Article: Many more of us could be morning people if we would just give ourselves the chance to get some more sleep at night. Getting sufficient sleep for your body's needs gives you the energy, health, and motivation to get things done in the morning and throughout the day. While seven to nine hours of sleep is the general recommendation for adults, everyone is different. One way to test your sleep needs is to go a week with no alarm clock (such as when you are on vacation). Go to bed at the same time each night, and see what the average length of time is until you wake up on your own in the morning. Establish a consistent bedtime and wake-up time, on weekdays and weekends. Of course, it's tempting to stay up a little late and sleep in on days when you don't have work or other early morning responsibilities, but keeping a consistent daily routine will help train your body. Cut one hour from the end of each day. No, you can't actually make the clock skip from 10 to 11 p.m., but you can leave a blank hour before bedtime during which you can't schedule any work or other activities. You need to have time to wind down before bedtime. To rise earlier, you'll need to start sleep earlier, and that can be hard if you're used to using the later hours of the night for activities such as reading, watching TV, or writing. Consider going to bed earlier in increments. Start with 15 minutes earlier, with the expectation of getting up 15 minutes earlier, then gradually increase this to half an hour and then to an hour. If you do this gradually, it will give both your body and your mind time to adjust to the earlier sleeping and waking times. It will also allow you to find your happy medium between too early and too late. Dim your lights one hour before bedtime to facilitate the release of melatonin and make you sleepy. If the room is also comfortably cool (roughly 65-69), it will be easier for you to fall asleep as well. Avoid bright lights, caffeine, and alcohol, as these will all wake you up more. Avoid "screen time" (TV, computer, etc.) during your hour of preparation for an earlier bedtime. Even a relaxing TV show stimulates you and makes it harder to fall asleep. Allow yourself to read in bed. Reading is a quiet activity and it will often induce sleep when in a reclined position. Your reading doesn't have to be deadly dull, but choose bedtime reading that is not too suspenseful or strenuous. If you live with a night owl who hasn't the slightest interest in changing his or her sleeping schedule, ask for a bit of slack and no noise when they finally do go to bed. Although it is important to learn to wake up earlier as a matter of will, your alarm clock is the main source of helping establish your new routine when changing over your sleeping patterns. Some people will do better with a blaring loud alarm, others with a gradual alarm. Try several options until you find what works best at getting you up. Keep the alarm clock far enough away that you have to get out of bed to shut it off. The effort of having to rise from bed to shut it off will be enough to start waking you up properly. In addition to the advice already mentioned, such as avoiding electronic devices with screens before bedtime, setting up a consistent routine for bedtime is critical to transitioning to morning person. Try to go to bed neither too hungry nor too stuffed. Either condition makes it harder to fall asleep. Begin your morning preparations the night before. Pack your work or school bag. Lay out your clothes. Set up for breakfast. Free up some more of your newly-gained morning time. Try taking a warm bath or shower before going to bed. Your body temperature will drop afterward, which is likely to make you more sleepy. If you're mentally motivated to get up earlier, it can help to make a big dent in your sleeping-in excuses. Each night, create a clear mental image about why you want to get up and what you will accomplish with that morning time. Common good reasons include: Having quiet time to yourself before anybody else in the house is up. During this time, you can read, write, exercise, contemplate, meditate, make the evening's dinner, or even do a bit of tidying up. Giving time to your faith. For many people, early morning is an important time to reflect upon or practice elements of their faith. Catching the sunrise. As wonderful as the sunset is, the sunrise heralds the new day and brings promise of a fresh start. That's often worth the effort. Getting to work, school, or college earlier so that you can come home earlier and do other things you want to do. Caring for a family member or animal companion. Those responsible for the care of other people or animals can benefit from getting up earlier, especially if they need feeding, bathing, exercising, etc. Plan an enjoyable morning activity for each day the same one, or a different one each day. For instance, catch up with an old friend on the phone; write that short story collection you've always wanted to do; start training for the half-marathon; or redecorate your dining room. It's also a great time to deal with routine matters while you're alert and ready to get going; things such as checking emails, paying bills, and administrative filing can be done first thing in the morning to get them out of the way. For some people, it's about restoring the morning person you used to be until you allowed late night TV, internet chatting, and other wakeful activities to keep you up late.
What is a summary of what this article is about?
Sleep more, and more consistently. Go to bed earlier. Find the right alarm clock and locate it smartly. Prepare yourself for sleeping and waking. Reflect on your purpose for getting up earlier.