Us career girls often have to get up early in the mornings and on little to no sleep. Everybody’s got an alarm clock and most people know how to use it by now, but waking up is the easy part. It’s the getting out from under the warm blankets we struggle with. We always hear that saying ‘The early bird always catches the worm’ and we want in, so, here are some techie and traditional tips for getting up that little bit earlier in the morning. Worms all round!

The Techie Methods

#1 Set multiple alarms
Set one alarm every 5 minutes starting from 20 minutes before you have to be out of bed…that way you’ll feel like you’re getting a little snooze before you really need to get up and into the shower.

#2 Sleep apps
An app like Sleep Cycle will monitor you whilst you’re in the land of nod, analysing your sleeping pattern and calculating when the perfect time is to wake you up. Supposedly waking you up when you are in the lightest sleeping phase will make it easier for you to make it out from under the duvet!

#3 – Wake-up lights
A light such as the ‘Wake-Up Light’ from Phillips could be the answer if you struggle in the mornings. Gradually brightening over time, this light is another piece of fascinating technology designed to wake you up as naturally as possible. With the Phillips version you can even choose to be woken by birdsong. How Snow-White.

#4 – Try a teasmaid
When I was about 10 years old my grandma told me that her alarm clock made her cups of tea in the morning. In my mind I pictured a beautiful scene reminiscent of Beauty & The Beast, teapots dancing and singing their way from the kitchen to her bedside. Since then, I’ve found out it’s a real thing. Yep thats right, an alarm clock that makes hot drinks! Surely that would get you up?!

#5 – Radio alarm clock
Another fab invention to help us get to work on time and with all the amazing radio alarm clock apps you can get now, it doesn’t have to be an expensive method. Set your radio to come on about 15 minutes before you need to be up, choose the right station and you’ll be dancing out from under the covers!

The Traditional Methods

#1 – Morning mantra
Find or write yourself a mantra to say each morning when you wake. Try something like ‘I am awake and ready for the day’ and say it to yourself when you wake up. Mouth it, croak it, whisper it, speak it, sing it, shout it! Increase your enthusiasm and psych yourself up and out from under the covers!

#2 – Knocker uppers
Before alarm clocks were as reliable and readily available as they are now, there was such a thing as a knocker upper. A knocker upper was a person employed to knock on all the windows of people who needed to be up for work! Now I’m not suggesting you employ somebody to knock on your bedroom window every morning (especially if you live in a 2nd floor flat like I do!) but try getting you’re housemate to give you a knock in the morning, knowing they’re out of bed might just who you into shape too!

#3 – Leave your curtains open
This could be brutal now we’re into June and the Sun comes up around 6! But this is what all those techie apps and light up alarm clocks are based on, the real life Sun! Waking up with daylight is natural and actually, quite nice.

#4 – Make it a game
Try rewarding yourself if you make it out of bed a little earlier each morning. Small victories are what it’s all about. If you get up 5 minutes earlier than you managed the day before, reward yourself with a little treat, maybe a coffee from your local cafe instead of the rubbish instant stuff they supply at work. Whatever you know will motivate you.

#5 – Power down the night before
Getting a good night sleep is important. Going to bed earlier is an obvious solution but getting up earlier isn’t necessarily about that, it’s about getting the right kind of sleep. In a fast paced world where we’re never more than a few second away from a laptop, phone or tv screen, our brains don’t have time to switch off at night. Try taking an hour before you go to bed to stop. Read a book, stretch, talk to somebody and take time to power down, you’ll probably sleep like a baby.