How to Become a Morning Person

There are more than enough obnoxious clichés that tout the benefits of waking up early, but does the early bird really get the worm? Sorry night owls, various studies indicate they actually do. And if you’re not motivated by worms (because who is?), there are some more compelling benefits like getting better grades and being positioned for better success in your career.

You may not be thrilled about waking up in the mornings, but diligently working on changing your sleep habits can pay off. Try these tricks if you want to change your sleep patterns.

Say goodnight to your phone early

If you want to wake up earlier and get enough sleep, you need to go to bed earlier. One way to make that happen is to limit screen time. The blue light from screens—particularly your phone—is too stimulating to use right before bed. Try putting it away an hour before bedtime to signal to your brain that it’s time to wind down.

Work into it step-by-step

You don’t have to suddenly decide you’re going to be a 5:00 a.m. person. If you currently wake up at 8:00, try setting your alarm clock back 15 minutes for a week. Then the following week, set it back another 15. Eventually you’ll work your way to 5:00 a.m.

Wake up at the same time every morning

Once you know what time you want to wake up, stick with it. Your body can adapt much easier if it’s not constantly bouncing around with your wake-up time.

Related: 6 Things to Do in the Morning to Have a Successful Day

Use an app that wakes you up right

Rapid Eye Movement, or REM, is the deepest part of your sleep and it lasts about 70 to 90 minutes. It makes a difference whether you wake up at the beginning of a REM cycle rather than right in the middle of it. There are apps (like Sleep Cycle, Calm, Sleep Better, etc.) you can download that can wake you up at the beginning of it. This will help you wake up less groggy.

Make time for Mother Nature

Light, particularly natural light, wakes up your body. The sooner you can go out into natural light in the morning, the more Mother Nature can help you. But even if it’s not in the morning, getting outside during the day will help you sleep better at night.

Exercise in the mornings

There’s almost nothing worse than waking up when you don’t want to, except waking up to exercise when you really don't want to. But it does wonders for jump starting your body into the day and releasing those endorphins early on.

Make a no-snooze policy

When it comes to training yourself to be a morning person, you just have to do it. This means setting proper boundaries with your snooze button. Forbidding yourself the snooze button will force you to get out of bed immediately.

Overall, decide why you want to become a morning person. Trying to be more productive? Getting into a healthier workout plan? Remember the benefits you’re trying to earn from it and use that as your motivation when the alarm goes off much too early. Here’s to a brand-new day.

Related: 6 Things to Do in the Morning to Have a Successful Day