I’m a night owl. I have always been this way – not sleeping until late at night, and regretting it in the morning when I have to go to school. When Winter Break came, my sleeping habits became worse than ever: late night television until 3 a.m. and never being able to wake up for breakfast was the usual plan. But honestly, sleeping earlier is the way to go. I’ve made fun of all my early bird friends, yet am actually secretly jealous. HOW DO I DO WHAT THEY DO?! Here’s a few tips a learned to get my sleep schedules back on track.
1. Take away all the distractions in your room.
As much as it may pain you, request your parents to take away your television, and your laptop, and all your other flashy gadgets. They will become the bane of your existence if your goal is to wake up in the morning. If you must have a light in your room that could possibly provoke you into not going to sleep right away, keep it far away from your bed. Resolve is key!
2. Don’t make excuses.
When the alarm clock starts ringing, get up immediately. Don’t dawdle and think, “A few more minutes…” A few more minutes easily turns into too many minutes gone by.
3. Stay motivated.
Give yourself a better reason to wake up. Why is it so much easier to wake up when you are going to have a field trip, than a plain old day of school? Make up an excuse. Imagine you are going to ace your quiz if you wake up a few minutes earlier tomorrow morning. Anything that will help you accomplish your goal works.
4. Keep the alarm clock away from your bed.
This prevents you from rationalizing your way out of waking up; the alarm clock will keep on blaring, and you won’t be able to get a wink of last minute sleep.
5. Immediately walk around after getting out of bed, and out of your room.
Being active definitely sends a message to your brain. It’s no longer time to sleep!
6. Plan your path to early rising accordingly.
Set a bedtime. Although this seems ridiculous, since many of us have just recently gotten rid of the ridiculously early bedtime, it really is the only way you’ll ever succeed. 11 p.m. is the latest one should go to sleep at night. Slowly begin waking up earlier, in five minute intervals. Every week, you wake up a little earlier than the week before, until you can FINALLY call yourself an earlier riser.
Best of luck!