Why do we feel Tired in Morning?

One mistake that most of us commit while we start our day is rushing through things. While we rush, we just want everything to be accomplished as fast and as soon as possible. We start our day in a reactive mode and storm through the waking up process. When we start doing this regularly our brain starts to get programmed in this way. This unknowingly becomes a habit and is the main reason why we feel not being productive at the end of the day. In short term or occasionally it’s OK but, if it continues every single day, there are two problems with directly going into turbo mode, i.e. stress and wrong decisions. The effects of it can carry on with us for the rest of the day just like a ripples effect in a pond when you throw a stone in calm water.

Stress

The first problem that comes along with rushing is stress. Many studies have been done on the affects of chronic stress and found that it is a major contributing factor for mental and physical anxiety and stress. Stress also decreases the quality of life. When we rush in the morning right after waking up, playing the catch-up game, we start feeling stressed – which causes anxiousness and drains our mental energy even before first half of the day ends. This rush and stress can latch onto us the entire day as we are always trying to accomplish things quickly.

Just like we recharge our gadgets and devices to use them for its necessary purpose, similarly while we sleep, sleeping helps to get us charged up to perform our tasks. When we are asleep our mind and muscles are in a relaxed state. When we wake up even after a good night sleep, post the most stressful day, the first few minutes is like a rebooting period for our brain. The neurons start connecting back as we come back from the mysterious sleep world. There is a massive energy being generated in our brain and this energy if channeled properly, can be put to use to accomplish our objectives more productively.

Wrong Decisions

As we are waking up, we should not make important decisions. During this period our mind is still booting up from the hibernation period and is not fully capable of making right decision in this materialistic world. We are more likely to make mistakes. You can check this link to learn about it more. Our mind is programmed to find the odd thing out, and once you make a mistake it will haunt of for some time. Due to this a constant cycle of stress starts to generate and this soon becomes a habit.

What should we do?

Here we have listed a 6 step approach on how you can ensure that you make the most out of your day. Winning is an habit and it takes effort. Cultivate good habits and you will find that the quality of life has significantly increased. You can find more time to do things you love the most and most importantly appreciate the festival i.e. life and live it with a zappy zest!

1. Don’t Rush

If you think about it when we rush through things it probably just saves us 10 mins, but at what cost – Unwanted stress, probability of making more mistakes, feeling of regret and disappointments. Rushing through does not benefit us in long term. Rather than storming through at the last moment, try getting up 20 mins early than your usual time, to gift yourself enough time to start your day in a calmer way. As you start practicing this, from day 1, surprisingly you will find the day to much lighter and feel fresh for most of your day right from the start.

2. Write your goals

In Neuropsychology there is a term called as generation effect. According to it, when you write something it becomes much easier for a human brain to recall and remind us. It can also help to generate fresh idea. When we write something it program our mind to complete certain task by taking necessary action. Make a habit of writing goals that you would want to accomplish every day. Make it a ritual that you practice every day.

When you write don’t just make a to-do list. Firstly, write down all your goals, when your mind gets empty out of the list find the 2 long term goals and 2 important tasks that you would like to complete today.  This can help you to channel your energy in the right direction. At the end of the day when you complete the task you will have a sense of accomplishment and a feeling of gratitude.

3. Make a few and small changes.

Being productive doesn’t mean accomplishing a lot of things quickly or ability to do a lot of things. The real meaning being productive is doing the most important task of the day efficiently and accurately. This will generate a sense of true happiness, lightness and fluffiness at the end of the day and keep moving forward.

They key to success is consistency. If we are not consistent, we cannot reach the end goal. Constant efforts on a regular basis, like a clockwork is the only way to reach our targets. The main reason why we often fail in achieving our target is that either we are not consistent, or we set too many goals. As per Professor – BJ Fogg, of Stanford university – make small changes and that too not more than 3 at a time. Our brain is programmed to find pleasure. When we do something we love, be it – sleeping, eating, playing games, etc., a chemical called dopamine is released by our brain cells which gives us a sense of pleasure. If we try to make many big changes, the mind will try to fight it, to get its dose of dopamine, and we won’t be able to keep up with our mind while it tries to fight its way out of the misery. We need to learn how to fool and tame our brain.

4. Drink enough water

Another big mistake that we do daily is not drinking water when we wake up. Our body is 70% liquid. While we are asleep our body is deprived of water for almost 7-8 hours. Water is the single most important thing that is required by our cells to generate energy and remove toxins and waste from our body. Without water our body cannot function properly.

Many studies have shown that lack of water or dehydration is the cause for tiredness and slow thinking ability. As soon as you wake up, drink at least 300ml of warm water first thing in the morning. If possible, keep water in a copper vessel overnight and drink directly from it. Check out our article on to learn if you are drinking water right.

5. Avoid refined carbs meal at Night

If you wake up tiered the next morning, even after a good night sleep, it could be due to your last meal before sleeping. Refined carbs are nothing but sugar, which is present in white bread, cold drinks cakes and other sources. When sugar enters our body it gives us instant energy, but at the cost of high blood sugar level. To counter this, our body releases insulin. Along with insulin our body release 2 other hormones i.e. Adrenaline and Cortisol.  Many studies have found these 2 hormones to be a major factor in generating stress and resulting in a poor the quality of sleep.

Avoid eating refined carbs as much as possible. If the situation does not permit, definitely avoid consuming high carbs diet after sunset. Give your body ample of time to process these carbs so that your body can digest and absorb them while you are active. This will definitely help you get more fresh and full of energy.

5. No more 5 mins of sleep!

Another bad habit which we should avoid is finding excuse and fooling around in bed, thinking of getting for 5 more mins of sleep. Almost 50% of adults keep snoozing the alarm clock or just lay down in bed after waking up from sleep. As per studies, it shows that after waking up if we keep lying down our body tends to get confused whether its time to get up or sleep. It is to be noted that even if we sleep for another 10-15 mins, we do not get adequate deep sleep where we actually get relaxed. Finally, when we get out bed after that 10-15 mins of incomplete sleep, we feel much tiered and lazy. This means the sleep which we bargained and got was not a good deal.

As soon as we are awake the firstly, we should get out of bed as soon as possible, drink warm water, get freshen up, do some stretching and have a bath in cold water. This will give you an early start and sense of fulfillment that the day started on a positive note.

Achieve your Targets!

In Japanes martial art there is a term called Zanshin, Zhanshin is a state of relaxed alertness and awareness of the surrounding, even during the most troublesome times. As per Zanshin practice, the pupils are taught everything is an target. It teaches us to be calm and relaxed during any tense moment. This calmness lets us focus and counter the enemies efficiently. While using a bow and arrow, as you hold your bow, place your arrow, aim at the target and stand in a steady position while you breath calmly you can hit the targets more accurately than when you are distressed and walk or run. Everything in life is an target, and we should make all possible efforts to hit the target with absolute accuracy. No matter how small it is. Small steps today helps us to achieve big targets tomorrow. Make small and meaningful changes. Write down and work towards achieving your set goals in an efficient way. Drink adequate quantity of water and eat healthy to achieve a zesty life.