Being a morning person can benefit college students who often have early classes and handle busy schedules. Waking early can give a fresh, relaxing start to the day. However, it doesn’t come naturally to everyone. Some of BYU-Hawaii’s early risers shared some of their secrets to starting the morning bright and early. 1. Make it ‘you time’ and take your timeShawnee Smith, a senior studying English from Oahu, said, “I do like to wake up earlier because I don’t like to rush. Usually I’ll wake up an hour before I leave. I might just roam the Internet, listen to music or read the news. If there’s a huge project due, I wake up extra, extra early and then I do that before I do my ‘me’ time.” Smith continued, “It kind of ruins my day if I don’t have ‘me’ time before school because usually–throughout the whole day–it’s all about others, teachers or assignments. So in the morning, I like to do whatever I want to do.”2.Eat a good breakfastLito Baldado, a senior studying information technology from the Philippines, said, “I’d rather have a heavy breakfast and no lunch or dinner than not have breakfast and no lunch and dinner. So, breakfast is a must. That will keep me awake throughout the day. A typical breakfast for me is something with rice, a little bit of meat and lots of fruits.” 3.ExerciseBaldado said a big breakfast isn’t the only thing he looks forward to in the morning. He said, “I go to the Fitness Center around 5 to 7 am. I’m exercising for 45 minutes to an hour, depending on the homework load. I usually wake up around 4 o’clock.”4.Put the alarm clock out of reachTori Cornelison, a senior studying elementary education from California, shared, “I have my alarm clock on my phone and I leave it on the other side of my room so I have to get out of bed and go to the other side of the room to turn it off. I always set at least three alarms and sometimes more depending on how early I need to get up. It’s my little system.”5.Listen to Your Favorite MusicKoey Ng, a freshman from Hong Kong studying accounting, said, “I set an alarm that’s a song. I think a song is better than beeping because I’ll like the song. It’s a soft song so it’s easy to wake me up. If it’s a ‘beep, beep, beep’ I just feel annoyed.” 6.PrayCornelison said praying is the first thing she does when waking up. “Praying is something that’s really easy to do out of bed,” said Tori. “It takes very little motivation to get out of bed and pray because it’s still kind of restful. So knowing that all I have to do when I get out my bed is pray helps me take that first step. Then after I pray, I’m ready to take that next step, which is normally showering.” 7.Set a BedtimeSmith said, “At 10 o’clock each night I need to go to bed. Unless I have an earlier appointment, I’ll go to bed earlier. When you want to sleep regularly, you have to go to bed earlier and plan for it.”Uploaded May 22, 2015
Writer: Zoe Safeer
