Rise and Shine: How to Beat Morning Fatigue

Can’t stop hitting the snooze button no matter how many hours of shut-eye you get? Do you feel stuck in zombie mode when you wake up, even after eight hours of restful sleep? You may be dealing with morning fatigue, a drowsiness that can put a damper on the start of your day. 

Fortunately, there are plenty of strategies you can use to get an extra boost of energy in the morning.

If you’re ready to banish tiredness in the A.M., there are several proven methods you’ll want to check out. Keep reading to learn how to not be tired in the morning so you can start waking up energized and refreshed. 

What Causes Morning Fatigue?

The primary reason you feel stuck in a haze upon waking up is because of something called sleep inertia: a feeling your body experiences as you transition from being asleep to being awake.[1]

While sleep inertia is a perfectly normal experience, it can actually have an impact on your motor skills and cognitive performance.[1] This explains why morning fatigue can feel so frustrating, especially if you think you got quality sleep the night before. 

You may also notice you feel especially tired if you wake up to an alarm, rather than waking up naturally. This is because when you’re asleep, your brain releases hormones, like cortisol, that cue your body when it’s time to wake up.[2] However, if you continue to sleep past this point or wake up too soon, you may get up during a period of deep sleep. 

This can cause you to feel extra fatigued when you wake up, even after getting several hours of rest.

Symptoms of Morning Fatigue

Maybe you struggle with getting out from under the covers, or you notice that you can’t quite seem to focus when brewing your first cup of coffee. These signs may indicate morning fatigue. While it may not be a significant cause for concern, it can have an impact on your life—especially if you need to take care of important tasks shortly after rising. 

Symptoms of morning fatigue include:

• Trouble concentrating or making decisions
• Feelings of frustration, worry, or anxiety
• Brain fog
• Slowed ability to move or speak
• Gastrointestinal upset, especially related to feelings of anxiety or overwhelm

Unless you have a sleep disorder like insomnia or restless leg syndrome, you may be able to combat your morning fatigue on your own with a few helpful tips. Whether it’s adjusting your diet or making small lifestyle changes, creating new habits can ensure you wake up feeling ready to take on the challenges of the day ahead. 

Energizing Morning Habits for a Bright Start

Several habits can help you beat your morning fatigue so that you can put your best foot forward each day. Just like implementing an evening routine, implementing a routine in the morning can have a lasting impact on the rest of your day. 

Here’s a look at a few steps you can take to start feeling more like yourself as soon as you wake up:

Eat a Nutritious Breakfast

You may have heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. While experts may not have come to a consensus about which meal should be your top priority, there’s no denying that a great morning routine usually begins with a well-balanced meal. After all, maintaining a healthy diet is crucial for balanced energy levels and your overall well-being. 

When it comes to breakfast, try to stick to foods like:

• Whole grains, like oatmeal
• Fruits and vegetables, like bananas and bell peppers 
• Healthy fats, like avocado
• Lean proteins, like eggs or turkey bacon

Avoid starting your morning with sugary foods and refined carbohydrates. These can cause your blood sugar to rise temporarily, only to leave you feeling the crash an hour or two later. 

Giving your body and brain the healthy nutrients they need can help you overcome your drowsiness and start your day with a boost of energy.

Start Your Day with Sunlight

Exposing yourself to sunshine in the morning actually reduces melatonin production. Melatonin is one of the primary hormones responsible for sleep, and it can help signal to your brain that it’s time to go to bed (or when it’s reduced, that it’s time to wake up). 

Just like sleeping in a dark room can help foster melatonin production and support your sleep cycle, introducing light in the morning can help you feel energized and awake. Plus, getting outside for a morning walk is a great way to incorporate exercise and physical activity into your morning routine.

However, melatonin reduction isn’t your body’s only reaction to sunshine.[3] Sunlight also triggers the production of serotonin, which can improve your well-being and mood.[4]

Ditch the Snooze Button

As tempting as it may be to catch an extra five minutes of sleep, hitting the snooze button may actually be causing more harm than good. In fact, waking up to an alarm (especially 3 to 5 times in a row), may increase your heartbeat and blood pressure. 

Additionally, these extra few minutes of rest aren’t enough to get restorative sleep and can instead cause you to feel more drowsy and lethargic. 

Cut the Caffeine

While you may be used to starting your morning with a cup (or three) of coffee, ditching caffeine can actually help you feel more awake in the long run. This is because caffeine attaches to receptors in your brain that are responsible for producing energy. 

