A&E
Early to Bed, Early Students have trouble getting to sleep and then staying awake throughout the day due to many factors. Don’t sleep on these quality tips. WRITTEN AND DESIGNED BY KENNEDY WADE, REPORTER
Hydrate or Diedrate
After waking up, chances are that you’re going to be dehydrated. Being dehydrated can add to your feeling of tiredness, as well as leaving you feeling lethargic for the day. Drinking a glass of water after waking up with breakfast or grabbing a bottle of water on your way to school can increase your alertness energy, with the bonus of being good for your body and brain. Continue drinking water throughout the day to keep your energy levels up. A splash of cold water on the face will also help perk you up in the morning, with the added bonus of being good for your skin.
You Snooze, You Lose
Silencing your alarm for an extra few minutes of sleep is tempting, but it’s not going to make you feel more rested. Your body needs time to wake up in the morning, and going back to sleep will make this process take longer. Your internal clock gets more and more confused each time the alarm goes off, because it doesn’t know if you should be awake or not. The tired and foggy feeling that comes with dipping in and out of sleep in the morning is called sleep inertia, and it can last for hours, leaving you feeling out of it all day. When your alarm goes off, the best thing you can do is get up and move around, allowing yourself to fully wake up and shake off that last bit of grogginess. Ignoring your alarm can also leave you feeling tired later into the night, making it harder to go asleep each night.
AM Drink Caffeine an Hour after You Awake Energizing Drinks
Caribou Coffee’s “Sea Salt Caramel” iced coffee $3.09 at Target
Tazo Chai’s “Classic Latte” chai tea $3.29 at Target
26 LE JOURNAL
Grabbing a coffee first thing in the morning is a habit in which 64 percent of Americans partake, according to Reuters. But it’s a habit we should break. Drinking caffeine early in the morning interferes with your body’s cortisol production, a hormone that helps you feel awake. In the morning, your body already has high levels of cortisol, which caffeine interferes with. This can lead to your body becoming dependent on caffeine in the morning as it begins to make less and less cortisol. The more caffeine you drink, the higher your tolerance to it becomes, which makes you need more to feel awake. The best time of day to have a coffee? About an hour after you wake up, when cortisol levels naturally decrease.
Let’s Get Physical
Right after you wake up, drag yourself out of bed and start stretching. Moving around will let your body know that it’s time to be awake, and once you get up you begin to feel more and more awake. The stretching will also help oxygen flow throughout your body, which will increase alertness. Exercising in the morning can help improve your metabolism throughout the day, as well as increase your mental energy and get rid of the brain fog you feel when you get up in the morning. Head rolls, downward dog, and the cat-cow position are said to be especially helpful, and are a quick, easy exercise that takes less than five minutes.
Eat a Full Breakfast
Even if you’re not hungry, you should still eat a full breakfast in the morning - there’s a reason why it’s called the most important meal of the day. Your body needs food for energy, and forgoing your morning meal will leave you feeling tired throughout the entire day. A quick breakfast, even if it’s on the go, will greatly boost your energy during the day. A balanced, healthy breakfast is especially helpful. Protein is the most important energy source, so eggs, nuts, or even a protein shake are great fuel for the rest of the day. Getting into the habit of eating a healthy breakfast will help you stay awake for the rest of the day. (Illustrations and Photos by Kennedy Wade)
