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Get quality sleep
This may sound cliché, but it’s the truth. Getting quality sleep can be easy for some yet challenging for others. Turning off electronics and getting a book from your nightstand can do a world of wonders if you find it tricky to fall asleep. Something that helps me knock out and start catching zzzs, is creating a cool and dark environment. Studies show that our bodies can fall asleep faster if you’re in a cooler space and limit light. A colder room also helps increase the melatonin production to help keep you asleep and aids is slowing the aging process.
Don’t be a snoozer
Getting to sleep may be hard but waking up takes discipline. I’m an early bird where my partner is a snoozer. She can hit the snooze button a few times before waking up. For me, that doesn’t work well, I need to spring out of bed as soon as my alarm goes (if it even gets to that). After routinely waking up early, my circadian rhythm does a pretty good job at waking me up 5 minutes before my alarm and it doesn’t even matter what time I set it for. If you read our last blog post, you know that hitting the snooze button is actually a very stressful event for you. A clear spike in heart rate stress chemicals was noted due to the use of a snooze button.
Set a routine
Setting a routine for slumber and your daily awakening is crucial for your morning success. We are naturally creatures of habit, its best to try and stick to a specific time that you will get ready for bed as well as a set time to wake up (even on weekends) some people are going to like that, but let’s wake up, smell the coffee, and face the facts. A morning/ nightly routine will be a key factor in your success or downfall of waking up energized.
Drink water when you wake up
This one is pretty straight forward. Have a big glass of water as soon as you wake up, yes before your first cup of coffee or tea. After all our bodies are close to 60% water and this is the fuel to your engine. Think of it this way, you wouldn’t be able to start your car in the morning if it had an empty tank. So, treat your body well and give it what it needs upon waking up. It’s suggested that as an adult we should be drinking 2-3L or water, daily. I know many of you reading this aren’t close to hitting that number, so give it a go and start drinking early in the day.
Exercise/ Cardio when you wake up
If you find getting a good workout challenging, try doing it first thing when you wake up. I like starting my day with the hardest task to get it out of the way. But then again, I love working out, it’s a staple in my daily routine. I’ll typically do cardio in the morning to beat the heat and then hit the weights in the evening. This works best for me, but everyone has their own struggles and commitments to work around. Moreover, if you get a solid workout in first thing in the morning, not only will you reap the mental benefits of already burning endorphins, but you’ll actually burn more calories throughout the day.
Eat a whole food, high protein diet
It’s no secret that both nutrition and sleep play a fundamental role in our health, but the complex and important relationships between them are frequently overlooked.
Diet and nutrition can influence the quality of your sleep, and certain foods and drinks can make it easier or harder to get the sleep that you need. At the same time, getting enough sleep is associated with maintaining a healthier body weight and can be beneficial for people who are trying to lose weight.
Recognizing the connections between sleep and nutrition creates opportunities to optimize start sleeping better and live a healthier life. *
I’m a big fan of carb cycling and focusing on high protein, high fat foods. If this sounds foreign to you, a good rule of thumb is eat lean meats, leafy greens, good fats, and if the label has hardly any ingredients, you know you’re in the money. I would also add, that if you’re grocery shopping, stay away from the middle isles and stick to the outer areas of the store.
Sweet Dreamzzz
Sleep Better. Live Better.
