If you’ve ever wanted to go right back to sleep once you’ve gotten up in the morning, you’ve felt sleep inertia. The best way to avoid sleep inertia is to get a good night’s sleep. But, getting the amount of sleep we need each night isn’t always possible. According to Dr. Brandon Peters, the amount of sleep you need may vary from what others need, but there are ways to wake yourself up in the morning.
The most popular way to wake up is to drink a caffeinated beverage. Coffee, tea, hot chocolate and soda pop contain caffeine and can provide the fix you need. Of course, caffeine can have short-term affects and can even cause insomnia, which could put you on a viscous cycle of dependence, so be careful with the amount of caffeine you drink throughout the day.
Another way to wake up in the morning is to use an alarm clock. This seems like common sense, but Dr. Peters actually recommends allowing yourself to wake up on your own. That’s not feasible for anyone with a job to get to each morning, right? Using an alarm clock will wake you from even the deepest stages of sleep…well, maybe two alarms.
Open the shades. You always see this in movies. The fact is that morning light actually helps our biological clocks adjust to the natural process timed on a 24-hour cycle. We naturally wake up when the sun comes up if we can enjoy daylight.
You could also take a prescription stimulant medication. But that might not be necessary unless you have excessive daytime sleepiness. And, if you are so sleepy during the day that it is debilitating, you might suffer from a sleep disorder and it might be time to see a doctor.
Dr. Peters suggests some safer wake-up options such as 1) maintaining a regular sleep schedule, 2) getting daily exercise to keep yourself alert during the day and to sleep better at night, and 3) eating a good breakfast.
Yep, mom was right. Breakfast is an essential meal to rev you up!
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