Often seen as people who can get a lot more done with their day, as being calm and cool characters with heaps of time to complete their daily tasks, becoming a morning person is one of the most desirable healthy changes that a person wants to make.

Of course, for most of us this just isn’t a reality. Snoozing the alarm several times and rushing into work with a cup of coffee in tow is the much more likely outcome for the many. It’s a world where if we make it into work on time without looking a complete mess, we’ve nailed it.

Yet morning people just seem to have it better somehow. With all the extra time for work and play and without the added stress of the great morning rush, their days are enviously carefree.

We’ve all tried to be a morning person, probably more than once. We’ve set our alarms nice and early and set out all the ingredients for a healthy breakfast and gone to sleep feeling smug about what a wonderful morning person we’ll be. Maybe it’s even worked once or twice, but inevitably we fall back into the routine of snoozing the alarm until the last possible moment and missing out on the healthy breakfast and extra time in front of the mirror in exchange for a few more lovely moments wrapped in the duvet.

However, with a few simple changes it could be a brave new world for someone who wants to become known as a morning person. Being a morning person isn’t without its advantages, after all, so what exactly can we do to trick our bodies into thinking that we’re bright and shiny morning people instead of slow and grumpy lie-in people?

We’d love it to be as simple as getting an early night, but with so many demands on our time (from work deadlines, to getting kids out the door to school, to simply wanting a bit of time to yourself) enough sleep isn’t the only part of the formula to become a morning person. We’ve been scratching our heads about this one for a while, and we’ve finally found what we think is the perfect way to become a morning person…

1. Get A Good Night’s Sleep

It’s the most obvious ingredient to becoming a morning person, and one we’ve mentioned already, but believe it or not plenty of people ignore this first step to becoming a morning person. To function properly, your body actually needs the proper amount of sleep. Some people may find that not getting enough sleep doesn’t affect them outwardly at all, but not getting enough can cause all sorts of problems in the long-term.

We need to schedule between 7-9 hours of sleep per day into our routine – so if you’re planning on getting up early to go to the gym, make sure that you’re headed for bed at the right time to ensure you’re still getting enough shut-eye! There’s no substitute for sleep, though we know that existing on a steady stream of coffee can seem like a quick solution.

We know there’s plenty of excuses to not get a proper night’s sleep, but if you really sat down and planned out your day, 8 hours should be more than achievable. Plus, just think about the benefits! You have better memory function, your body’s metabolism will be better which means less time worrying about the diet, you’ll actually be in a better mood and therefore be able to concentrate better, and your blood pressure will be lowered thanks to knocking the extra stress of getting yourself out the door on the morning on the head.

If you want some more advice, read our guide: 7 ways to get a better night’s sleep.

2. Sleep When You’re Tired

While we’ve got your attention about sleep, it’s worth mentioning that listening to your body is the best way of knowing when it’s time for you to sleep. Forcing yourself to stay awake can have just as negative an impact as not getting enough sleep. We’ll often find that we create a routine for ourselves that sometimes contradict what our bodies are telling us.

Some days we may be tired at 9pm, but because we always go to bed at 10.30pm we tell ourselves that we have to play another episode on Netflix before we can start getting ready for sleep. Stop ignoring your body! If it’s tired much earlier than usual one day, it’s for a reason. Get yourself to bed and don’t worry about your mates finding out that you love an early night. Besides, if you do ignore your body, you may end up powering through that tired feeling which means your mind actively starts trying to stay awake even when you’re physically ready to sleep.

3. Keep Screens Out of the Bedroom

This is one of the toughest challenges of modern life – removing screens for long enough that we’re able to get a good night’s sleep. Many of us will have a TV in the bedroom, so if you really can’t part with that you’re going to have to think of a cut-off point where you turn the TV off before you start winding down to go to sleep. Screens, and particularly blue light, can trick your brain into thinking it’s still daytime which means your melatonin levels, which help you relax and achieve deep sleep, are reduced.

We know that not having your phone to hand can be really difficult – especially as plenty of us use our phones as our alarms – try not to let it be the last thing you look at on a night. Some phones now have a feature where they stop emitting blue light after a certain time in the evening, so if yours is as a fancy and forward thinking, definitely use that feature.

