It’s no secret that the way you start your morning can have a profound effect on the hours that follow. Miss your alarm and oversleep? Stressed and frenzied all day. Burst out of bed energetic and refreshed? Poised to take on whatever comes your way.
Maybe this is why we’re so endlessly fascinated with the morning routines of celebrities and entrepreneurs; after all, it’s easy to assume that the secret to their success must be at least somewhat linked to their adherence to an excellent A.M. regime. It’s giving discipline! It’s giving aspiration! It’s giving vitality! And, while it’s impossible to say if copying an influencer’s exact schedule of matcha and meditation will change your life, one thing is for sure: Sticking to a routine filled with healthy habits has been scientifically proven to benefit your wellbeing.
But in all the talk about perfect morning routines, an important factor is often overlooked: First, you need to wake up feeling good. And, if you’ve never been a morning person — or, if you suffer from seasonal affective disorder in the winter — that can truly be much easier said than done. However, experts say that almost anyone really can become better at waking up, and that it’s even possible for someone to go from a night owl to an early bird simply by learning a few basic techniques. It’s worth a try.
After all, as the writer William C. Hannan said, “the day will be what you make it,” so you may as well “rise like the sun and burn.” Read on to find out what the experts recommend.
First things first
“It’s common to not wake up ‘bright eyed and bushy tailed,’” explains sleep expert Dr. Rebecca Robbins, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and scientist at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. But, if it’s happening to you regularly, she says it’s important to start by assessing the quality of your sleep before you do anything. “Awakening from sleep and feeling restored, alert and ready to start the day can take time to master,” she explains. “But it heavily depends on your ability to fall and stay asleep.”
To that end, she actually leads a series of Sleep Retreats at the Castle Hot Springs resort in Arizona designed to help guests improve this very thing. “Unfortunately, one out of every three Americans report failing to meet their sleep needs, and only three out of every ten Americans report experiencing restorative sleep,” Robbins explains of the catalyst for the program, which includes everything from sleep lectures to restorative activities. “Oftentimes, our sleep systems simply need a reboot, and the answers to common sleep struggles in many cases have very simple solutions in small, modifiable behavioral changes.”
Resetting the rhythm
Rebooting your own sleep system needn’t require a trip to the spa — it often just comes down to resetting your circadian rhythm, which is essentially just the brain’s internal clock. Longevity researcher Dr. Diogo Barardo, Ph.D, says that our circadian rhythm and our need to sleep should “work together like a perfect symphony,” but due to our modern environments, hectic schedules and the influence of technology, this “symphony” can easily get off key.