Daily Hacks #1: 8 Waking up early life hacks (8个早起的诀窍）

Waking up early is a challenge for most of us, including me. I usually wake around 6.30am but will lay on the bed for around half an hour before leaving the bed. Snoozing back to sleep is not a great way to start the back either. Here are some life hacks of the early birds gonna be.
要起得早，开始新的一天，其实不易。很多时候，我们都会想要去做，但是到最后都是睡到最后一分钟才肯醒来。这里有一些秘诀，让早起不再那么困难。

1. Drink a glass of water, a mouthful one. 起床后，喝杯水。

I found this very helpful as water is an activator for the body. Usually, I will feel dehydrated upon waking up, and without water, I will continue to feel drowsy. 起床后，身体会比较干燥。喝杯水，让身体恢复一定的水分，这样自然会觉得比较精神。

2. One hour before sleep, try to leave your phone away from you. 睡前一小时，远离手机。

The light from the mobile phone will stimulate the secretion of Cortisol, causing both insomnia and also poorer body immune system.手机发出的蓝光会刺激身体，造成肾上腺皮质醇过度分泌，并导致失眠和免疫下降。

3. Do some work out before starting the day. 起床后，做些运动。

The reason behind is that between the first 3 hours after waking up, our body temperature remains at the lowest comparing to other times, and it slowly picks up the heat. Hence, once consume some water, start some light exercise like push up or star jump (like myself) to increase my circulation. This works quite well too for me. Just 5 minutes will do and it felt more refreshed. Then, I will take a cold bath after that, which makes me even more awake. 运动让身体变暖，增进血液循环，自然变得比较精神。

4. Improve by 5 minutes for the waking time. 进步单位为5分钟。

For now, I am aiming to maintain my record to wake between 6.30 to 7 in the morning. The recommended improvement time for each milestone will be 5 minutes, which is manageable physically and mentally. However, I will have some cheat days during the weekend too, to balance up. 如要让自己慢慢更早起，用5分钟来进步。这样身体和心理才不会有太大的负担和抗拒。

5. Don’t hit the snooze. 不要依赖闹钟稍后提醒功能。

I did hit the snooze, but I may risk myself not waking up afterward. So, my recent strategy is to set to the time that I decided to wake for real. 5 minutes before and after with 3 alarms, just in case. Getting back to sleep by hitting snooze will render our body more tired. 回笼觉很多时候都是越睡越累。要么决定了起床时间，就有纪律地遵守。

6. Go for warm color light in the bedroom. 使用暖色灯光。

This ambiance will stimulate the body to produce melatonin that helps with our sleep, keeping us more relaxed. Thus, get yourself a good light, warm color to have a great sleep.暖色灯光能让我们更容易入睡，因为太强的光火蓝光都会影响体内褪黑激素形成，从而影响睡眠。

7. Invest in the good pillow. 投资好枕头。

Pillow may help to increase the quality of sleep as well as to maintain the right posture for our neck. Sometimes, I may wake up with a neck pain which ruins my whole day. 睡得好，自然而然身体才能真正休息。

8. Grab some fruit to bite in the morning. 起床后，吃水果。

Our body needs some glucose to kickstart the day, so getting some fructose from fruits like apple, orange, banana, etc can help the body to gain more energy.水果有自然糖分，是开动一天的好能量来源。