The Russians were prompted how to turn from an “owl” into a “lark”

Russians who want to change their wakefulness regime and turn from an “owl” into a “lark” should postpone their activity until the morning. Tatiana Veselova, associate professor of St. Petersburg State University, chief freelance specialist in occupational medicine of the Health Committee of St. Petersburg, told PRIME agency about this.

According to her, the wakefulness regime is associated with a phenotype, which is 30% dependent on the genome (innate characteristics), and 70% on environmental factors. In fact, only 10% of people are either “owls” or “larks” throughout their lives. The remaining 90% have the chronotype “pigeons”, which can adapt to any regime, depending on the surrounding conditions.

Veselova believes that those who are determined to change their wakefulness regime will have to show a fair amount of patience. “The recommendations should be followed every day for at least three weeks – this is how much time is needed to create new neural connections and develop a new habit,” the expert clarifies.

In her opinion, in order to rebuild your daily routine, you must: strictly observe the daily routine, without making an exception even on weekends; have breakfast immediately after waking up, have lunch at the same time, and have dinner until 19:00; do not drink coffee and other invigorating drinks after 15:00; give up alcohol; the last meal should be no later than 2-3 hours before bedtime; transfer physical activity mainly to the morning hours, no later than 15:00.

In addition, Veselova points out, after waking up, it is necessary to turn on the light and immediately get up, “not allowing yourself to bask in bed for a single minute,” and to reduce stress, you should change the ringtones more often so that “you do not have time to get bored.”

At the same time, the expert advises to plan some kind of activity after waking up: exercises, a little cleaning, washing dishes – this will help you wake up and feel productive in the morning.

However, Veselova adds, if people have an innate “owl” chronotype, then all the above recommendations are unlikely to help, and trying to “re-educate” yourself is useless – it is better to find a job that matches your biological rhythms.

We also recall that earlier psychologist Dmitry Sinarev gave several tips on how to wake up refreshed.

In particular, he does not recommend jumping out of bed abruptly – the human psyche does not like abrupt transitions, “revolutionary paths”. This applies to both the nervous system and the musculoskeletal system.

“When you wake up, give yourself a minute to lie down just with your eyes closed, wish yourself good morning, take a few deep breaths to ventilate your lungs, wiggle your fingers and toes, stretch from your heart, like in childhood,” the specialist advised.