Up until a few months ago, I was a self confessed night owl. I’d never go to bed past 12AM and worked 5 minutes up the road, so I could easily get up at 8:30AM at the latest and still be at work on time.

Gone are those days.. having now moved over an hour away from work due to needed relocation for Phillips job, I now have a 30min walk/10 min bike ride/15 min run followed by a 50 minute train journey. That coupled with the fact that I’ve changed my work hours to start at 8AM instead of 9AM, I’ve now got a very early morning start.

Now given what I just told you about my bedtime.. this hasn’t been easy! So I figured if there was anyone in the same boat, or maybe you just want to get up earlier to fit in a few more things in the morning, I’m gonna give you a few things that I did to help getting up at 5AM in the morning just that bit easier.

Go To Bed Earlier!

It goes without saying that if you want to wake up in the morning not feeling so zombie like.. you need to make sure you’re getting an adequate amount of sleep, at least 7-9 hours. No more staying up late surfing the net or watching that extra episode of your favourite show.. that extra time will do wonders for feeling better and less groggy in the morning! Try to limit the amount of blue light in the evening(from your phones) as it can keep you awake - instead, try reading a book before bed.
I've been trying to get into a habit of reading a book rather than scrolling through social media in the evenings, it's still a work in progress but I am slowly weaning myself off my phone in bed.

Put an alarm at the other side of the room

No more snooze button. I’ll admit.. before this whole commuting malarkey, I would have about 10 alarms set about 5-10 minutes apart and snooze most of them until I had to get out of bed for fear of being late.
Put your alarm on the other side of the room so it forces you to get out of bed to turn it off. I find once I’m up and out of bed, I’m usually OK! I have found that as I've been in a routine for a while now, I'm naturally waking up at my usual time in the morning before my alarms go off.

Get out of bed and move

This kinda follows on from my last point. Don’t dawdle. The more you stay in bed, the more likely you are to want to shut your eyes for another 5 minutes(which subsequently, usually turns into about 30). Don’t sit in bed checking social media or your emails, get up and out of bed straight away.

Drink a glass of cold water

Once you’re out of bed, go grab yourself a cold glass of water! You’re guaranteed to feel instantly refreshed and a glass of water in the morning can have a whole host of benefits including firing up your metabolism, hydrating your body, flushing out toxins and gives your brain some fuel to start the day!

Workout in the morning

Seems like the last thing that people would want to be doing so early in the morning. A workout will increase your metabolism and energy and you’re also more likely to make healthier food choices throughout the day.. It also means you have more free time throughout the day to do other things and frees up your evenings too. 

I find after a day at the office, the last thing thats on my mind when I get home is getting my kit on and doing some exercise. I run commute once of twice during the week to fit in my running and I also work from home on a Friday so I get the chance to fit in my run early. Road cycling has taken a back seat at the moment until it starts getting lighter as its dark in the morning and at night for me atm.

Be consistent

Especially at the start as you get into a proper routine and schedule, try to make sure that you have your alarm set for the same time everyday, including weekends if possible depending on the time you wake. A consistent wake up call will get progressively easier, I promise! And as I mentioned.. I've been waking up consistently at the same time for a few months now and I now wake naturally most mornings.

Just Do It!

Whether you had no choice like me or whether you just want to make the transition to waking early, you just have to do it.. even if it’s difficult at first! It does get easier, I swear.. If you’d asked me a couple of months ago if I could consistently wake at 5AM in the morning, I’d have just laughed.

So these are the main things that I've been doing to go from a night owl to a morning person! Like I said.. it hasn't been easy but it allows me to have a much more chilled out and productive evening.

I'm 100% sure if I of all people can do it, you can too!