How to wake up and stay alert, and focused ready for work!

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Are you having problems with staying alert in the morning? Is the coffee not enough? Do you need something else? Well, there are things that you can do to stay alert and awake in the morning and throughout the day. It is a well known fact that those people who are well rested are most productive and the people who are tired and not alert tend to get less done. And the less work you do the greater your chances are to see the unemployment line. That it is why it is important to stay alert at all times and make sure that your head is clear and your mind is working in the morning so that you can give your best every single day, whether you are at work or at home.

If you are one of those people that is constantly tired in the morning and cannot get your motor running before midday, there are things that you can do to make yourself more alert and awake in the morning, which will make you a better worker and a greater asset to your boss.

A lot of people tend to hit the snooze button constantly and roll around in bed, not wanting to get up. It’s not good to hide away in the blankets and delay the start of your day. When you are awake but do not get out of bed, you are not getting any more rest, it is actually making you more tired in the long run. So, don’t do that. As soon as you hear your alarm clock go off, get out of bed immediately. Throw the blankets off and put your slippers on right away, don’t hesitate, don’t hit the snooze button get your day started immediately. If you can’t do it right away, if it is just too hard, then in the worst-case scenario make sure you at least get up within the first five minutes after your alarm sounds.

There is another pretty weird method that you can use, but it works. Get out of bed right away, turn on the lights or let the sun come into your bed room, and then go back to bed for another five minutes. You are doing this so that your transition into the daylight will be easier. If you are in a dark room it will be much harder to get up and start your day. When you see light and you are being subject to light, then it will be easier to get up and you will be more inclined to start your day.

A lot of people will shower before bed so that they will have more time to sleep, but in actually, it will help you get alert and awake if you shower in the morning. You will be especially alert if you take a cold shower. Cold showers definitely are not the most comfortable thing, but they really work. A cold shower will give a nice kick-start to all of your senses and you will immediately be very alert, no matter how early in the morning it is.

Once you’ve taken the cold shower and are ready to go, you need to make the most of your morning. It is a proven fact that people are most productive in the morning. Don’t lounge around the house or sit around all morning drinking coffee. Get to work right away. If you are immediately engaging your mind in the morning it will be more alert and you will feel like your head is clear and you are capable of doing anything. It is also good to get up a little earlier and make some time in the morning for exercise. It does not have to be strenuous. You can do some light jogging, some stretching and yoga, who can hit some golf balls or take a walk to the store. It’s important to get your body moving and your blood flowing in the morning in order to have a successful and productive day. So no matter what you do in the morning, make sure you are active both with your body and your mind from the get-go. Even if you don’t have time for a full-blown workout in the morning, at least do some light stretching for 10 to 15 minutes or some jumping jacks. Whatever you choose to do, just make sure to get your body up and moving and your blood circulating, because it’s going to make a big difference for you in the long run as the day goes on.

What you eat is also very important. Remember, breakfast should not be skipped, and breakfast is not two cigarettes and a cup of coffee, you need to actually eat some food, preferably healthy food.

Cereal and fruit is a good breakfast, juice, milk and coffee can go alongside breakfast as well. It you are in a hurry, it an energy bar or a granola bar on the run. Generally, a nice combination of fruits, vegetables and grains will give you the energy you will need to not fall a sleep at your desk in the morning. Do not eat a very heavy breakfast. Stay away from the bacon, stay away from the pork rolls. Do not eat chocolate muffins or cookies for breakfast, and definitely try avoid things like pancakes with butter and toast. They will only weight you down. These are good breakfasts, but they are more for the weekend when you do not have to be alert in the morning right off the bat. Skipping breakfast, or any meal for that matter, will throw your metabolism out of balance, which will cause you to lose energy. Your blood sugar will be low in the morning as well, which will have an impact on your energy levels as well.

