There’s a lot of preference involved in choosing a morning routine: some like to sacrifice an extra hour of sleep in favour of more time to eat, prepare, plan, or even relax in the morning. Others opt to shower at night rather than in the morning, and some plan a big breakfast while others skip it altogether.
A lot of your morning routine is forged on what you respond best to. But there are a few non-negotiables. Here are 4 mistakes that are common-place to morning routines.
1. Snoozing
Setting multiple alarms or snoozing for extra sleep should never be commonplace in your morning routine, and here’s why: snoozing your alarm does not help you wake up or help you to feel more rested, because your body isn’t entering into REM sleep, and doesn’t need more than one alarm to wake up.
REM sleep (the deep phase of sleep that is responsible for dreaming) will only happen at a certain point in your sleep cycle. Experts say that it takes about 90 minutes for a full sleep cycle. So, when you’re snoozing your alarm every five minutes, you may feel like you’re getting more sleep, but you’re actually forcing your body to start, disrupt, and restart sleep cycles every 5 minutes. You aren’t giving your body any actual quality sleep, and so you won’t feel more rested.
To maximize your sleep, you have two options. Either set your alarm for the latest possible time, and enjoy your REM sleep till then, or, set it 90 minutes before your intended wake-up time. You’ll wake up to the first alarm and snooze for 90 minutes, which will allow your body to enter into a full sleep cycle, and give you a bit more rest.
2. Not Stretching
Your body is completely relaxed during the night, and that feeling is hard to shake when you wake up. Stretching and moving can help stimulate your brain, giving you a rush of endorphins that help to wake you up further. You don’t need a full workout to access this, you just need to stretch a bit. By not stretching, your body has a harder time getting out of the relaxed state it spent the night in.
3. Not Hydrating
If your body is an engine, water is like the oil needed for it to run smoothly. One of the first things you should do in the morning is to drink some water. The coldness will help you to wake up and the hydration will kick-start your body and help you to feel less groggy.