At first, you’ll feel like you have more energy, but in reality, caffeine uses up the natural energy-giving molecules that you already produce. This then causes you to feel like you’ll be exhausted without your daily Americano. 

But don’t fret! Just because you decide to skip the espresso doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy a refreshing beverage in the morning. Luckily, there are many coffee alternatives for energy. 

Instead of coffee, consider drinks with natural herbal ingredients, like a kava kratom tonic. Kava, also called kava-kava, is an herbal remedy made from the Piper methysticum plant, a shrub belonging to the pepper family.[5]

Native to places in the South Pacific, kava has long been used for medicinal purposes. Though kava itself doesn’t provide energy, it’s become popular in Western countries for its mood-boosting and relaxation-enhancing qualities. Other benefits of kava include:[6]

• Creating feelings of calmness
• Increasing sociability in group settings
• Elevating mood 
• Fostering positive feelings

Because of its recent uptick in popularity, you can now find kava in a variety of forms, including plant-based energy drinks, capsules, teas, and tonics. However, as with many natural remedies and herbal extracts, not all kava products are created equal. That’s why it’s important to find a reputable manufacturer you know you can trust, like Botanic Tonics.

 

Adjusting Your Evening Routine for Morning Alertness

While there are plenty of practices you can add to your morning routine to get your day started right, you can also get a head start by preparing your mind and body for better sleep the evening before. 

Here are some bedtime strategies to help you fall asleep calmly and get plenty of rest so that it’s easier to combat drowsiness when you wake up:

Try Meditation Before Bed

To ease your mind and body into a state of relaxation before bed, you may want to consider giving meditation a try. Medication is a practice that can help you overcome feelings of stress and reframe the way you respond to your own thoughts and emotions. This can allow you to: 

• Calm your mind before you go to sleep
• Process your feelings with ease and self-awareness during the day

If you’re new to this practice, you can even start with some basic breathwork techniques to calm your nervous system and help you feel more grounded as you prepare for bedtime. Even taking just 10 minutes every evening to calm your mind and reconnect with your body can help you have a more restful night's sleep, allowing you to wake up feeling more refreshed.

Don’t Overeat at Night

While it’s important to fuel your body throughout the day, overeating in the evening can have a detrimental impact on your sleep quality. Depending on how long digestion takes, large meals in the evening can leave you feeling sluggish come morning. 

Instead of indulging in snacks at night or consuming the majority of your food during dinner, try to eat balanced meals and snacks over the course of the day to ensure you have a continuous supply of energy.

Improve Your Sleep Hygiene

Sleep hygiene, also called sleep habits, includes practices that help ensure you get good-quality sleep.[7] Here are some ways you can upgrade your nighttime routine:

• Keep your room cool and dark, especially right before you go to sleep
• Take a relaxing bath or shower to lower your body temperature before bed
• Maintain a consistent sleep schedule so that your body knows when it should be tired
• Avoid coffee and alcohol in the few hours leading up to sleep

Although they may seem like minor adjustments, altering these small habits can help you improve your sleep hygiene and make a big impact on how you feel when you wake up. 

Foster Brighter and More Energized Mornings with Botanic Tonics

If you’re ready to kick-start your morning with natural, energy-boosting ingredients, you may want to give kava a try. At Botanic Tonics, our kava tonics and capsules are only made with non-toxic, high-quality ingredients free from heavy metals and unnecessary additives. 

You can rest assured that everything from our feel free kava capsules to our feel free tonic has been rigorously tested to ensure their quality and effectiveness. 

Discover a new, more energizing way to start your mornings by exploring our collection of kava products today.

Sources: 

1. National Library of Medicine. Waking up is the hardest thing I do all day: Sleep inertia and sleep drunkenness. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5337178/
2. John Hopkins Medicine. Sleep/Wake Cycles. https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/sleepwake-cycles
3. National Center for Complimentary and Integrative Health. Melatonin: What You Need To Know. https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/melatonin-what-you-need-to-know
4. National Library of Medicine. How to increase serotonin in the human brain without drugs. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2077351/
5. University of Hawaii at Manoa Library. Traditional Pacific Island crops: kava. https://guides.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/paccrops/kava
6. UCLA Health. Ask the doctors-what are the risks and benefits of kava? https://www.uclahealth.org/news/ask-the-doctors-what-are-the-risks-and-benefits-of-kava
7. Center for Disease Control. Tips for Better Sleep. https://www.cdc.gov/sleep/about_sleep/sleep_hygiene.html