Our genetics typically determine what's called your 'chronotype,' which defines whether you're a morning person or a night owl. The morning person trait often runs within families, but there are certain things you can do to influence it.

Changing your chronotype usually takes around two weeks of gradually influencing your lifestyle and habits, but you must make sure you stick at it. Slacking off could lead to you slipping into old habits. 

Start your day with calmness, mindfulness and gratitude to set the tone for the rest of your day. By altering your lifestyle just a little, the morning can become a time you enjoy.

Benefits of being a morning person

Waking up early has its advantages. It gives you more time to be productive and enjoy your leisure time. It can also go a long way to making your day less stressful.  

Here are our top five tips to becoming more of a morning person.

1. REMOVE ALL SCREENS FROM THE BEDROOM

One of the best ways to ensure you get a good night's sleep and wake up more of a morning person is to limit the number of screens in your bedroom. 

If removing screens from your bedroom feels too drastic, aim instead to turn it off at a specific time. Avoid using your laptop, phone or tablet in bed, as the backlit screen can make it harder for your brain to unwind and prepare for sleep. Most of us spend most of the day staring at a backlit display, which is very confusing for your mind when you then try to settle down.

Your bedroom should be a haven for relaxation and sleep. When it comes to going to sleep, you need to give your brain time to transition. Give yourself at least an hour of non-screen time before bed to help your brain unwind. If you need your phone as an alarm, make sure you turn the brightness to its lowest setting.

2. PUT YOURSELF ON A MORNING SCHEDULE

Aim to wake up, exercise and eat at the same time every morning. Our bodies respond well to routine, but people often get hung up on setting a bedtime. That can affect how much of a morning person you can become. Your bedtime should be obvious as it should just be whenever you start to feel tired. It can often be more important to set a morning routine than a bedtime one. 

Problems typically crop up when you drift back to previous habits and behaviours - especially during weekends and vacations. Having a lie in on a weekend can be tempting, but it tells your body that your early morning routine isn't the norm and enforces your natural chronotype. To become a morning person, continue to get up early every day, even on weekends when you've been out late the night before.

3. INVEST IN A SMART ALARM

Snoozing your alarm for ten minutes lets you go back to sleep for a few minutes without reentering a state of deep sleep. In the long run, however, it can hamper your desire to be a morning person. 

Instead, look to use a smart alarm app that will sense your brainwaves and wake you up gradually so that you're not disturbing REM sleep. This will help reduce that groggy feeling in the morning and help you to become more of a morning person. 

4. GO TO SLEEP WHEN YOU ARE TIRED

While many people will try and stick to a set bedtime, this won't necessarily help you become a morning person. When you've had an exhausting day, we often ignore our brains telling us we're drained and try to stick with our usual bedtime. What this does is hamper your sleep later on. Listen to your body. Ignoring what your body tells you and waiting too long to settle down can end up harming your rest and therefore, your ability to get up in the morning. Settle down when you feel your body getting tired so that you don't end up tricking your mind into staying wired and awake when you finally do try to sleep.

5. MAKE USE OF THE LIGHT

Whether you leave your curtains open for some natural light or use a lamp for an artificial light source, light can have a significant impact on becoming a morning person. Light tells your brain that the day has begun and sends signals to the body to stop producing the sleep-regulating hormone, melatonin.

If it's dark when you wake up, your brain can be easily tricked into believing it's still dark out and therefore it's too early to wake up.

Of course, getting the right amount of sleep and becoming more of a morning person is much easier when you have the perfect mattress. Visit our website to discover exactly how a Sonno mattress could improve your sleep and help you become more of a morning person. 

Good luck!