How to Become a Morning Person: 14 Tips to Change Your Routine
Key takeaways:
To become a morning person, gradually adjust your bedtime and wake-up time earlier over a few weeks. This will slowly help reset your internal clock.
Create a bedtime routine by avoiding screens, limiting caffeine, and not eating heavy meals before bed.
Being a morning person may have many benefits, including better mental health, increased productivity, and healthier habits.
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Perhaps you’ve thought about becoming a morning person. After all, tapping into the energy and productivity that morning people appear to have in the early part of the day can be appealing.
Even though your natural sleep preferences — known as your chronotype — affect when you’re naturally alert, you can train yourself to become an early riser. But it will require some adjustments and commitment.
How do I train myself to be a morning person?
Whether you call yourself a night owl, evening person, or late riser, these tips can help you reset your internal clock for a brighter and earlier start to your day.
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1. Determine your new wake-up time
This is an important first step to becoming a morning person. Be realistic about what time you can wake up, then plan to go to bed early enough to get sufficient sleep.
Start with small, achievable targets, like waking up 10 to 15 minutes earlier. Then, gradually adjust your schedule every week until you reach your goal.
To do this, set your alarm. Let’s say you usually wake up at 9AM and want to change your rising time to 7AM. The first week, set your alarm for 8:45AM daily, waking up 15 minutes earlier than usual.
Aim for 8:30AM for the second week, then 8:15AM for the third week, and so on.
Remember to also adjust your bedtime by going to sleep at least 15 minutes earlier each week. This gradual approach makes it easier for your body to adapt to your new schedule.
2. Create a bedtime routine
Start by limiting evening screen time. The bright light from televisions, phones, and computers delays the release of melatonin — the sleep hormone — and overstimulates your brain. Using these devices close to your bedtime makes it harder to fall asleep. Avoid screens 1 to 2 hours before bedtime.
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Consider implementing good sleep hygiene and maintaining a consistent sleep schedule. Be disciplined about your evening routine and prioritize winding down before bed, even if you must sacrifice some leisure activities. Adequate sleep is necessary to feel awake in the morning.
3. Drink caffeine at the right time
Be smart about when and how much caffeine you drink. Caffeine takes a while to leave your body. So having coffee, energy drinks, or chocolate in the late afternoon or evening may make it harder to fall asleep. Try to avoid caffeine at least 6 hours before you plan to go to sleep.
4. Avoid large meals before bed
When it comes to getting a good night's sleep, what you eat matters. Eating a heavy dinner or snacking right before bed can make it harder to fall asleep and stay asleep. It can cause discomfort and indigestion, which can disrupt your sleep.
Plan to have dinner at least 2 to 3 hours before bed to ensure your body has enough time to digest the food. Consider including melatonin-rich foods in your mid-afternoon or early evening meal for better sleep.
5. Steer clear of alcohol before bed
Contrary to popular belief, drinking alcoholic drinks right before bedtime isn’t helpful for sleep. While alcohol might initially make you sleepy, it can lead to poor sleep quality.
Alcohol can cause you to wake up more often at night, so it's best to avoid alcohol before your planned bedtime.
6. Stay away from the snooze button
It may be tempting to snooze for a few more minutes of sleep when your alarm rings. But hitting snooze interrupts your sleep and may make you feel more tired and sluggish. That's because using the snooze button can make waking up more difficult than rising the first time the alarm rings.
Even though you sleep more minutes overall when you hit the snooze, the sleep isn't high quality. Try to get up when your alarm first goes off. If you struggle with snoozing, put your alarm across the room. That way, you have to get up out of bed to turn it off. This helps break the habit of hitting the snooze button several times.
7. Give yourself enough time to wake up in the morning
Don't expect to go from fast asleep to wide awake instantly. Give yourself about 15 minutes after your alarm goes off to allow your body and mind time to transition slowly into the day.
After your alarm goes off, sit on the side of the bed and use this time to stretch, scroll through your phone, or meditate. Taking things slowly helps you feel ready to start the day rather than jarring yourself abruptly awake. You may want to set your alarm a little earlier to give yourself time to wake up properly.
8. Get plenty of bright light
Being exposed to sunlight or bright light as soon as you wake up helps synchronize your body’s internal clock. This clock uses cues from the sun to tell your brain to stop producing melatonin.
