I’m sure that we’ve all woken up kicking our heels, wanting to go back to our warm, comfy bed and have just a few more hours of sleep.
When this happens once or twice, now and then, it’s no problem.
But when it happens consistently, and patterns start to form, like most aspects of our health, there are often underlying factors at play.
If you know me and my approach to health, you’ll know that I’m passionate about getting to the root cause of issues.
Why Sleep Problems Are So Common
And sleep issues are among the most common in the general population. In fact, according to the NIH, around 1 in 3 adults in the U.S. experience sleep problems weekly, with 6–10% having a clinical insomnia disorder.
The stats aren’t much better for us in the UK either, with 1 in 5 UK adults not getting enough sleep, as reported by Mental Health UK.
The Root Causes of Sleep Struggles
The root cause of these issues could be a number of contributing factors. Again, with health, it usually is!
The most common I’ve found range from having a poor wind-down and sleep routine to chronic life stressors or something biological going on.
These often manifest as symptoms such as brain fog, tiredness and lethargy, low mood, low libido, reduced energy, and lack of motivation. In Western cultures, we often diagnose these as insomnia, sleep inertia, or a range of other sleep disorders, some of which are no joke and can be serious!
Now, please note: I’m no doctor or qualified medical professional, and this content is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any condition. Please consult your doctor if you’re concerned that you may have a sleep disorder.
Instead, what I am passionate about is every one of us being the CEO of our own health and getting to know our bodies and biology, something I believe we should have been taught in school, but weren’t.
3 Morning Habits That Change Everything
With this in mind, whenever I’ve been in a similar position of waking up kicking my heels, just wanting to go back to bed, these three science-backed habits, as supported by the NIH, National Sleep Foundation, and many other professional bodies, have helped me every time.
They are…
1. Rehydrate: Drink Water 🚰
When we wake up in the morning, we’re dehydrated. No surprise when you think about it, we’ve spent 6–8 (or more) hours asleep without any fluid intake.
That doesn’t even take into consideration the amount of water we lose through the night, which, when you dig into it, is quite surprising.
We are made mostly of water, especially our brains, which are 70–80% water. No wonder sometimes when we first wake up, we can’t think clearly and feel fuzzy-headed; we’re dehydrated!
The best way to counteract this is to prioritise drinking 1–2 glasses of water upon waking, ideally with electrolytes to replenish minerals. I do this by squeezing lemon and adding a pinch of Himalayan sea salt; it goes down a treat.
It’s also worth noting that ancient wisdom cultures such as Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) don’t advocate drinking cold water first thing. With that in mind, lukewarm water, or even a herbal lemon-ginger tea, could be the way to go, pretty yummy too!
👉 Bottom line: Rehydrate. It’s so important!
2. Get Natural Light, Ideally Sunlight ☀️
The more I’ve explored health, the more I’ve realised that we are biological beings, and we can’t outdo biology. When we work with it, we drastically improve our well-being.
One of the best ways to do this is to get morning light.
Light is one of the main inputs that regulate our internal biological clock, aka, circadian rhythm. Morning light signals that it’s time to wake, setting off a cascade of biological processes to prepare us for the day.
If you’re interested in circadian rhythms, I’d recommend exploring the work of Michael J. Breus, PhD—he’s my go-to guy. There are also a few episodes of Raising Consciousness that dive into this subject.
Remember this:
Light in the morning, darkness in the evening.
It’s not rocket science 😉
3. Move Your Body 🚶♂️
This may be the hardest one for most people, but it’s also one of the most powerful.
When you’re groggy, tired, or dealing with sleep inertia, movement is usually the last thing you want to do. Yet exercise is a phenomenon that more and more researchers are suggesting can offset the negative effects of poor sleep.
I’m not advocating high-intensity workouts the second you wake up (unless that’s your style). Personally, I prefer morning sessions, but I always move within an hour of waking.
This can be as simple as a 10-minute walk. Like light exposure, it brings your system online and activates hormones and processes that promote wakefulness and energy.
How to Stack These Habits Into a Routine
Here’s what a simple morning routine with these habits could look like:
- Wake up at a consistent time each day (yes, weekends too).
- Rehydrate with warm water and electrolytes, or herbal tea.
- Go outside and move your body while getting natural light.
Ideally, do this within 30–60 minutes of waking (the earlier, the better).
By stacking these habits, we create a simple but powerful routine. For example, a morning walk checks two boxes at once: movement and light exposure. It’s a win-win.
We just need to remember to leave our sunglasses at home, they defeat the purpose 😉.
The Bottom Line: A Better Morning = A Better Day
The bottom line is that sleep matters. And a good night’s sleep starts the morning before.
These three simple habits are the best way I’ve found to kick away sleep inertia, the initial state of grogginess and reduced performance we often feel right after waking.
It’s not always easy, but with persistence, resilience, and commitment, these habits will help you feel better, not just in the morning, but all day long.
Try them, and let me know how you get on!
Reminders
1. Master your mornings, master your day.
How we start our day shapes how much energy, clarity, and focus we’ll carry through the rest of it and ultimately how we will feel.
2. Work with your biology, not against it.
Our body runs on ancient rhythms that we can’t outdo. It’s much better to work with our biology than against it. And, when we do, we’ll unlock better energy, mood, and overall health.
3. Light in the morning, darkness in the evening.
When we understand our natural rhythms, we realise that light exposure is a rather big deal, and it doesn’t take much to train (or retrain) our circadian clock for better sleep and overall daytime energy. It can be as simple as more light in the morning, more darkness in the evening.