Productivity is something that escapes many people in the morning, and I would be the first to admit to that myself. I’m far from being the easy waker, although I tend to “fall into shape” fast once I get up. For most of us the problem lies in our sleeping schedule, which we are unable to alter, due to family, friends, our jobs and so on. Let me share some tips to enable you to wake up better and start the day quicker, with more energy and positive thoughts.

Measure how much sleep you actually need

This is a tough one and requires some time. From various sources I’ve heard that if you miss some sleep you should not sleep more the next day, but this is totally stupid. If you sleep less than usuall on one day, you’re body will try to get it back later. This means that if you want to determine how much sleep you really need, you need to spend at least a few days sleeping right, but this should be more like a week or so.

The idea is to always go to sleep and wake up at the same time for at least three days. It’s best to go to bed around 21:30 - 22:00, and don’t use an alarm clock to wake up. Repeat this two more times, and on the fourth night, determine the amount you slept, this should be the amount of sleep you need. This method is far from fool-proof, sleep is probably the most varied thing ever and a lot of factors can mix up your results, so if you feel this is not the right amount for you, repeat this for more days if necessary.

Once you have determined your needs, you will have two advantages. Once is you know exactly how much sleep you should be getting, so you can schedule yourself accordingly. Even if this amount is more than you expect, at least you can now be predictible in your sleep. The other advantage presents itself if you have a low sleep need. If you find that you only need 5-6 hours, you won’t be psychologically pressured if you know you’re only getting 5 hours this night. I find that a lot of people slep badly because they know they are only going to get a few hours, which makes them tense, which makes them stay up even more, sleep even less, and the vicious cycle continues.

Wake up at once

I’m not saying this is something I follow to the letter, but the most helpful thing you can do in the mornings is jump out of bed once your alarm goes off. Don’t set your alarm 5 minutes before the actual time you need so you can get an extra few minutes of shuteye. I mean how much do you think 5 minutes really helps? Sure, it feels good, but you’re just running away from the problem. Wake up, start doing stuff, you’ll feel better in notime and you will save some time in the mornings for yourself.

Start an activity instantly

My Mom is one of the worst wakers ever. When she wakes up she’s like a drunk, she can barely speak and so on. When I was small though and I woke her because I had a tummy ache, she woke instantly and was alert in about 2 seconds. There’s a good deal of Motherly instinct there, but you can use the same basic principle for youself.

First of all, you need a child. No, just kidding, but you need to get yourself an activity in the morning. I frequently sit down and start working right out of bed. This doesn’t mean I don’t brush my teeth and eat my breakfest, the activity just helps me to wake up at least 5 times faster.

How many times have you sat down with your coffee, just staring into nothing? This takes away a lot of time, time which most people don’t enjoy, because they’re still quasi-sleeping. Get up and do something, anything to take your mind off the fact that you’re tired.

Get yourself into the shower as fast as possible

A shower is something that will wake everyone who has had a half-proper night’s sleep, so getting in there asap may be your number one priority. I realize this takes some will power when you’re tired, but it will wake you up, you probably need a shower at some point anyway and makes you feel good and fresh.

If you alternate between hot and cold water the effect will be doubled and this will also help your skin to breath a bit, since it exercises your pores. You can also use a refreshing shower gel, or anything like that you have at home, whichever you feel most comfortable with will be the best.

Medical studies have concluded and I myself have seen the effect that working in the morning is better than in the afternoon. Many people say that they like working or studying at night because all is quiet and there’s nothing to distract them. I used to be like that, but then I tried going to bed regularly at 10pm and getting up at 6am. I can safely say that it works and you will feel much better all the time overall. You will get much more done, and you will feel refreshed most of the time.

The reason few people actually convert to this lifestyle is that they miss the key word in the sentence, which is “regularly”. If you are used to a night lifestyle don’t expect to be able to convert in a day or two. It takes at least a week, but you will feel better by day three at least.

There are many benefits, possibly the best is that it allows more flexibility. Sometimes I am up until 3am or 4am (poker party), and I can still get up reasonably early (8-10), but more importantly, I can sleep well at night afterwards. Getting up at 6am is also great because there are similarly few distractions, and you will feel much more alert.

I can’t really link to a study here, but I know that sleeping 7 hours going to bed before midnight is more restull than sleeping the same 7 hours, but going to bed after midnight. This has to do with certain body functions starting at determined times. Also, sunshine is an important factor in life, so the body’s bio-clock is set to beat in time with the natural start of the day.

I’ve always read about how politicians and people who need to get by on little sleep take micro-naps. Well, if I need to sleep, I need to sleep, so a micro sleep is perhaps an option for me for one, maybe two nights.

If you need to use the extra wake time, but need a hour or two of shut-eye, I read about a great way to make sure you wake up. This will most probably only work for people with a minimal every-day caffeine intake, because what you should do is drink a can of coke, or a cup of coffee just before going to bed.

By the time the caffeine releases its waking up goodness you will have slept an hour or so and you will wake up more easily. I won’t guarantee this works every time, but it may make the differenc between the “Oh my God, I can’t lift my eyes” type of waking up and the “I’m really tired” waking up.

As you all know caffeine is also a great productivity booster, but I would advise to only use it when you really do need it. For one thing, your body grows used to it after a while and in large doses it will do more harm than good anyway.