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Still tired? Here’s how to make getting up easier

27-4-2023

Translation: Megan Cornish

Do you turn over for ten more minutes or get straight up? Coffee or tea? Carbs or a high-protein breakfast? Here’s the best way to get going in the morning.

Do you struggle to get out of bed in the morning too? Unfortunately, I’m definitely someone who finds it tough to get up most of the time. But there are some tricks that make waking up easier and some things to avoid that make it unnecessarily difficult. So, open those eyes and stay alert: here’s how to get out of bed more easily.

The snooze problem, a.k.a. how to give yourself daily jet lag

I love the feeling when the alarm clock goes off in the morning and I can just put it back on and stay in bed for a few more minutes. The only inconvenience is that it makes my life unnecessarily difficult.

[A study on the effects of the snooze alarm] (https://jphysiolanthropol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40101-022-00317-w#citeas) found that repeatedly waking and going back to sleep using the snooze button can actually affect sleep quality. The participants were divided into two groups: one group got up as soon as the alarm clock went off; the other was allowed to use the snooze function and sleep for another ten minutes. After that, the subjects had to rate their sleepiness and perform cognitive performance tests. The snooze participants performed worse and reported more sleepiness than those who got up immediately. The longer the sleepers stayed in bed after the alarm clock went off for the first time, the more pronounced the sleepiness was.

From now on, get up as soon as the alarm clock goes off. That goes for me too.

Birdsong, music or beeping: what’s the best way to wake up?

The way we wake up can also have a huge impact on how awake and ready to start the day we feel. Australian scientists studied [which sounds best ease us into the day] (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6986749/pdf/pone.0215788.pdf). They found that music with a slow, gentle melody was better at helping people wake up less sleepy than loud alarm sounds or fast music. Music or special alarm tones with natural sounds such as birdsong or the surf on a beach make waking up considerably easier.

By the way, a gentle light alarm device can also gently wake the body from sleep mode.

You’re up! Now what should you drink?

When I finally make it out of bed, I head straight to the coffee machine. Without a big cup of coffee in the morning, I can’t start the day. At least that’s what I tell myself. But what does science say about this? Do coffee, water, tea or juice make any difference to your morning fitness?
First of all, none of the options are bad.
Water is generally an excellent choice, as it hydrates the body and boosts the metabolism, as multiple studies have shown. But tea is good too: green tea in particular is a great choice to start the day as it promotes waking up and can improve cognitive function. You can also increase wellbeing and reduce tiredness with a glass of orange juice if you prefer.

And I’m probably not doing anything wrong with my morning cup of coffee either. Caffeine stimulates the metabolism, gets fat burning going and is also said to improve cognitive performance.

What else helps:

Sufficient sleep and consistent falling asleep and waking times make it easier to start the day, as the body develops a natural sleep rhythm. You can read more about the sleep-wake cycle in an [interview with chronobiologist Henrik Oster] (https://www.galaxus.de/en/page/interview-with-a-chronobiologist-how-do-our-internal-clocks-work-26702).
A pleasant sleeping environment at the right temperature (not too warm) and darkness can also make getting up easier.
A short morning workout can improve mood and energy levels and support the body’s natural rhythm.
A balanced breakfast can help you start the day stronger. It’s best to go with your preferences, because an unloved breakfast certainly won’t help you to get the day off to a good start. It’s good to know, however, that a high-protein breakfast can help keep blood sugar levels stable for longer and prolong the feeling of satiety. A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that a high-protein meal in the morning increases feelings of fullness and can reduce appetite for fatty, sugary foods throughout the day.
And, unsurprisingly, avoiding alcohol and caffeine in the evening also makes it easier to get up the following morning.

So, the next morning, woken up by the gentle chirping of birds, I jump out of bed full of energy, do a few stretching exercises and then enjoy my beloved coffee and a large glass of water with my balanced, high-protein breakfast guilt-free. At least, that would be the ideal scenario. I’ll soon find out whether it works during a new «test week». Drinking 2.5 litres of water a day was a definite success.

What’s your perfect morning? Let me know in the comments.

Header image: Erik Karits/Shutterstock

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Anna Sandner

Senior Editor

Anna.Sandner@galaxus.de

Science editor and biologist. I love animals and am fascinated by plants, their abilities and everything you can do with them. That's why my favourite place is always the outdoors - somewhere in nature, preferably in my wild garden.

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