CHECKLIST FOR WAKING UP IN THE MORNING
A VITAL PROCESS!
How your body operates: There is a natural sequence, which the body initiates when it anticipates waking. If you don't honor that, you will have problems. There are also other natural physical realities that must be honored. However, once awake, your body has its highest natural energy and alertness for several hours. If one is smart the person harvests the benefits of that energy by applying it to the highest payoff activities. And one learns about the body, so one can stop making "physiological mistakes".
Until you are fully functioning, you are in a lower willpower state. Exerting willpower at that time is unpleasant and unnecessarily fights the body.
Until you've checked all of the relevant items below, you are wasting unnecessarily your energy over and over and over each day!
You have not completed what is necessary until you can check this one off:
__ Waking up alert and contented!
How much time do you want to spend being "out of it" and/or not being fully "with it"???
Part I: Sleep Well (Duh! Of course!)
__ Minimize eating later at night (best to have 16 hour fasting, 12 minimum), so body not
diverting energy to digesting food instead of repairing itself in sleep)
__ Light dinner
__ Only light snacks
__ Minimize water in evening
__ No biology upsetting and whipsawing
__ No refined carbs, sugar, caffeine, alcohol, as it ruins the vital homeostasis high
functioning balance - which causes poor repair and rejuvenation of body.
__ Exercise during the day (preferably not within 4 hours of bedtime)
__ At least 30 minutes, best is "10,000 steps" a day
__ Match natural circadian rhythms (which are based on daylight, which affect melatonin,
which is responsible for your body repairing itself better!)
__ Go to bed early (9-10 p.m.) (In the morning, use 2,500 to 10,000 lux natural sunlight
lighting to cause alertness and true wakeup, if you get up before sunlight is available)
__ Go to bed at the same time (so the body will have a pattern for preparation - saves energy
and lets body function better in the repair state, especially affecting melatonin.
__ Sleep "enough"! (7-9 hours, whatever is needed to awaken refreshed) - Essential, period for
both waking up and for living a productive, good-mood life!
__ Body temperature at right level (light pajamas help keep the air close to the body more
consistent)
__ Keep room temp low (ideal 66 degrees; space heater for bedroom
__ Slight open window (or air cleaner) for letting out CO2 accumulation and renewing oxygen
__ Quiet, no lights (cover electronic device lights)
__ Earplugs to block out noises, or possibly "white noise" (which may also make it easier to
go to sleep)
__ Relax each body muscle before going to sleep
Prep well for sleep:
__ Set out clothes, etc. for the next day, so that there are no difficult decisions to make
when in a lower willpower state
Part II. Waking up
__ Get up at the same time everyday (your body prepares and starts wake up process around
that; not following that upsets the body repair and functioning process)
__ Waking up to beautiful, soft, pleasing music
__ Relaxing deeply before getting up is helpful for many people, for later in the day and for a
mental "set up" (a signal to the body that all is well)
__ Use gradual awakening, not a "jolt" to your natural body process!
__ Gradually move, stretch all parts of the body
__ OK to splash cold water in face
__ Drink a full glass of water all at once asap in the morning, even 2
__ Once "awakened", use a hot-cold shower to fully energize oneself
__ Get strong light first thing in am to "awaken" the body naturally (highly energizing) - Use
2,500 to 10,000 lux natural sunlight lighting to cause alertness and true wakeup, if you get
up before sunlight is available; 15 minutes at highest lux, up to an hour on others)
__ Start various body parts: tug on hair; pat chest, arms, etc.; rub area between palm and
wrist; bend over to get blood to your head
__ "Cat" stretch each part of your body as you arise from bed
__ Once moving, fast tempo music, dancing and moving with it!
__ Strong mint...
Part III. Not whacking the body out during the day
__ Exercise cleanses, wakes up, creates more neurons (minimum 1/2 hour/day).
__ Make it pleasant (I read a book on the treadmill and I start slowly without straining)
__ Most beneficial to your life if you do it early in the morning (sharper thinking, alertness,
better mood by far during the day)
__ No artificial stimulants, except in true emergencies. Any artificial stimulants push the body
out of normal high efficiency operations:
__ Refined carbs, sugar (especially high fructose corn syrup), unhealthy fats (!)
__ Caffeine (should consider none; don't use it habitually, but only when need actual boost)
__ No mood altering substances (sugar, caffein, etc.) as they whack out your natural
functioning and cause the body to fight to correct the effect.
__ A very healthy diet. Eating an unhealthy diet will tax your endocrine system (hormone
balance) and kill alot of energy
__ Drink 8+ cups of water
