Despite all our differences as high school students, it is fairly safe to say that we all experience the heinous battle of getting out of bed every morning. Whether it’s because of a late night or just lethargy, getting out of bed is a struggle and the 8 a.m. start time is no help. What a lot of us end up doing is frantically rushing through our morning routines and arriving at school half-awake with no energy.

“My alarm wakes me up at 6:50 a.m. but I go back to sleep until 7:10 a.m. It’s pretty hard to get me out of bed, so I stay for another ten minutes. I eat before I wash up and leave the house at 7:40 a.m.,” said freshman Sofia Mediana. “I’m usually in such a hurry that I only have time to eat something simple like fruit or a granola bar. If not, then I bring my food to eat in second period. I rarely get to eat a proper breakfast so I’m often pretty tired.” Like Sofia, many do not have time to eat a proper breakfast in the morning, resulting in lower brain function and lethargy. One way to save time and still fit in a balanced breakfast is to prepare breakfast the night before. Simple, but nutritious breakfasts, such as smoothies and fruit salads, can be prepared ahead of time so there’s no need to prepare anything in the morning. On the other hand, for some, it’s not getting out of bed that’s the hard part, but actually getting to school.

“I would like to say that I wake up at 7:20 a.m., but more realistically it’s probably 7:30 a.m. After washing up and checking things on my phone, I usually don’t have the time to eat breakfast because I walk to school and need to be out of the house by 7:45 a.m.,” says freshman Purba Khan. For those whose commute is longer, one way to save time is to utilize your transportation method. For example, breakfast can be eaten in the car and emails and social media can be checked while walking to school. Instead of taking time out of your already hectic morning schedule, make the most of your time spent commuting to catch up and prepare for the day ahead.

Lastly, the most common problem of all: constantly hitting the snooze button. When our first alarm rings, our first instinct is to hit “snooze”, having faith that our next alarm will wake us in the next five or ten minutes, but the minutes will eventually add up and we’ll be running late before we know it. Although it is easier said than done, the easiest fix is to just stop hitting “snooze”. Ten minutes does not really make that much of a difference when it comes to how much sleep you get, and even if you do fall asleep within that period of time, you will only be sleepier when the time to wake up actually comes.

Mornings are always a struggle for many high school students, and it often results in drowsiness during the school day. Changing your morning routine might seem impossible at first, but it is the small steps that pave the way for change. With a couple of time-saving techniques, you can kick-start the day with a healthy and efficient morning routine.