Wake Up Energized: The Science-Backed Habits You Need Before 10 PM
Do you find yourself struggling to keep your eyes open until that first cup of coffee? Are you battling persistent grogginess throughout the day? You are certainly not alone in this common morning struggle. However, you may have noticed some individuals who consistently wake up feeling refreshed and ready to tackle the day. What is their secret? Contrary to popular belief, they are not born with this ability. Instead, they have cultivated specific, simple habits completed before 10 PM that function like superpowers for morning energy.
The Three-Part Prescription for Morning Alertness
A groundbreaking 2022 study conducted by scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, and published in the prestigious journal Nature Communications, has identified three critical factors that play a decisive role in waking up energized. These factors are sleep, exercise, and breakfast. The research demonstrates that by making intentional adjustments in these areas, you can significantly reduce morning sluggishness and enhance your daily alertness.
The study involved a detailed analysis of 833 participants over a two-week period. Researchers provided participants with various breakfast meals and equipped them with wristwatches to meticulously record physical activity, sleep quantity, sleep quality, sleep timing, and sleep regularity. Participants also maintained detailed food intake diaries and consistently logged their alertness levels from the moment of waking and throughout the entire day. Notably, the study included both identical and fraternal twins to help separate the influence of genetics from environmental and behavioral factors.
Key Findings: Your Previous Day Dictates Your Morning
The researchers made a pivotal discovery: staying alert in the morning is primarily a result of the previous day's habits. The formula for success involves getting plenty of exercise the day before, achieving longer and later sleep, and consuming a breakfast rich in complex carbohydrates while being low in sugar.
"All of these have a unique and independent effect. If you sleep longer or later, you’re going to see an increase in your alertness. If you do more physical activity on the day before, you’re going to see an increase. You can see improvements with each and every one of these factors," explained Raphael Vallat, the study's first author and a postdoctoral fellow at UC Berkeley.
The Crucial Role of a Smart Breakfast
Starting your day with a sugar rush can have detrimental effects not only on your current day but also on your alertness the following morning. The study underscores the importance of a breakfast high in carbohydrates yet low in sugar.
"A breakfast rich in carbohydrates can increase alertness, so long as your body is healthy and capable of efficiently disposing of the glucose from that meal, preventing a sustained spike in blood sugar that otherwise blunts your brain’s alertness," Vallat elaborated.
Senior author Matthew Walker, a UC Berkeley professor of neuroscience and psychology, added further insight. "We have known for some time that a diet high in sugar is harmful to sleep, not to mention being toxic for the cells in your brain and body. However, what we have discovered is that, beyond these harmful effects on sleep, consuming high amounts of sugar in your breakfast, and having a spike in blood sugar following any type of breakfast meal, markedly blunts your brain’s ability to return to waking consciousness following sleep."
Prioritizing Quality Sleep for Morning Freshness
To wake up feeling truly energized and fresh, a sharp focus on sleep is non-negotiable. The study found that sleeping longer than your usual duration and/or sleeping later than your typical time leads to a rapid increase in alertness immediately after awakening.
Researchers recommend seven to nine hours of sleep as ideal for combating sleep inertia, which is the inability to transition effectively to a state of functional cognitive alertness upon waking.
"Considering that the majority of individuals in society are not getting enough sleep during the week, sleeping longer on a given day can help clear some of the adenosine sleepiness debt they are carrying," Professor Walker noted. "In addition, sleeping later can help with alertness for a second reason. When you wake up later, you are rising at a higher point on the upswing of your 24-hour circadian rhythm, which ramps up throughout the morning and boosts alertness."
The Power of Physical Activity
While the exact mechanism remains unclear, the study confirmed that physical activity the day before significantly improves next-day alertness. Vallat theorizes that exercise is generally linked to better sleep quality and a more positive mood.
"It is well known that physical activity, in general, improves your alertness and also your mood level, and we did find a high correlation in this study between participants’ mood and their alertness levels. Participants that, on average, are happier also feel more alert," Vallat stated. "It may be that exercise-induced better sleep is part of the reason exercise the day before, by helping sleep that night, leads to superior alertness throughout the next day."
Importantly, the research concluded that genetics plays only a minor and statistically insignificant role in determining next-day alertness, placing the power firmly in the hands of individual habit and behavior.
