Anyone who knows me knows that sleep and I… well, we don’t get along very well. For many, many years I have been a renowned night owl, and I’m still trying to work on that. Thanks to this lifestyle, I have viewed mornings as the enemy for quite some time. However, that whole “adult with a career” thing forced me to change this outlook the hard way. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m a morning person now. ME? Taylor Maleski? A morning person?!?!? I know. I’m just as shocked as you are. I actually woke up willingly at 7 am last Sunday. W h a t  t h e  h e c k. It takes some trial and error, but trust me, it’s for the better. Here are some tips and tricks on how I made the switch:

1. Get on a schedule.
There is so much research backing the benefits of waking up and going to bed at the same time every day. While this can be tough because your day-to-day schedule varies, try your best. Always allot at least 8 hours. I know this is common knowledge, but your circadian rhythm will thank you a ton. As far as weekends go, this becomes a blessing and a curse. I wake up around the time I wake up for work on weekends, and I truthfully love having the day ahead of me. I feel so much more productive and have more time for myself. The downside, though, is when I have nighttime plans and I’m either a) falling asleep in public at 10 pm or b) waking up at 6 am when I was out until 3 am. Ugh. I’ll figure it out eventually…

2. Sleep more naturally. 
So, for the last… maybe 8 years? I’ve slept with a an eye mask and fan on – essentially blocking out any light and noise so that I can sleep as heavily as possible …oops! Because of this, I am in too deep of a sleep when my alarm goes off, and I pretty much feel like my soul is being dragged out of my body when I’m waking up. The issue with doing this for 8+ years is I got kind of, you know, REALLY USED TO IT and had a ton of trouble breaking this bad habit. I was so tired last week that I fell asleep without turning on my AC (aka my white noise), and I woke up so much more easily than I did with it on. After realizing this, I actually haven’t really needed the noise since. I guess I got lucky and was able to (hopefully) quit cold turkey. I would definitely recommend this, because it made a difference that I really didn’t ever expect.

3. Stop snoozing your alarm.
Believe me, I know… it’s next to impossible. But, you and I both know the second you fall back asleep, you’re making it 10x harder for yourself to get up when your alarm goes off again, 9 minutes later. If you’re so tired that you have to hit snooze, you’re probably not going to bed early enough, and that’s something you (and I both!) need to work on. There have been so many times I’ll hit snooze and go back into REM, and then wake up feeling like I gave myself brain damage as a result. For all we know with all the sleep studies going on nowadays, snoozing our alarms is probably screwing over our future health in some way or another – (TBD).

4. Do everything the night before.
This one is pretty obvious, but I think it’s one of the most important factors. I’m a huge routine person, so I heavily rely on what I do the night prior in order to get through the following day successfully. When I wake up, I have time to shower, get dressed, do my makeup, eat, and that’s it.  No matter how much I try and lie to myself, I will never wake up early enough to be able to make lunch in the morning, so that’s something I have to do the night before. My mornings also just flow better when I do little things like pick out my outfit the night before and make sure I have everything I need for the next day right by my door when I go to leave. It just makes a tough task a little bit easier.

5. Give yourself enough time.
Again, a kinda no-brainer, but a lot of times we associate mornings with rushing, and that’s why we dislike them so much. (That, along with the whole waking-up-thing.) This is probably the hardest one for me, and I want to work on waking up a bit earlier so that I can actually take my time with things. I commonly see the benefits of starting off your morning with mindfulness, and I would like to incorporate that into my days more. Just gotta make the time for it.

While every person is different, some of these may work more/less for you than they did for me. It can’t hurt to try, though! If I could go from dreading mornings to embracing them, you absolutely can too. 

Truly,
Taylor