You may never learn to love mornings, but you can make them bearable — it’s all about having the right morning routine. Even if you’re not a morning person, you’ll start the day feeling ready for classes and everything else you have scheduled for the day. Here are some ways to start your day off right.

1. Go to Bed on Time

The most important way to improve your morning routine is to go to bed on time the night before. When you’re well rested, it’s much easier to get up. Set yourself a bedtime that will give you at least seven to eight hours’ sleep and try to stick to it as often as possible — at least on school nights. About an hour before bedtime, put away all screens. This will help your mind relax and make you fall asleep sooner.

2. Open the Blinds

Use sunlight to help you wake up. If you’re able to sleep with the blinds open, this is ideal — you may like to wear an eye mask to help you sleep and remove it as soon as you wake up. Alternatively, just open your curtains soon after you get out of bed.

3. Stop Hitting Snooze

Continually hitting snooze will mean you get up later than you wanted to, which will result in you rushing through your morning routine. Limit the number of times you’ll hit the snooze to no more than once or twice.

4. Put Your Alarm Out of Reach

If you want to get into the habit of avoiding the snooze button entirely, put your alarm out of reach to force yourself to get out of bed to turn it off. This is especially effective if you’re using your phone as an alarm clock, as it should prevent you from immediately checking your notifications or mindlessly scrolling.

5. Prepare a Delicious Breakfast

A great incentive to get out of bed is the knowledge that a delicious breakfast awaits you. A good breakfast doesn’t need to be anything extravagant — if you don’t like to eat a lot in the mornings, a small meal is fine. Ideally, you should choose something you can prepare quickly or in advance. Accompany your breakfast with a beverage you love, such as coffee or tea, but also make sure you have a glass of water to start the day hydrated.

6. Practise Mindfulness

Take your morning routine slow with some mindfulness activities. Top choices include meditating, listening to music, or journaling — you could reflect on what happened the day before, note your goals for the upcoming day, or use journal writing prompts to cover a different topic each day.

7. Avoid Tasks You Dislike

Whereas it’s a good idea to get unpleasant tasks out of the way, there’s no need to do them immediately after you wake up. Whenever possible, leave them until a little later in the day.
The key to the perfect morning routine is being able to do whatever you want to do. Living in a student residence often means being woken up by a roommate (sometimes long before you want to get up), waiting for ages to use the bathroom, and lacking a proper kitchen to prepare your favourite breakfast. You’ll face none of these problems if you move into off-campus housing. Ottawa students can find the ideal housing at THEO. Choose between having an apartment to yourself or sharing with up to three roommates. Contact us now to secure the floor plan you want.