Do These 6 Things To Wake Up Feeling More Refreshed

The first step to feeling awake is no doubt getting enough hours of sleep, but if your sleep quality is poor, you’re bound to feel fatigued and foggy the following day.

Just as we choose to incorporate healthy habits into our day, we should do the same for the nighttime and morning to ensure we wake up feeling energized and ready to conquer what’s ahead.

If you feel tired in the morning, you’re not alone. Only one in 7 Americans wake up feeling refreshed, according to a study by YouGov. But feeling well-rested is important, as it can affect your mood, your stress levels and even what you crave to eat.

If you want to wake up feeling more refreshed, try these helpful tips to help you feel great in the morning.

Before Bed:

1. Turn Off Electronics

Many of us spend that precious time before bed playing around or browsing Netflix, but all this electronic-use negatively impacts your sleep quality.

A study from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that using electronics before bed reduces levels of melatonin, our body’s sleep-inducing hormones.

In addition, those who used electronics before bed took longer to fall asleep, experienced less deep, REM sleep, and reported feeling sleepier and less alert the following morning.

2. Avoid Caffeine Too Late In The Day

Sure, you may have had your latte at 3pm, but caffeine can still affect your sleep hours later. A study from the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine found that caffeine consumption even three to six hours before bed can impact your quality of sleep.

Drinking caffeine can affect how long it takes you to fall asleep, the quality of your sleep and total number of hours rested.

3. Keep The Temperature Down

Your body loves the cold when it comes to sleep. Temperatures between 60 to 67 degrees are ideal, as our body’s natural temperatures drop in the evening, and helping them get there can induce sleep.

One study from the journal Brain found that by manipulating skin temperature, they were able to cause fewer wake-ups and more slow-wave, or deep sleep in participants.

In The Morning:

4. Don’t Snooze

It’s so tempting in the morning to continue to hit the snooze button, but doing so can leave you feeling worse off than when you first woke up.

Once you fall back asleep, you drift off into the beginning of a sleep cycle, and when you’re woken up not long later, you’re usually in an earlier, deeper part of sleep and waking up during this part of your sleep cycle leaves you feeling groggy.

5. Open The Blinds

Just as you should sleep in darkness at night, you should expose yourself to light in the morning. Light is a biological sign that signifies to your body that it’s time to wake up, which can regulate your energy levels.

One study from Northwestern University even found that exposing yourself to 20 to 30 minutes of light in the morning can boost your energy use and even lead to a lower BMI.

6. Drink Some Water

Instead of reaching right for the coffee, begin your morning with a glass of water. Even mild dehydration can cause problems concentrating and fatigue, and after many hours of not drinking, you need to hydrate.