Start Your Day Better with These Game Changers!

I had been developing a terrible sleeping habit since my late high school period. Because of the school tasks piling up day by day, I started to sleep late at night and was forced to wake up at five every work day. It was a repeated pattern, and I got nothing out of it other than making myself listless and weary. 

I felt no difference between sleeping for ten hours and five hours; neither made me less tired. I always woke up with fatigue, and my day proceeded to be unproductive. Well, I can say that I’m a night thinker. I can create and manifest ideas better at night; that’s why I do most of my tasks and work at night.

However, I realized that no matter how ‘effective’ and comfy that ritual is, the biological body clock won’t let me keep making that unhealthy habit. Because our body has its own time settings, it’s better to do our activities at day and noon, and nighttime is indeed the best time to sleep.

Therefore, I insisted on changing my habit: I have to wake up early. But, again, I realized that I’m really not a morning person and waking up early is a disaster! Ugh. I was not gonna give up that easy, though, so I searched and tried some ways to start my *cough* productive day.

So here are the game changer rules to begin a brand new productive day!

• No phone! 

We are SO attached to our phones that we can barely sit still without holding them in our hands. But to wake up better, you have to stop this unhealthy habit. Your eyes need adjustment to see your surroundings, so look at the sunlight or lamplight. Don’t surprise them with the damned blue light brightness of your phone screen. 

When you wake up, open your eyes and do nothing. Watch your ceilings. Watch the sight out of your window. Keep at it for at least 30 minutes. It will give some time to your eyes to prepare for the day!

I have been trying to do this about 30 minutes before and after sleeping. Leaving your phone before bed increases your sleep quality. You can use the time before sleeping to evaluate what you’ve been through on that day, what good deed have you done, and use the silence after waking up to plan your day ahead.

• Do some stretching

It’s a must! Your body ‘dies’ temporarily during sleep, and the fact that it doesn’t move for hours could make your body stiff. Stretching after you wake up can loosen your joints and muscles. It doesn’t have to be a heavy workout; just twist your body and limbs. It’ll give you a satisfying feeling.

I sometimes experience back pain or neck pain because of the uncomfortable sleeping position, and I have to take a salonpas the whole day, huff. But now I can reduce the pain by doing stretching! 

• Take a deep breath

Yes, you breathe, but do you take a deep breath? Taking a deep breath can release your emotions from the previous night because you might have had a nightmare or fallen asleep with mixed feelings. It might sound so easy to do, but the real thing is not only about breathing, but about letting go of your emotions. Starting your day with a heavy heart will obstruct your activity throughout the day. So, breathe.

I’ve experienced a lot from this. There were times where I cried myself to sleep, and the sadness stayed until the next day, but I went ahead and got a big day! It was hard, I admit, to let go of the emotions, but sometimes new days mean we have to leave all that had happened behind. 

• Drink a full glass of water!

You are fasting while you are sleeping, but your body’s metabolism is still working. Drinking water after waking up can flush the acid or toxins in our organs. It cleanses your digestive organs as well as helping to produce new blood cells.

Most important of all: it rehydrates your body and helps to deliver oxygen to your brain. Make it a habit to put a bottle or a glass of water beside you so you can drink right away after waking up. 

• Don’t sleep too late

THIS is the crucial point of the game-changer. You won’t succeed if you miss this point. Sleeping too late will only make you tired in the morning. Therefore, you won’t be likely to do all the aforementioned things. If you keep the habit of sleeping late and waking up early, it will put stress on the body because that’s not how it is supposed to work!

It will affect your mental state. The stress might lead you to make unhealthy decisions. If you don’t have a fair amount of sleep, you’ll be too tired to do your work throughout the day. You’ll procrastinate a lot, leaving your work unfinished, messing up your schedule. Ugh, that sounds depressing, right? So, to succeed in the things I’ve mentioned above, you have to fix your sleeping habit first. 

Well, you might have heard about those things a lot, and though they sound easy to do, in reality, it is so hard to change a habit. But for the sake of productivity, I strongly advise you all to develop a new and healthier habit. It has a long term impact that you won’t regret!