As the school year comes to a close, we are faced with more homework and a lost hour of sleep. A lot of the reason we feel so tired in the morning is not because we had only a few hours of sleep, but because of the way that we wake up. Many times we feel groggy due to our morning routine. Here are ways to wake up faster, and better:

• Do NOT hit the snooze button. Those three extra minutes of sleep will get your system all out of whack and actually make you feel more tired than you would if you woke up at the alarm.
• Sit up right when you wake up. This will make it hard to fall back asleep and it gets the blood circulating in your body.
• Stretch when you get out of bed. Stretching will loosen up your muscles, get blood flowing and wake you up.
• Do some pushups or jumping jacks. There is no better way to feel awake than working out and increasing your heart rate!
• Listen to music that makes you happy. Singing along make you happy while it simultaneously wakes you up. Not to mention it could lead to an epic dance party!
• Drink water. One reason that we are tired in the morning is because our brain is dehydrated, so when we drink water our brain gets what it needs and functions faster.
• Take a shower if it wakes you up. However, if taking a warm shower makes you want to curl up in bed for hours, I suggest you don’t take a shower as a way to wake you.
• Eat a healthy, protein filled breakfast. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and an excellent time to fuel your body!

No matter how well we wake up, if we don’t get enough sleep, we will inevitably be tired. Sleep needs to be a priority in everyone’s life especially now as our bodies are still growing and developing!

Getting enough sleep is extraordinarily beneficial, but we generally do not feel its effects as we try and get those extra minutes which make us groggy. The early morning determines how you will view the day; make sure that you start each morning off in a happy, positive way that allows you to get the most out of your day.