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If you’re anything like us, you have four alarms set in the morning – each one an unwanted reminder that the time to drag yourself out of bed is drawing ever closer.
If only getting out of bed wasn’t the hardest part about the day… well, we may have a solution, courtesy of a sleep doctor.
Talking to Popsugar, professor of psychiatry and behavioural sciences at the Stanford Centre for Sleep Sciences and Medicine, Rafael Pelayo, says the secret is to have a good reason for getting out of bed in the first place.
“You have to have a reason to get out bed in the morning, something you look forward to,” Dr Pelayo explains.
And while you might really enjoy your job, or really like exercising (once you’ve actually gotten yourself to the gym of course), it’s usually not the very first thing you do when you wake up.
Sure you might love your job, or really enjoy exercising, but it’s not the very first thing you do when you wake up. (Image: Getty)
Dr Pelayo says the smaller and more specific the thing is, the more effective it can be.
And this means something that you do before getting dressed, washing your face or even getting out of bed.
He says it doesn’t matter what it is, whether it’s reading, watching a funny video, or playing a musical instrument, the key is that it gives you a reason to wake up and most importantly, a positive one.
If the reason for dragging yourself out of bed is because you’re threatening yourself with, ‘you’ll be late for work’ or ‘you’ll miss you bus’, then you’re associating getting up with negative reasons.
If you find something fun, that you thoroughly enjoy, you could begin to see getting up in a more positive light, which in turn can give you more energy.
If you find you’re still struggling Dr Pelayo says you may have to be a bit stricter on yourself.
“I tell people that if they skip the activity, or oversleep it, they can’t do it again until the next day,” he tells Popsugar.
So the take away? Just like many of us plan things in the future to look forward to over the year, the same can be done for your day.
Plan one of your favourite activities to do first thing in the morning, or focus on thinking about something you’re looking forward to later in the day.
Your relationship with your alarm clock will never change if you hate getting out of bed – instead, try making getting out of bed a positive thing – it could make all the difference!
