The 6AM Challenge

We all have heard the benefits of “sleep early, rise early”, however in reality this has proved to be more than just challenging to adhere to. A major contribution is the reluctance to go to bed early the night before. After dinner too often we refuse to listen to our yawning selves and insist on watching another movie on Netflix, or simply just muck around without doing anything productive.

I know all these because I used to be one of those late-night sleepers. Although now when I look back I find it quite ridiculous how I valued so much more of my time after dark than my time during the day – they are the same, 30 mins at night is nothing more or less than 30 mins at day. Before I found a way to break this unhealthy pattern of my life I seriously felt trapped into this vicious circle, knowing I should get out of it but I was not able to, it was really frustrating.

There were a few tricks I deployed and I hope they will work for you as well:

Head straight to your bed 1 hour after dinner, no matter what.

If you have been staying up pretty much every night for a long time, your body might have got used to staying well awake until it hits midnight. To tackle this issue is to spend Tonight in bed straight after dinner. Once you finish dinner or checking work emails, forget about everything else, head towards your bed with a book or kindle, start reading until your eyes get tired. Start Tonight, no excuses. This is an important step to start breaking the circle.

reading in bed

 

Set an alarm clock at night about 30 mins before your ideal bed time.

Yeah that’s right, literally this is an alarm alerting you it is time to get ready for bed. We tend to be quite disorganized with our night time because we are distracted by a lot of errands and entertainment options at home. You spend 20 mins watching the TV, then decide to go out to the balcony to have a drink or cigarette, come back, have small chats with your partner or your flatmate, head to your bedroom to organize what outfits to throw on next day, check your Facebook/Instagram for another 20 mins, then boom, next time when you check the clock it is well over 12am. Sounds familiar? Well yes coz that is how MOST people spend their night. Productive? Absolutely not. My bed alarm is set to 10:30 and I kid you not, every time when it rings it gives me a heart attack, like a hammer on my head saying: it is bed time. Now. It is the most intrusive yet effective reminder telling me I should stop doing whatever I was on, go brush my teeth and move on to my bed.

night go to bed alarm

 

Dim your lights in the bedroom.

Or even better, put some candles on, but leave the bright lights out. I used to live with an American girl in the same flat, it amazed me how when I walked into her room after dark there was an instant soothing feeling surrounding me. Then I realized it was because she lit her candles with no lights on, it puts a soft glow in the room that relax and unwind you. And burn some essential oil, make your room smell and look like a spa, it puts all the guards down trust me.

candles essential oil early night

 

Start making the change from tonight, wishing a good night sleep~~

 

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