4. Create a Cosy Sleep Environment

Sleep doesn’t come easy to all of us, but creating the right environment for sleep can go a long way to encouraging the Z’s. You should treat yourself to a calming experience every night, whether it’s having a sleepy time tea or reading a good book, before you go to sleep. Make it simple, and make it easy for you to achieve every single night. If you keep repeating this behaviour, your body will start to understand that this is the signal it needs to begin shutting down and getting ready for sleep.

The actual physical environment of the room you’re trying to sleep in matters too. Make sure that your bedroom is clean and clear of clutter – if you’re thinking about how you really should pick up all those clothes and put them in the laundry basket, your mind isn’t going to be clear enough for sleep. Think about your physical comfort – get a nice pair of PJs and a cosy duvet to relax you and get you ready for a good night’s sleep.

5. Expose Yourself to Natural Light

Good old natural light can be a fantastic boost to your natural biological clock – combine this with a good dose of fresh air and you’re on your way to a good night’s sleep and a bright and shiny morning.

Natural light is our best source of vitamin D – even if it’s not sunny, heading outside for a bit of fresh air and some natural daylight will work wonders. During the winter months, you may want to think about investing in a sun lamp. Your biological clock will thank you, and even give your mood a little lift when you need it most – the morning.

6. Have a Good Breakfast to Look Forward To

Something as simple as having a good breakfast to look forward to can incentivise you to get out of bed on a morning. Maybe a delicious bowl of Lizi’s Granola? Not only will the thought of your breakfast get you moving quicker on a morning (you’re always better to listen to the demands of your rumbling tummy), but choosing a healthy breakfast option such as granola will satisfy your hunger and keep your body well fuelled until lunchtime.

If you need to think past breakfast to get yourself out of bed, think about planning some nice things for yourself during the day ahead. Maybe you could try somewhere new for lunch, treat yourself to a homemade snack in the afternoon, or plan to meet a friend for dinner? We always find that food is a great motivator, but if it’s not for you, think about some other activities or ways to treat yourself throughout the day and remind yourself of them just as you wake up!

7. Set Your Alarm for the Same Time Each Day

Your body is great at internalising repeated behaviours. If you set your alarm from the same time every day, you’ll find that eventually your body will wake up at that same time all by itself. We’ve tried and tested this and have found that sometimes we’ll even wake up a little before our alarms – which gives you quite a smug sense of achievement! That’s your internal clock at work, it knows better than you when you need to wake up so don’t be tempted to go back to sleep for an extra ten minutes – sometimes that can make you feel even more tired than waking up a little earlier than usual.

Try to fight off the temptation to sleep in at the weekends too – you don’t need to set an alarm, sure, but if you do wake up earlier than you thought you might, don’t just roll over and wait until it’s ten or eleven o’clock to make you feel as though you’ve got the most out of your weekend. Get up when your body tells you to and you’ll find that you’ve got heaps more time and energy to get everything done – and you’ll be in a better mood to do it too!

8. Don’t Laze When You Wake Up

So your alarm’s gone off and you’re awake – what do you do now? The temptation is to lie in bed with the snooze button on, hoping that by the time it goes off your bleary eyes will have cleared up and you’ll be ready to hop out of bed and into the shower. Unfortunately, this isn’t so. The more time you spend lying in bed awake on a morning, whether you’re just having a good yawn and a stretch or catching up on the all the social media goodness you missed while you were asleep, the more likely you’re going to feel groggy and lose that morning person buzz you’re craving. Get moving straight away, whether it’s to nip to the loo or grab a glass of water.

9. Plan a Morning Workout

Working out should be a part of everyone’s routine in any case, but working out on a morning is even better for your body and can transform you into a happy shiny morning person in no time. Exercise gets rid of the bad toxins in our body that affect our quality of sleep – so kicking a morning workout of your schedule can be a huge mistake when you’re trying to become a morning person.

The workout doesn’t have to be long, either. Why not try half an hour of yoga before you get dressed, or a jog around the block before you jump in the shower? Even if you can’t make it to the gym for an hour’s workout, you can definitely spare an extra 30 minutes at home to squeeze in some form of exercise – and the benefits are fantastic. Working out will make you more likely to eat healthier during the day, you don’t have to worry about fitting it in later in the day, your energy levels will actually increase and you’ll therefore be able to be much more productive and cheerful throughout the day.

So that’s how morning people do it – seems quite simple when you look back over the list, doesn’t it? Becoming a morning person is primarily about improving your quality of sleep and the natural functions of your body – combating tiredness with your body’s natural abilities and improving your quality of life overall. Give these top morning person techniques a try, we hope they work out for you!