so do you see the cartoon lady pictured at the top of this post?  I know that lady isnt a depiction of me alone, she represents working women everywhere!  I cant get 8 hours of sleep every single night, my schedule doesnt allow for that kind of luxury!  I am a full time working woman, and full time college student.  Even though my job ends at 5 p.m., my education does not end at 8 p.m. every night.  I go home, make something to eat and STUDY STUDY STUDY, because I have to.  Sometimes I fall asleep on my notes haha.  Not good.  What I think I need to do is put a fine tooth comb to my daily events and see how I can eliminate any amount of wasted time so that I can fit two more hours of sleep in each night. 

• Take your shower in the morning - NOT the night before.  This one, I got down pat as a habit.  I didnt make it a habit so much for the energy as I did just because I feel cleaner when I take a shower in the morning as opposed to at night.  I am a personal hygiene freakazoid.  I'm not as bad as some people but I do keep hand sanitizer in my purse and an extra toothbrush in my desk at work.  I do not like to feel grasy or dirty.  When I wake up late in the morning to the point where I HAVE to wait until night to take a shower, my day is already bad no matter what kind of mood I am in.  Yet on the energy side of things [because this is what this post is about], taking a shower in the morning truly does help to wake me up.  I encourage all you night time shower takers to try a shower in the morning and see/feel the difference.

• EAT BREAKFAST.  Jim says a breakfast shake and a power bar will do wonders.  I am a guilty woman of not eating breakfast every day because I am too rushed.  I recently started to make a habit of keeping some kind of breakfast food handy at work though because I work in an office and usually in the morning before I get started on any serious projects, I make sure to have something to eat and a cup of coffee.  This is a new habit of mine though and I am not too sure if it makes me feel more energized yet or not.  Maybe the point is to eat BEFORE you get to work, not after when you've already did the whole morning routine thing.  Regardless of whether eating breakfast in the morning makes you feel more energized or not, EAT BREAKFAST.  I'm no expert, but everything I've read about healthy living had eating breakfast as one of the most important things to do during the day.

These are just a few of the tips I found the most interesting.  Check out the website How to Wake Up with Energy in the Morning for more interesting tips on waking up in the morning with energy.  Also, another website that I stumbled upon a few months ago was How to Become an Early Riser.  It's another one that offers great tips for those who want to wake up early enough in the morning and not have to be rushed.  I know that is an issue I am still working on.  What kind of tips do you all have for waking up early and feeling energized?

Lexi