Have you ever found yourself ridiculing the characters in a commercial because of how prepared they look to take on the world as soon as they wake up? It just seems too unrealistic, yet it is not impossible.

Although, the opposite of this is also true. A lot of people wake up feeling tired and wanting nothing more than to go back to bed. And if you relate to the second type more, you know how tired this lack of energy can make you feel throughout the day.

To further add to this frustration, it is an even greater mystery if you’ve gotten seven to eight hours of sleep the night before and yet you still feel sluggish and lethargic. So, if you’re looking for a solution to this ever-persistent problem, here’s what you need to understand about your sleep schedule, and check your daily habits to find out what’s causing you fatigue.

Count Your Sleep Cycles:

When you sleep, your brain goes through different stages to complete one sleep cycle and it is very important to know when to wake up so that you don’t disrupt these cycles. If you wake up in the midst of it and disrupt the deep-sleep stage, it will result in you waking up tired due to your brain feeling the effects an ‘incomplete’ sleep.

One sleep cycle lasts for about 90-110 minutes and the general recommendation is to count your sleep cycles and sleep in the multiples of 90 minutes. For example, if you want to wake up at 6:30AM, you should be asleep by 11:00PM. However, if you can’t afford to sleep for 7.5 hours, cut the number down to 6 hours to avoid disrupting a sleep cycle.

Avoid Taking Naps During The Day:

As taking naps can reset your biological clock, avoid taking naps during the afternoon. However, if you must and can’t help but feel drowsiness taking you over, make sure it isn’t longer than 20-30 minutes. This trick helps you get enough rest and pulls you out of your slumber before your body has a chance to enter deep sleep.

Don’t Hit The Snooze Button:

Follow the five-second rule. Once your alarm starts ringing, get up before you can change your mind and hit the snooze button for 10 more minutes of sleep. It might be tough at first, but at least you don’t feel the effects of fatigue throughout your daily activities.

Sleeping Right is More Effective Than Sleeping Longer:

Creating an environment that helps you sleep well, like staying away from bright lights, dimming your room’s light can help your body produce melatonin, thus signalling your brain that it is time to rest. You don’t need to be too fancy about it; a simple bedtime ritual and maintaining basic hygiene can help you with a comfortable sleep.

As the blue light emitted by your devices can mess up your circadian rhythm (your body’s internal clock), it might be a better idea to switch to reading a book instead of scrolling on your phone till you fall asleep.

Build a Body-Mind Connection:

When it feels like your own body isn’t functioning how you want it to, it can be quite jarring. Take out time to build a body-mind connection by taking up any sort of physical exercise and meditation when you wake up. Setting your intentions and settling into your thoughts, can help you start the day on a positive note.

This step works best when you get enough sleep as that’s when you feel the most fresh. To perform mindfulness and develop a strong mind-body connection, you need to feel calm and quality sleep is the best way to attain it.

Check Your diet:

As you might know, coffee is the devil when it comes to losing sleep. However, besides caffeine, items like carbs and alcohol can also disrupt your sleep schedule so it is always a good idea to stay away from them before bedtime.

Other reasons like several health conditions including anaemia, underactive thyroid, and sleep apnoea can affect your energy levels, making you feel more exhausted than the average person.

While waking up right is just as important as eating healthy fibres and proteins, whole grains, nuts, fruits for breakfast, can decrease morning fatigue, you can try adding a multivitamin tablet like HealthOK to kick-start your day, and experience 24-hours of active energy with the benefits of Taurine Power and Natural Ginseng. At the end of it all, even after bringing healthier routine changes in your lifestyle, if you feel tired all the time, it’s best to consult with your physician to check if there’s an underlying cause behind your fatigue.