Your Morning Routine Is Quietly Destroying You.
Stop cheating your sleep and killing your productivity. Learn why the snooze button makes you tired and how simple morning habits can transform your energy and your life.
Our day begins with the morning, that is, assuming you wake up before noon. A significant number of people wake up after 10 in the morning, and if you are one of them, then recall how the remaining day felt. Was it productive? Was it energetic? Was it enthusiastic? If not, then there are reasons behind it, not only physical but also mental
We’ve all woken up on some day just to hit the snooze button and go back to sleep again. This isn’t a unique behaviour; it’s a commonly found psychology-bound conditioning that secretly makes your mind lazy and lethargic.
Snoozing the first alarm creates a pattern in your brain to treat the first alarm as a warning or caution sign, rather than the actual emergency call to wake up.
The temptation to snooze arises from the desire to sleep more, but when you go back to sleep, you are not able to complete the 90-minute REM sleep period, leading to an unsatisfying and unfulfilling sleep until the next alarm goes off, which pulls you from a deeper sleep stage.
Understanding the sleep cycle :
A typical night’s sleep consists of four to six sleep cycles, with each cycle lasting approximately 90 to 120 minutes. Each cycle is composed of four stages: N1 (light), N2 (deeper), N3 (deep/growth and repair), and REM (dreaming)
With 5-10 minutes of sleep between alarms, your body barely enters any sleep cycle, resulting in grogginess, tiredness, and laziness.
Instead of taking control of the day, you start it with laziness; the entire tone of the day is thus automatically set to be sluggish.
3 Habits to wake up on time:
1. Sleep on time:
Staying fresh and energetic for the entire day isn’t just an effect of waking up early, but also of getting enough sleep. You can wake up early even after sleeping late, but the energy and alertness are of no match to when you have taken sufficient sleep.
Now, what really is the definition of sufficient sleep? For some night owls, this amounts to no more than 4 hours, yet a sleepyhead might be awake for the same duration. Scientific research indicates that eight hours is sufficient for maintaining healthy sleep, but it may vary across age groups of individuals. If you are a teenager, you should undoubtedly get 7+ hours of undisturbed sleep, and if you are in your 20s, then 6 hours is the bare minimum. Sleeping early can be followed by practices like no phone after dinner, journaling, reflecting, meditating and praying.
2. Set an alarm with integrity:
Set an alarm to actually wake up, not to realise you have to wake up or not to sleep again. I mean it when I say “Set an alarm”. Backup alarms are the worst thing you can put yourself into. Set an alarm for 10 minutes before the time you want to wake up at, and if you wake up, you have to decide between the 2 options: either wake up or go to sleep. “I will wake up in a few minutes”, doesn’t work!.
Try not to rely on an alarm in the first place; waking up naturally is the best practice. It stops procrastination and fosters productivity. To wake up naturally, follow the 21-day rule: consistently wake up with or without an alarm at the same time every day for 21 days, provided you have a consistent sleep routine, allowing your brain to set a wake-up impulse in its natural clock which will then magically wake you up everyday automatically without any alarm.
Follow these daily set of principles:
2 hours before sleeping:
Slow down your thoughts and speak less at least an hour before going to bed.
Limit your exposure to screens, as blue light signals to your brain to stay awake.
Avoid eating much and caffeine intake before sleeping.
Prepare for the next day the night before: lay out your clothes, pack your bag, and complete all necessary planning. This reduces resistance to waking up.
Jot down tomorrow’s to-do list or any things to-remember. This relieves anxiety and prevents your mind from thinking a lot while trying to fall asleep.
2 hours after waking up:
Try to remain silent for the first few minutes.
Stretch your body, drink a glass of water.
Don’t touch your phone; go get some sunlight instead.
Don’t get into any argument or conflict, and try to avoid negativity or it will drag you into a never-ending loop of sadness.
Practice meditation, deep breathing, or journaling to start the day calmly.
A powerful morning routine not only purifies your mind but also sets a positive and affirmative tone for the entire day. You start to notice changes in your mental well-being in under 2 days of practice, and with consistency and perseverance, this positivity compounds into enormous strength in the long term.
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