As the clocks go backwards for the winter, both mornings and nights quickly become darker, leaving us with minimal daylight hours. This makes it harder to motivate yourself to get up early and can often throw your body clock completely off. Below, discover some of our top tips to guide you on how to deal with dark mornings and nights.
How to Deal with Dark Mornings and Nights
Drink Coffee
A caffeine boost in the early morning should help you to kick-start your day, regardless of how early you’re up. Combat the tiredness, boost your energy and quench your thirst all at once and you’ll forget that it’s even dark until you draw your curtains or step out of the door. Discover some new coffee recipes in our blog below.
Our Top Coffee Recipes
Here at Mankind, we’re sharing our top coffee recipes with you to help boost your energy and kill your exhaustion so you can make the most of Christmas!
Sit in The Light
When sat in light for just 10 minutes, it encourages your body’s natural production of serotonin. This is the feel good hormone that keeps your mood boosted and maintains balance within other aspects in life. During the summer, light naturally reaches you but when mornings are dark, you must switch lights on to have the same effect.
Use Cold Water
Changing your temperature quickly will encourage blood flow and increased heart rate, great for waking you up. If you can’t quite bring yourself to take a cold bath or shower in winter, try drinking a cold glass of water or running your wrists under the tap when you wake up instead. Interested in the other effects of cold water? Read our blog below.
Are Cold Showers Good for You?
Lately there has been a lot of controversy around the temperature of your daily shower. As nice as it may be to take a hot, steamy shower to maintain the warm feeling from your bed, the idea of cold showers has been popping up recently. Wondering why you would even want to take a cold shower and how that would benefit you? Find out here at Mankind whether to stick to the heat or switch up your shower for good.
Eat High Protein Meals
A high protein diet improves brain function and makes you feel more alert, which is definitely needed on dark mornings and nights. Not only that, it will also help you to keep your immune system up throughout the winter. Unsure of what foods to incorporate into your diet? Discover our top high protein foods below.
Get Vitamin D
During the summer, the sun provides you with an adequate, healthy amount of vitamin D. However, in winter you tend to lack this essential vitamin unless you manually incorporate it into your system. Try taking vitamin D supplements once per day to replace the lost nutrients. They will also help to improve your bone health.
Sleep Earlier
It may seem obvious, but going to sleep earlier will make a positive difference. It will be easier to go to sleep earlier anyway due to the dark nights, but it will also help you to feel more refreshed when you wake up in the morning. You can click below to read our top tips on getting to sleep earlier.
How to Go to Sleep Earlier
With so many big days approaching, there is a mountain of things to do. Working wears you out so it’s really important to get some shut eye a lot earlier than usual. Check out our top tips to help you to go to sleep earlier!
Try Concealer
If the dark mornings and nights are really taking their toll, try adding a dab of concealer around the eye area. This will brighten up dark circles, helping your eyes to appear less puffy and tired. Don’t forget to click here to find out everything you need to know about applying concealer for men for a natural look.
What are your top tips for dealing with dark nights and mornings? Let us know on Twitter.