One thing that must be mentioned is that it is absolutely imperative to get a good amount of sleep. No matter what you do in the morning, if you have slept for less than four yours, you are not going to be alert. However, at the same time, too much sleep is not good either, because you could wake up drowsy and stay that way for the rest of the day. The perfect amount of sleep to get is in between six and eight hours. With this amount of sleep you will be well rested and able to function properly, but at the same time, you will not be feeling any drowsiness. Having a regular sleep schedule is also very important. Many people take the six hours a day they need, which would be 42 hours total, and then they get 24 hours of sleep over the weekend and believe that this is good for them. This is not good, because you cannot make up for lost sleep. It is always best to commit yourself to a fairly strict sleep schedule and to make sure to go to bed at a normal time so that you can get up for your after six to eight hours of sleep. Over the weekend, it is fine to get closer to eight ours of sleep, but do not overdo it in any case.

Along with eating a healthy breakfast, vitamins are also important, and your daily intake of vitamins will make a big difference in the end. A lot of people do not take vitamins until they start to feel sick and then they start taking them to prevent themselves from getting sick, but that never works. Taking your vitamins every day is a good way to stay alert and on the ball all day, especially in the morning. You do not even have to buy all different types of vitamins, just buy one of those multivitamins and take one every morning. These will give you vitamins A and B, zinc, panax ginseng and other useful things.

Also, if you are not into taking pills, look into drinking tea in the morning instead of coffee. Especially ginseng tea which is really healthy. Green tea is also a great option instead of coffee.

Of course, many people do like coffee and cannot go without it in the morning, but if it is an option for you to skip coffee and to drink something else or do something else that will give you a kick start instead, by all means do so.

Caffeine presents a temporary chemical solution to your drowsiness, it is not a natural occurrence that makes you more alert, it is a drug that will wear off. Also, if you drink to much of it there can be effects that combat what you were trying to do. Drinking more coffee will not usually pick you up, it will pull you down if you have had too much. There are also post-caffeine crashes. Once the effect of the caffeine wears off, these crashes can make you drowsier and less aware than you were all morning. Coffee can also lead to addiction and withdrawal symptoms when you are not drinking coffee, which is like a really bad caffeine crash. Also, it can disrupt your sleep patterns. You might need a pick-me-up to get some work done late at night but the coffee might not enable you to fall asleep until the morning, depending on how much you drank and what kind of affect it has on you.

Coffee will work usually to make you more alert in the morning, but there are healthier options with less potential side effects. Drinking some tea or a fresh-squeeze glass of orange juice will give you a similar feeling of invigoration without the unwanted side effects and the inevitable crashes. But if you are responsible with coffee and drink it moderately in the morning to wake you up a bit, then you should be fine, but by all means, do not rely solely on coffee to keep you going throughout the day.

An excellent way to pick yourself up in the morning is by listening to music and listening to it loudly. No matter what you are listening to, play it loudly so that it gets your attention and it is not just background music. Put on a CD as soon as you get up and crank it up a bit, it will get you singing and dance, and if not, your brain will still be processing the sounds it hears and it will be a nice way to start the day with some brain activity and maybe even some physical movement if that’s your style. If you have a roommate or spouse that is sleeping and you don’t want to wake them, just throw on the headphones. Or, if you have a long drive to work, just wait for that, and then crank the music in the car as soon as you get in. You can sing along to your favorite tunes and this kind of activity will get you side awake and not only ready for work once you get there, but in high spirits and feeling good, because that’s what your favorite music always does to you.

There are other little things that you can do, for example, if you have the option of stairs instead of taking the elevator up to your office, do that. Not only is it good exercise for your entire body, but it will also keep you alert and awake. Taking the stairs up will get your blood flowing and it will help you to burn off the calories from your breakfast and your extra large sweet coffee that you might have had on the way to work.

So these are some ideas to thrown around, so see which works for you best and go for it. It is important to remember that your morning is very important to you, and that the way the morning goes usually sets the table for the rest of the day. If you are alert and active in the morning and are getting stuff down from the get-go, then your afternoon will probably be just as good and productive.