For years I’ve had a getting out of bed problem.  A mixture of broken sleep due to iron deficiency and before that, severe insomnia.  At one point I had to limit myself to only staying up for more than 24 hours one day a week, because I was doing it two, three or sometimes 4 days a week.

I don’t really know what fixed my insomnia but I’ll tell you if I work it out.

My inability to get out of bed had been ruining my life for years.

Here’s what I did that solved it:

1. Set a regular bedtime, something that gives you the eight hours you need.  If you use one of those sleep apps that tells you that you need 7 hours and 24 minutes and 12 seconds of sleep, make sure you’re feeling rested when you wake up – you may want to consider sleeping for longer.  If it’s working for you – great!

2. Start going to bed at least an hour before you plan to be asleep.  I start going to bed at 9:00pm to get up at 6:30, that way I’m guaranteed to be asleep by 10:30, which is the cut off point to get my eight hours.  I played around with half an hour but it wasn’t quite long enough.  Anyway, unless you fall asleep within minutes of lying down, you’ll need to be in bed a little bit early to definitely be asleep by your intended time.

3. Don’t look at the clock once you’re in bed.  It can start your subconscious doing maths, which will keep you awake.

4. Make sure your room is a good temperature and that enough air is getting in – I have found that sleeping with the door open helps me get up because I get more air, and therefore I get a better sleep.

5. Consider iron tablets.  If you find yourself waking up groggy (when you finally awaken), and suffocating at night, you might not have enough red blood cells. Iron and protein can help here.

6. Get out of bed when the alarm goes off.  Don’t go back to sleep for “five more minutes.”

7. Make a thing you do in the morning that’s important to you.  For me, that’s blog posting.  So every morning my motivation to get out of bed isn’t work or days off, it’s that I need to post on my blog (or check my stats, if I’m not doing an article that day).  Some people find a shower or exercise is more motivating.  I like to do them a bit later in the day.

Well that’s what I’ve found works for me.  What do you do to get up in the morning?