Make The Morning Great Again

There is nothing I hate more than feeling as if I got less than five hours of sleep. You wake up all sluggish and you feel paralyzed from the hip down. Not even the thought of warm, previously frozen, syrup soaked, blueberry waffles can lift your body up. You throw out every element of your routine to enjoy thirty minutes more in bed. You then proceed to rush and leave the house in a fit, while your mom is yelling, “you’re gonna be late” from the car. What if I told you that there was a formula to have the best, most productive, morning everyday.

Truthfully, the time you go to sleep should always allow you to have no less than seven hours. Tipically, that means no later than eleven, unless you have the best job/school and you can be up after 7:30. But for us people who live in the real world, our asses have to be out the door by 7:45. I found that my magic time is 10:30 pm. To find yours, subtract an hour and fifteen from the time you need to be out the door, then subtract eight hours from that time, then poof, you have your magic time. With an hour and fifteen minutes in the morning, I have time to walk my dog, feed him, feed myself, get dressed, maybe a little bit of makeup, and most importantly free time to go on my phone and dilly dally, before eight hours of school.

The alarm trick is the key to feeling like you got optimal slumber. You know that feeling when you accidentally wake up before your alarm and you feel more energized and ready than ever to start the day, but then you realize how irrational it is to start your day at 4:00 am. So you get two hours more sleep and it feels like ten. The alarm trick is setting an alarm thirty minutes before magic time. This essentially takes you out of a deep sleep. You feel prepare for the second/real alarm. This eliminates the immediate shock of the alarm because lets be honest after hearing constant ringing for a minute, do you really want to put your feet on the floor? The first alarm is a soft sound, similar to a chime. It’s sole purpose is to open your eyes and awaken the brain. The second one can be slightly more abrupt like silk, to give the body slightly more of a shock.

In middle school, I went through a faze where I thought that breakfast was completely unnecessary and that it would make me fat. Those mornings were rough, my mood was horrendous. Turns out the spicy fries from the cafeteria aren’t the best to fill yourself up with first. After much trial and error and many gluten free frozen waffles, fiber and protein was what I needed. My favorite has to be my berry smoothie. I like my smoothie very thick, borderline ice cream, so I do a cup of mixed frozen berries (Kirkland brand is perfect), a tablespoon fat free Greek yogurt, and 2/3 cup skim milk. Another filling meal is the knock-off Starbucks egg bites from Costco and sliced strawberries. I ate the egg bites a little too often and now I cannot stomach the thought of them, but that was a great month, I constantly looked forward breakfast. I found that eating breakfast kept me happy in school and have less cravings throughout a day, it’s like solving your cravings before they attack you.

The next time your almond mom is telling you to eat breakfast, take that as a sign and listen. The morning is the precursor for the rest of your day, waking up late or feeling hungry can ruin your day and maybe even affect the ones around you. You cannot tell me you never lashed out at your little brother because all you have in mind is five guys. No, just me, ok then.