Morning people amaze me; they wake up at an ungodly hour, do a million and one things, and still appear bright eyed and bushy tailed for the remainder of the day. I collected some tips on how to make your mornings happier for all my fellow night owls because I have never been a morning person, but I have found that routine is the magic key to making mornings that little bit easier.
While in college, I would stay up until the wee hours of the morning chatting with roommates or watching movies just because... well, I could. I would have to drag myself to my morning classes fueled with caffeine and an inevitable afternoon nap that would be a necessity just to get me through the day. It didn't help that I had a part-time job at a local bar that, more often than not, would see all the staff going out for a drink after the end of our weekend shifts. I was always playing catch up with my sleep.
After I graduated, the real world hit me like the giant bus. I've worked a few "big girl" jobs since then, and I've learned a few tips and tricks along the way to make my mornings less miserable. So for all you night owls out there, think of this as a little advice from one bird to another. Here are seven tips and tricks to make your mornings happier.
1. Prepare Your Lunch The Night Before
This tip will save you heaps of time so that you can spend more time enjoying your morning. I know it might seem a bit of a pain to have to make your lunch every evening for the next day, but once you've gotten into the routine of doing it, you'll be really happy that you could spend your mornings doing more of what you love. This made the biggest difference for me in terms of saving time and money — I ate out less, I had more time in the mornings, and I felt more prepared for the day when I left the house.
2. Set Your Alarm 30 Minutes Earlier Than You Need To Be Up
Forbes reported that there are plenty of benefits to being an early riser from being better at planning and organizing, to getting better quality sleep, and being more optimistic. Give yourself plenty of time to wake up and start your day off right by giving yourself more time in your mornings. This has helped me a million times, as someone who has a tendency to oversleep. Plus, waking up knowing I have an extra 30 minutes to spare — whether that means getting a coffee in before I leave the house or sleeping a little longer — is a glorious feeling.
3. Try To Get Up Right Away
Sleeping for an extra 30 minutes may be your thing, but IMHO, pressing snooze more than once never helps anything. I always feel way more groggy than I did when my alarm went off the first time. As a former serial snoozer I can tell you first hand that snoozing is no good for you. It may be addictive and the lure of your cozy bed might be tempting but snoozing can be bad for you, according a study published in National Library of Medicine, so stop the cycle and try to get up when your alarm goes off.
4. Meditate
BuzzFeed reported that author David McCandless wanted to understand the science and truth about the benefits of meditation and mindfulness. So, he asked researchers to examine a number of studies on the effectiveness of meditation and they found that the scientific evidence for better concentration was strong, among other benefits and experience with meditation proves this to be true. I feel much better when I meditate in the morning — it sets me up for the day and puts me on an even playing field emotionally and mentally, almost as if I am coming back into line with myself, which is a fantastic way to start the day.
5. Exercise
Elizabeth Narins, health and fitness editor at Cosmopolitan, reported that there are plenty of awesome reasons why you should work out in the morning. These range from feeling less stressed when you get to work, kick-starting the day off in a great mood due to those lovely endorphins, and gaining a natural glow. I, for one, know that if I aim to get up and exercise in the morning, I'm more likely to stick to this plan rather than exercising in the evening after a tiring day at work, or when plans pop up and take precedence over my exercise routine. If you want to fit exercise into your routine, get it over and done with at the start of the day and you're sure to look and feel great for the rest of it.
6. Shower
There is an ongoing argument about night showering versus day showering, and is a personal preference that most people adhere to pretty strictly. I totally love that gorgeous feeling you get when you've had a nice, hot shower just before bed and you get into the sheets feeling wonderful, but even though this is an awesome feeling, IMO nothing compares to feeling refreshed, energized, and incredibly clean before starting my day. When you pair your shower with a gloriously smelling shower gel or literally anything from Lush, you're sure to have a scent-sational day.
7. Eat An Easy & Delicious Breakfast
There are many health benefits to eating breakfast. The Huffington Post reported that people who eat breakfast feel more energized, according to the International Journal of Food Sciences and — a factor that certainly makes mornings a bit easier and more enjoyable. Why not prepare your breakfast the night before with some awesome overnight oats? If overnight oats aren't your thing, study up on breakfast hacks to save valuable time.
Transform into the early bird that catches the worm and make the most out of your mornings.
Images: David Mao, Monstruo Estudio, Sonja Langford, Elizabeth Lies (2), Curtis Mac Newton/Unsplash; YellowBrickCinema/YouTube; Giphy (1)
