Wake up maaan!

Wake up maaan!

Unless you are the "early morning" type, I know exactly how you feel when another day's dawn starts showing and pressing you to get up. Alarm clocks usually start buzzing exactly when sleep is at its sweetest phase! Maybe you should try one of these simple and easy-to-do energizing exercises and find out other things that can help you bear with crazy mornings!

How do you know you lack sufficient sleep?
First of all, you should suspect yourself of it if you sleep less than eight hours per night (children and adolescents need up to ten hours of sleep). People need less and less sleep, as they grow old. But, the amount of sleep required by each person varies. Test yourself and see if you really need more or less sleep than you get:

* Do you feel completely refreshed when you wake up?

* You can"t wake up unless you have strategically placed two or three alarm clocks around the bedroom?

* Do you desperately wait for weekends just because you are allowed to sleep late?

* Do you feel a general state of fatigue through the day?

* Do you wake up with dark circles under your eyes?

* Does it happen to you very often to fall asleep at cinema/ classes/ concerts?

* Do you need absolute silence to concentrate on something? If your answer was "yes" to most of the above questions, try to go to sleep earlier in the evenings.

Beat the sleeping troubles
Sometimes you want to sleep, but not even counting sheep doesn't help. Here are some tips to remedy the situation:

Make a fixed program for sleep (which means that you have to try going to bed the same hour every night and wake up the same hour every morning). If you"re not convinced of the utility of this program, remember how difficult it is for you to recover and get back your normal rhythm after an all night party.

You've got something on your mind just before going to bed? The more nervous or preoccupied you are, the more sleeping troubles you"ll experience. So it"s better to spend some time before sleep in a relaxing activity until you"re sure you're ready to call it a day.

If you've caught a nasty cold, avoid taking proper medication in the evening or, at least, make sure they don't contain a substance called pseudoephedrine, because it can be trouble for your sleep.

There is a false assumption that drinking alcohol helps you fall asleep sooner and better, so avoid it.

A room too hot or too cold is not a proper environment for sleep.

You are obsessed with noises like snoring, music, loud talking? Use earplugs instead of becoming hysterical.

Give up exercising three hours before bedtime. Many persons are tempted to think that exercise is exhausting, therefore sleep should be piece of cake afterwards..

If you feel a little hungry, be sure that immediately after you rest your head on the pillow, the hunger will grow (it doesn't matter if it's just an obsession or a real sensation). You won't be able to fall asleep unless you eat something, but this doesn't mean that you may indulge into a huge steak and chips!

Dim lights through the house are said to help you get in a drowsy atmosphere.

Do you get up with a stiff sensation in your bones, must be a signal that your old mattress should be changed for a new one.

A bedroom TV set should be categorically banned. Even if there's nothing interesting on, you still might want to know what's next.

The worst thing you can do when you have an insomnia is to look at the clock. You'll start worrying that you don't have enough time left for rest, get stressed, angry and won't be able to fall asleep anymore.

Wake-up workout
The main wake-up exercises are the stretching type, and most of them look as if inspired from feline movements. The best part of it is that you don't need to go far from the bed (some of them can be realized in bed, immediately).

Why stretching?
When you do a stretching exercise, your muscles stretch, of course, and in this manner the blood is squeezed out, doing a cleansing job. When the stretch is over, the muscle regains its initial size and refills with cleaner blood that immediately takes its job seriously and nourishes the muscle. That's why after such an exercise you get instant energy boost. Want a quick wake-up? Use that effect to extract yourself from the bed. Afterwards your body relaxes and, suddenly, a sweet nap sounds like a perfect idea!

1.While still in your bed, lie on your back and extend your arms above your head, straighten your legs and stretch them as much as you can. Stay there for five seconds then relax.

2. Keep your head on your pillow, but make an attempt to touch the chest with your chin. Roll your head, slowly, to the left then to the right. Finally, make a front-back movement. Excellent if you have a "stiff neck" day.

3. Put the ankle of your left leg on top of the right knee. Hold your ankle with the left hand and pull it towards your chest. Hold it there for five seconds then change foot. For a complementary exercise, rotate your ankles, 10 times each.

4. Stand up with your back straight, feet shoulder - width apart, arms hanging loosely by your sides. Shrug your shoulders by pulling them up, towards your ears then let them fall down. Repeat five times. Now gently roll your shoulders forwards in big circles, letting your arms hang. After doing this five times, circle your shoulders backwards five times too.

5. Now let's see a cat stretch. Kneel on your hands and knees (hands must be in line with your shoulders, and your thighs, slightly apart, must form a 90? angle with the floor. Relax your straight back and make sure your neck is parallel to the floor. Breathe out and slowly arch your spine up pointing the ceiling and push your chin towards chest (like an infuriated cat). Breathe in as you lift your head until you can look right in front of you, while you bring the spine back down and push your stomach towards the floor. Repeat 10 times.

6. Dogs stretch too, so let's try to imitate them.
Kneel on all fours and sit back (your hips rest on your heels), knees wide apart, but feet together with the soles facing the ceiling. That's only the starting position, but the fun of it is still to come... Stretch your trunk forwards until you are able to almost touch the floor with your head (it's easier if you extend your arms, by the ears, in front of you and let them slide on the floor). You know that your exercise is correct only if you feel the stretch in your lower back. Hold this position for up to five minutes. Repetition is not necessary.

Other wake-up tips

Ask someone (your lover maybe) who wakes up before you to pull back the blinds. It's demonstrated that exposure to light makes your body stop producing "melatonin" ? the one that gives that sleepy disposition. In the winter, just turn on the artificial light (not the same thing, but still effective).

Keep the remote control at hand and turn on the TV or the radio. There is a big chance of hearing a favorite tune or an interesting piece of news to command your brain to wake-up.

Avoid caffeine-based drinks, because all they do is give you an artificial jolt, just to yawn heartily half an hour later. Instead, drink a huge glass of freshly squeezed orange and lemon juice. It's very energizing. Anyway, specialists say you shouldn't need coffee if you"re getting the nine hours sleep.

Last, but not least, you need to take a refreshing shower, and you're as good as new!