Melatonin makes you sleepy when the sun goes down. So, getting natural or bright light first thing in the morning helps you fall asleep easier at night. Open blinds, go outside, or use a sunlight lamp in the morning to help you feel more alert.
9. Plan an enjoyable morning routine
Look forward to starting your day by doing activities you enjoy, such as:
Making coffee
Reading the newspaper
Exercising
Listening to music
Having something pleasant to motivate you makes waking up easier.
10. Move your body
Even a 10-minute daily walk is linked to improved sleep quality. More energetic exercises like running or weightlifting provide the most benefits for restful sleep. But any type of exercise in the mornings or afternoons can be helpful.
Working out late in the evenings can be too energizing and may make it harder to wind down before bed. So schedule your workouts earlier in the day and relax later on. Being active regularly pays off with more restorative sleep at night.
11. Eat a nutritious breakfast
A healthy breakfast with protein and complex carbohydrates is important for feeling alert and energetic in the morning. For example, eggs, oatmeal, and whole grains can fuel your body and brain to start the day off right.
Complex carbohydrates provide steady energy that is released more slowly into your bloodstream. Eating first thing in the morning also stops your body from releasing hunger hormones that make you tired and sluggish.
12. Limit naps
It's a good idea to avoid taking frequent naps, especially during the later part of the day. They can interfere with your nighttime sleep.
If you need a nap, keep it short — around 15 to 30 minutes. And try to schedule it earlier in the day. This way, you won't disrupt your regular nighttime sleep patterns.
13. Be patient
It takes time to change habits that have developed over the years. Stick with your morning routine daily, even on tough days when you'd rather sleep more. Over time, waking up early will get easier.
14. Reward your progress
As you work to become a morning person, celebrate small wins along the way. Notice when you wake up 5 or 10 minutes earlier than usual or follow your evening bedtime routine.
Reward yourself for reaching those mini-goals. Writing down the positive changes you see can also keep you motivated. Pay attention to how you feel, your productivity, and your mood when you get enough sleep and get up early. Seeing your progress will remind you that the changes are worthwhile and you should keep going.
Benefits of being a morning person
The benefits of being an early riser go far beyond feeling cheerful in the morning. Research suggests that being a morning person may be associated with better mental health. However, further studies are needed to fully understand this link.
Scientists looked at whether a person’s sleep preferences — like being an early bird or a night owl — affected their health. They found that evening people were more likely to have health issues like high blood pressure and depression, and unhealthy habits like smoking and drinking.
Yet some people are night owls due to their body’s natural sleep preferences (chronotype). A small study showed that morning and evening people used different parts of their brains based on the time of day and task difficulty.
Evening people may use more of their thalamus — a part of the brain that helps with focus and attention — when doing complex memory tests in the evening. Morning people use more of the frontal cortex part of their brain to help with thinking and memory in the morning. So, if you're a night owl, you can still thrive in your own way.
Can anyone become a morning person?
Adjusting your sleep schedule to become a morning person is possible for just about anyone. For example, evening people in one study successfully shifted their bedtime and wake-up time to about 2 hours earlier by adopting new habits. While some people will always prefer evenings, most can adapt to waking up earlier by making gradual adjustments.
But not everyone can completely change their natural inclination to be a night owl or a morning person because our circadian rhythms are influenced by genetics. And remember that it takes time to change long-term habits.
Is it OK to be a night person instead of a morning person?
Yes, being a night person instead of a morning person is OK. Everyone's body clock is different. Some people naturally feel more awake and active in the evenings, while others are at their best in the mornings. And depending on your job and lifestyle, you may need to be awake longer into the night.
The most important thing is to find a sleep schedule that works best for you and get enough quality sleep, regardless of whether you're a night owl or a morning lark.
The bottom line
Becoming a morning person takes time and effort, but it’s possible. Making small changes over weeks, like adjusting your bedtime earlier, getting more light in the morning, and practicing good sleep hygiene, can help you shift your schedule.
While waking up early offers many benefits, you don’t have to be an early riser to be successful. Whether you prefer staying up late or waking up early, find a routine that works for you and prioritize getting enough quality sleep.
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References
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