BRIONA SAAS
Special to The Leader
Hello, or should I say good morning, to all my fellow students! This week I’m going to give you all some advice on how to win the daily battle of being able to get out of bed and go to class!
I know we were all so good with our attendance the first two weeks of the semester — trying to get the perfect seat in class and making good impressions on our professors — but after a while, we started to lose this motivation and slide back into our bad habits. Let’s admit it; we’re all guilty of this.
We’re not all morning people, and most of us never will be. There is no way to avoid the alarm clocks — besides sleeping in, of course — but let’s not get into that groove. Instead, let’s learn some tips and tricks that can make the mornings a bit more tolerable.
With the hard work we put into our homework and studying, skipping out on classes can hurt our attendance and, therefore, hurt our grade. Catching up on missed worked is time-consuming and stressful. When you first wake up and start debating the pros and cons of actually getting out of bed, always remember that whatever wager you think of is never going to outweigh the satisfaction of getting a good grade this semester — it’s just not worth it!
I asked freshman Jessica Tompkins what she does in order to get herself out of bed:
“When I wake up and I feel like skipping, I ask myself, ‘Jessica, do you want to fail this class?’ I answer to myself, ‘nope!’ and get myself out of bed!” she said.
To a lot of us, grades are important. So let’s avoid skipping at all costs and learn some more ways to wake up quickly and effectively.
We must not only prepare ourselves mentally, but physically, too. The most important and logical way to wake up feeling fresh is by getting enough sleep! I’m sure most of you already know this, but we almost always fail to get a healthy amount of sleep. You’re never going to have enough energy to start your day without the healthy amount sleeping hours; it’s as simple as that.
Also, start off by setting your alarm 10 minutes earlier than you normally would. It’s better to wake up without the pressure of having to immediately jump out of bed. By waking up earlier, we give our bodies time to adjust and wake up a little more; this makes it easier to start our morning routines.
Complete some in-bed stretches during this extra time; try extending your arms and legs on your bed. Wake up your eyes by slowly opening and closing them. Additionally, take a few sips from a water bottle, ideally kept near your bed. When it’s officially time to get up, you are now more awake and able to get out of bed than you would have been before!
Another tip is to put some headphones in (so as not to wake your roommate, of course) and play your favorite music while doing this routine. Choose whatever music that gets you moving or singing! This will bring that extra burst of energy we all need in the mornings.
These simple lifestyle changes make it completely possible to wake up feeling fresh and energetic; this, in turn, will make getting to class easier. I hope you all have not good, but great mornings when trying out these tricks.