Wake me up... How to deal with a monday morning

by Lorna Pain

There are good ways and bad ways to wake up. The bad way makes the thought of leaving the nice, warm safety of your bed worse than fighting off an army of clawed chav-bears. Theses 8 tips will make sure you wake up in a good mood and stay that way.

1) Don't go to sleep dwelling on things you can't resolve in your sleep.

Going to bed fretting will make you sleep less, dream more erratically and wake up still feeling anxious. Try to get everything sorted out and ready before you go to bed. No more finishing essays and projects at 5am the morning it's due in. If you've still got things on your mind before you sleep, promise yourself not to worry and to find a solution / deal with it tomorrow.

2) 'Smile and the world smiles with you', and all that stuff.

You can't expect to be happy without a smile on your face. So go for it, smile on the outside and the inside will soon follow. Smile at your friends, random strangers, the people screaming at you for walking in front of their car. Just smile and take advantage of the warm fuzzy feeling inside.

3) Listen to happy music when you wake up.

Whether you use your favourite song as a phone alarm, or you just listen to it while you're doing your make-up, the music you start your day with can really make a difference. Try listening to some dance music to wake you up. Nobody's going to be wide awake and happy while listening to 'Hawthorne Heights' first thing in the morning.

4) Get out of bed as soon as the alarm goes off.

Pressing snooze or yelling '5 more minutes' at the unfortunate person in charge of waking you up isn't going to help you out. Most of the time it actually just sends you back to a grumpy universe of half-sleep, which means you'll just have to wake up twice.

5) Dance. You heard me. Dance, stretch, do Yoga or Tai Chi.

Just do something to wake your body up, because an increased heart rate gets the blood pumping and the mind and body more awake/alive. Combine this with happy music for maximum joy. Either just dance around your room like a fool singing to yourself, or do some gentle exercises to feel the difference.

Try this stretch:

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Relax all of your muscles. Then push your hands together and stretch upwards. Keep stretching up until you're on your tiptoes. Then take some deep breaths and slowly go back down. This stretches out pretty much all of your muscles, gives you extra oxygen, and helps wake you up. 3 in one! Not bad, eh?

6) Eat fruit for breakfast and drink plenty of water.

This will help boost your vitamin levels which helps you fight illnesses and also helps your skin. Definitely avoid the slimy leftover pizza from last night. That is not a nutritional breakfast, even if it does have pepper on top.

7) Don't stumble straight out of your house into a car.

Walk or cycle at least some of the way to work / school if you can. This gives you fresh air (petrol fumes are an added bonus) and gives you a chance to clear your head of any worries.

8) Try to avoid arguments in the mornings.

If your friend is annoying you, just ignore them, or everything you've done will be a waste. If you start getting angry or annoyed, just take some deep breaths and walk away. Just don't let anybody get to you.

If they try, threaten them with cats.

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