So you’ve decided to wake up early but don’t know how to prep yourself for it??
Well, let’s face it, life is busy, and there are a zillion things that you need to do and a gazillion more that they want to do. Therefore, you may end up stealing time from the 7 to 9 hours of essential sleep that you need every night.
But what if we told you that we could help you balance this equation?
Sleep training is a trick used by adults to help children to sleep through the night. But, it can be implemented in adults and brings impressive results.
Want to know how to train yourself to sleep well? Here are six simple steps to help you sleep train yourself and achieve the goal of waking up early:
Step 1: Decide On A Bedtime Routine
Waking up early starts with sleeping early. A good way to prepare yourself for bed is by getting into the habit of building a bedtime routine. This signals your brain that it is now time to unwind and get into the mode of going to sleep. In addition to this, stick to sleeping and waking up at the same time. This will train your natural body clock to wake up at the time without the help of an alarm clock.
Step 2: Maintain A Timeframe For Your Electronic Devices
Make a habit not to use any electronic devices before bedtime, and then ensure that you follow it strictly. Or, you could follow the peek-a-boo method too! Don’t know what it means? A peek-a-boo method is when you pick up your phone/ switch on your laptop or tablet and scroll through the news or social media for an hour and close it, wait for a minute or two and repeat the process over and over while gradually increasing the time of keeping away the device from yourself. This method slowly makes it impossible for the brain to stay awake and scroll through content for hours after a point of time.
Step 3: Soak Yourself In A Warm Bath
Relaxing your body before sleep is another way to prep yourself to sleep early. Throughout the day, your body undergoes varied hormonal changes, and the core temperature drops due to melatonin production, which makes the body feel tired and sleepy at night. However, on days when such is not the case, you can mimic the procedure with a warm bath an hour before sleep. A warm bath heats up your body and then as it cools down from the evaporation, creating a sense of tiredness and relaxation, which helps the brain feel sleepy.
Step 4: Have A Snack Or Tea Before Bedtime.
It’s advisable not to have a heavy meal for dinner. Instead, It is preferable to have light snacks or non-caffeinated beverages like chamomile or lavender tea before bedtime. This will help you relax and induce calm and peaceful sleep. Apart from that, when opting for a snack, choose food with a high melatonin value to ensure you don’t feel hungry or overtly full. . Additionally, you can also munch on nuts, fruits like – grapes, strawberries, or even nuts and curd for a light snack before sleep.
Step 5: Soft/Relaxing Music
The genre isn’t essential, but the relaxation is. When listening to the right music, people experience relaxation and distraction from all of their worries; it calms them down and provides a stress-free environment. A report by Pubmed states that about 62% of people sleep better and faster with the help of music. However, the music choice may differ from person to person. You may choose a love song whereas someone else may prefer rock music or even just rain or wave sounds. The sense of stress relief is a great way to induce sleep, improve sleep quality, and sleep faster than usual.
Step 6: Setting An Alarm For The Next Morning
Setting the alarm and waking up simultaneously daily creates a habit for the body and the mind. Eventually, your body gets attuned to waking up at the same time every morning and feeling sleepy at the same hour each night too. Remember that this practice too takes time. After all, consistency is the key when setting a habit.
Conclusion
There are chances that you may wake up early if you go to bed soon. But training your body to sleep and wake up early is a healthy cycle that everyone should create within themselves. Suggestions like a healthy diet, exercise, reading a book before bed, warm baths and reducing screen time help you relax and create a pattern to wake up early the following day with undisturbed and improved sleep quality.
