ePaper_2nd Edition_October 12, 2016
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18<br />
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER <strong>12</strong>, <strong>2016</strong><br />
DT<br />
Feature<br />
5 ways<br />
to maximise your mornings<br />
Photo: Bigstock<br />
Get those early bird benefits<br />
• Sabrina Fatma Ahmad<br />
Do your days begin with<br />
mad mornings where<br />
there’s never enough<br />
time to get everything<br />
done? If you’re not a morning<br />
person, worry not. These five<br />
changes can make the start to<br />
every day a lot more manageable.<br />
Screen out<br />
From work emails to<br />
group conversations to the<br />
#wokeuplikethis selfies, there<br />
are many temptations that<br />
make you reach for the phone<br />
as soon as your eyes open in the<br />
morning, but not only is this a<br />
health risk (who wants eye strain<br />
and computer face first thing in<br />
the morning?) it eats up a chunk<br />
of time and sets the tone for an<br />
unnecessarily hurried day. Even<br />
though the ping of an email<br />
might sound urgent, there’s<br />
usually nothing that can’t wait<br />
for you to get out of bed, stretch<br />
and wash your face at the very<br />
least.<br />
If you can train yourself to<br />
stay away from screen time at<br />
least for an hour after you wake<br />
up, you’ll find your general stress<br />
levels much lower throughout<br />
the day.<br />
A little homework<br />
While an hour of languor<br />
every morning is ideal, not<br />
everyone has the luxury of<br />
taking one’s sweet time. You<br />
can still minimise the rush by<br />
getting some stuff ready the<br />
night before. If you’ve picked<br />
out and ironed your outfit for<br />
the day, packed your bag, and<br />
made breakfast or packed your<br />
lunch before you went to bed the<br />
night before, there will be fewer<br />
things to check off your list in<br />
the morning, and you can pace<br />
yourself more comfortably.<br />
You snooze, you lose<br />
If you’re the kind of person<br />
that punches the snooze button<br />
on the alarm at least fifteen<br />
times before finally getting out<br />
of bed, you’re going to hate<br />
us for this next one. Skip the<br />
snooze and get up when the<br />
alarm rings, and, after a groggy<br />
minute or two, you’ll start to<br />
feel more relaxed throughout<br />
the morning. Snoozing only<br />
gives you the illusion of more<br />
rest, so if you want to wake up<br />
feeling refreshed, it’s better to try<br />
turning in earlier at night.<br />
Breakfast of champions<br />
This has been said so many times<br />
in so many articles, it’s almost<br />
a cliché. Start your day with a<br />
big breakfast, and you’re set.<br />
It stabilises your blood sugar,<br />
keeps you full and less likely<br />
to indulge during the day, and<br />
thus keeps your weight gain at<br />
bay. Also, starting out the day<br />
on a full stomach can boost your<br />
productivity by a significant<br />
amount. And sweet lovers<br />
rejoice – if there’s ever a time<br />
when it’s okay to treat yourself to<br />
something sweet, it’s breakfast<br />
time.<br />
Priorities<br />
To-do lists are awesome. They<br />
help us plan and organise our<br />
Not everyone has the<br />
luxury of taking one’s<br />
sweet time<br />
days. But a to-do list that’s too<br />
ambitious can leave you feeling<br />
frazzled. Go ahead, make that<br />
list in order to put things into<br />
perspective, but focus on the<br />
priorities and focus on getting<br />
the three most important ones<br />
out of the way before you look<br />
at the rest. Strategising about a<br />
smaller number of tasks makes it<br />
easier to manage, and helps you<br />
feel accomplished.•
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