For many people, waking up is one of the hardest parts of the day. You’re tired. You’re warm in your comfortable bed. And, you’re so very tempted to just keep pressing the snooze button. Add to this that most people are chronically sleep deprived because most of us aren’t going to bed until the wee hours in the morning and you can have a real situation on your hands.

Luckily, you can transform yourself into a morning person with a few tips and tricks. Try this next time you’re tempted to hit your snooze button.

Open The Blinds

Opening the blinds to allow some natural light in is one of the best things you can do to wake yourself up. Do this immediately upon hearing your alarm and you’ll find your transition to wakefulness a lot easier.

Natural sunlight helps to suppress the melatonin release in the brain, which is, what in part, keeps you sleepy.

Set The Coffee Pot To A Timer

Who doesn’t love the help of caffeine to get up in the morning? A little caffeine can go a long way towards keeping you awake and alert. Make the coffee to start brewing about 10 minutes prior to when you are waking up and you’ll smell its fresh aroma. That will help get you motivated to get out of bed in the morning.

While you definitely should not rely on coffee to get you going since ideally you want to train your body to wake up without the help of stimulants, during the first while, it can definitely help you out.

Get Exercising

Those who exercise first thing in the day tend to wake up earlier on their own — and enjoy mornings. When you are exercising early, you actually can train your body to start increasing its energy level in the morning in preparation for this exercise, which in turn leads to you having an easier time getting up. Especially if you’re one to exercise, having this to look forward to can certainly help.

Now, if you aren’t a morning person and are going to try exercising in the morning for the first time, be prepared to struggle a bit. It can be hard going for a while but once you get in your groove, it will be much easier.

Plus, the extra boost that exercise gives in the morning will stay with you all day so you’ll be energized for hours to come.

Avoid Sleeping In On The Weekends

Finally, make sure that you aren’t sleeping in too long on the weekends. Many people make the mistake of waking up early during the week but then allowing themselves to sleep until nine or ten on the weekends. If you do this, your body gets out of its rhythm and this will lead to you struggling come Monday morning.

So there you have a few of the best tips to remember to keep yourself getting up early and not feeling like you’d pay a million dollars just to hit the snooze button … one … more … time. Stay persistent and soon, you’ll be singing with the birds.

_{[Image via Shutterstock]}