12 psychological strategies to get up early

Is it hard for you to get up early in the morning? Have you tried everything and nothing works for you? Do not despair, In this article we bring you 12 psychological strategies to get up early.

As you know, a good measure to get up early is to have slept well. For this we must apply a series of sleep hygiene strategies. We explain what these are and some more strategies to get up early.

• Recommended article: "12 Ways to Fight Insomnia Effectively"

12 psychological strategies to get up early

The psychological strategies to get up early that we bring you include measures in relation to the environment, our body, stimuli, routines ...

These strategies encompass different aspects that we can control and modulate so that we do not have difficulties when it comes to waking up early. It is important that you try to apply them every day so that your body gets used to a series of routines and associates them with sleeping early and getting up early. Namely, This is also trained!

Let's see what these strategies consist of below.

1. Maintain good sleep hygiene

The first of the psychological strategies to get up early includes a series of measures, typical of sleep hygiene. Since, the most important thing if we want to get up early is to sleep well and rest properly.

And what is sleep hygiene? It consists of all those measures and strategies that help us achieve quality sleep, through which we rest properly. It involves taking care of our sleep, and for this, taking care of our environment at bedtime.

Thus, we consider this point the primary point to address if we want to get up early, since by sleeping well, we will rest well and get up with less difficulty. Some of the measures encompassed within sleep hygiene, which can also be psychological strategies to get up early, are:

1.1. Avoid caffeine

The first measure involves avoiding caffeine before going to sleep (the ideal is not to drink caffeine after 7:00 p.m.). While it is true that there are people who take caffeine and they can sleep so calmly, if we stop consuming it in the afternoon we will reduce the risk of possible insomnia. This will make us sleep better.

1.2. Maintain an ideal temperature

The environment is very important when it comes to getting a good rest. Among the environmental factors we find the temperature; This must be adequate, since to sleep well we must not go cold or hot.

1.3. Go to sleep at the same time

Ideally, we have time guidelines when going to sleep; It does not have to be the same time each day (although that would be ideal), but simply go to sleep in the same time range (for example, between 10:30 p.m. and 11 p.m.).

1.4. Don't do a stimulating activity before bed

If we do sports just before going to sleep, or some other stimulating activity, it is very likely that it will be difficult for us to sleep when we get into bed, since we will be over-activated.

Many think that if they do sports they will get more tired and that will make it easier to sleep; However, this is not entirely the case, and it depends a lot on the time the sport is played (if it is the hour before bedtime, a bad sign), the person and the type of sport. So let's watch with it if we want to sleep satisfactorily (and as a consequence, we have to get up early).

However, it should be mentioned that doing physical activity during the day will help you rest better, since your body will "get tired" and you will fall asleep when you see the bed.

1.5. Establish a routine

The next of the psychological strategies for getting up early, within sleep hygiene, is to establish a sleep routine. This involves taking a series of steps the hours (or minutes) before going to bed: for For example, having dinner, listening to relaxing music, having a glass of milk, turning off the lights, going into the bed, etc.

If we also carry out these actions at the same approximate time each day, our brain will associate these patterns with bedtime and this will facilitate sleep.

1.6. Just use the bed to sleep

It is essential that our brain associates our bed, automatically, with sleep. It is a classical conditioning process (the association of stimuli and responses).

This can be trained, and it's as easy as doing nothing else in bed than sleeping (or having sex). This includes not eating on it, not watching series, etc.

1.7. Take care of your dinner

Another of the psychological strategies to get up early that we propose is to have dinner two hours before going to sleep, little and light. Large dinners will not let you rest well (they will make it difficult for you to have a good night's sleep); In addition, you must give yourself that two-hour window for your body to digest.

2. Calculate the hours you will sleep

Another psychological strategy to get up early is to sleep enough hours (about eight). Resting well, as we said, will increase the probability that we wake up more easily and earlier.

If we go to sleep at 10 p.m., for example, and we have to get up early, at 6 a.m., we will have slept 8 hours, which is ideal. In short: go to sleep early if you must / want to get up early.

3. Set the alarm clock away

If we are one of those people who find it difficult to get up, and especially to do it early, a good strategy is, the night before, place the alarm clock well away from where we sleep (not on the bedside table, for example).

The fact of having to get up in the morning to turn it off, yes or yes, will make us at least make that effort and “clear” ourselves minimally.

4. Play music when you wake up

We have talked a lot about measures to sleep well, and, as a consequence, get up more easily. But, and when do we wake up? Another psychological strategy to get up early is to play motivating music (and a little loud) right when waking up.

It has to be music that we like, marchosa, and that "invites" us to get out of bed. If we activate our body and our energy, it will be easier to get out of bed.

5. Try some app to sleep

It is a reality that today there are practically mobile applications for everything. The same happens in the field of rest, so another tip that we give you to get up early is to use an app that helps you get up early.

Some of them are: "I can't wake up!", "Drive me awake" or "Wake up or die". How do these apps work? Some of them, for example, require you to complete a series of activities to turn off the alarm (for example, perform a numerical operation).

Bibliographic references

• Sleep guide. Sleep hygiene guidelines guide. (2016). Neurology Service - Hospital Sanitas La Moraleja, 1-4.

• Clinical Practice Guide (CPG) on Insomnia in Primary Care, prepared within the framework of the Quality Plan for the National Health System of the Ministry of Health and Social Policy. (2009). Clinical Practice Guidelines in the SNS: UETS Nº 2007 / 5-1.

• Morales, E.M., Cano, M.C. and Buela, G. (2005). Sleep and quality of life. Colombian Journal of Psychology, 14 (1): 11-27.