Ways To Feel Your Best Right When You Wake Up

Nothing sucks more than feeling bad right when you wake up. Maybe you have a tough day ahead, or maybe you just didn't get enough sleep; either way, it's no way to start the day. The good news is, there are ways to wake up happier that can seriously revolutionize your morning and set the tone for your entire day. Seriously.

There's nothing quite like waking up and feeling excited for the day ahead. But the unfortunate flip side of that is that nothing feels quite as bad as waking up and dreading a task or meeting, or instantly remembering something unpleasant that happened the day before. It's enough to want to crawl back into bed and stay there. And unfortunately, sometimes stressors or undesirable tasks are inevitable.

However, there are definitely little things we can do to make sure that we wake up in the best mood possible considering that life can get kind of annoying sometimes. It means that instead of starting from a place of low-energy, or moodiness, we're taking on our day from a place of center and relative happiness.

If this sounds like something you need in your life, or you're just sick of waking up feeling kind of crappy, here are 11 tips that will help you wake up feeling happier.

1. Keep Fresh Flowers In Your Bedroom

According to Nancy Etcoff, PhD, a faculty member at the Harvard University Mind/Brain/Behavior Initiative in a piece for Prevention, women who saw fresh flowers when they woke up experienced an instant mood boost. So pick up a bouquet on your way home today and put it somewhere where you'll see it first thing in the morning.

2. Sleep On Your Right Side

According to The Huffington Post, Turkish researchers found that people who sleep on their right sides over their left sides tended to have more peaceful, less disrupted night's sleep. They speculate it could be because sleeping on our left sides puts pressure on our stomachs.

3. Sleep In Total Darkness

According to a compilation piece for Oprah.com on ways to wake up happier, people who sleep in near-dark, as opposed to complete dark, had lower levels of the feel-good hormone melatonin in their bodies. So if you get a lot of street light from your window at night, consider investing in black out shades.

4. Eat Magnesium With Dinner

That same Oprah.com piece noted that studies have shown that people low on magnesium had higher rates of depression than those who met their recommended daily allowance. Try snacking on magnesium-rich foods, like pumpkin seeds, before bed.

5. Don't Hit Snooze

In a different Orpah.com piece, Rafael Pelayo, MD, a sleep specialist at the Stanford University Sleep Medicine Center, noted that our bodies experience an instant jolt of adrenaline when our alarms go off. However, she noted that when you allow yourself to fall back asleep and then are awoken a second time, your body becomes confused, leading to that groggy, confused feeling.

6. Drink Water ASAP

In that same piece for Prevention, Holly Andersen, MD, an assistant professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medical Center, noted the importance of making sure we're hydrated right off the bat. "Without enough of it, your systems have to work harder in every respect—which can cause fatigue," Anderson said. Consider keeping a bottle of water right by your bed for instant morning hydration.

7. Rub Your Face

Maggy Dunphy, manager of the Aria Spa in Vail, CO, said rubbing our faces will provide us with an instant morning boost in Prevention. She recommended lightly drumming your fingers on your face, starting with your forehead and working your way down to your chin.

8. Be Careful What You Watch Before Bed

This is a personal tip. I've always found that if I watch something disturbing before bed, it takes me way longer to fall asleep, and often times my dreams way more disturbing and less restful. Try to stick to more relaxing pre-bed endeavors, like journaling, or — if you have to watch something — stick to comedy.

9. Think About What You Have To Look Forward To

In a piece for Tiny Buddha, lifestyle development blogger Srinivas Rao recommended taking a moment when you wake up to think about something you're looking forward to. Maybe it's dinner with friends that night, or getting to share a funny story with a friend at the office. Or maybe it's even just coffee from your favorite corner store. Think of something that makes you want to get out of bed.

10. Think About What You're Grateful For

Rao also suggested making it a habit to think of things you're grateful for right when you wake up. It can be as big as being grateful for the health of your loved ones, or as small as loving the fact that you just got cable.

11. Go To Bed An Hour Earlier

This last one is a personal tip as well. I've spent too many mornings of my life desperately wishing I had just gone to bed earlier. And now that I'm approaching 30 and get enough sleep way more regularly than I used to, I can't help but think one thing: why didn't I just do this earlier in life? It makes mornings so much better.

Waking up in the morning should never be a miserable affair, and in fact, there are active steps you can take to ensure you wake up happy. So go grab that fresh bouquet, banish those pre-bed scary movies, and remember — a delicious cup of coffee is merely moments away.

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