Waking up .
 

Does anyone have any tips on waking up in the morning , I've really been struggling recently and wondered if anyone knew of a specific type of tea ( camomille calms you so there might be one to pep you up a little ) .
I've tryed coffee but I have to drink a lot for it to have an effect .
I think I'm sleepy in the morning because 1. I feel low at the moment and 2. My meds are quite sedative and changeing the dose of them is NOT an option because I don't want another full blown spell of depression , the meds only just got at a theraputic dose.
Hope this makes sence and is in the right folder :)

I always have a cup of Rooibos tea in the morning, or a cup of green tea.
But I'm not sure if they wake me up or anything.

Hey Doikers - not sure of any tea's, but have you tried leaving your curtains open a little, so the sun can creep through in the morning? It is a nice gentle way to be woken, it's bloody impossible to sleep with the sun in your eyes! Failing that, you could use 'The Water Treatment' consisting of a cup of cold water over the head! hope one of these is of use :-D

i can really empathise with the tiredness and hangover-like effect of sedative meds.
All I can really think of is perhaps taking your night-time dose a bit early, say half an hour to and hour so that by the time you get up it is further on it's way out of your system before the next dose. I have had that advice from psychiatrists before now.
Good Luck.
xx

I LOVE a cold shower in the morning, but other people would probably find this horrid, really livens you up though!

I find even a warm shower, wakes me up in the morning. Also if you have time going for a walk can often help you wake up a bit. Or even going outside for a few minutes in the cool air can wake you up a bit.

I don't particularly like the taste but peppermint tea is very refreshing. Green tea with ginseng is supposed to energize you (but ginseng is vile unless it's very, very diluted.)
And if you can find it, sniffing neroli oil gives you a little bit of a buzz and is nice (in an aromatherapy way, not a snorting kind of way.)

Me, I head straight for the shower and wash my hair every morning. I wouldn't attempt to go into a day without it! I'm also on sedative medication, although now am on a lower dose am less heavily sedated.

much to my occupational therapists dismay, I have a few coffees and a glass of cola - as in one after the other, it does make you pee quite a bit! lol

Or when I can (due to severe budget and watchful partner) I like to have a red bull and/or pro plus. The dr's and OT think I've kicked this habbit... but you've gotta have a life right?!

WOW ! Thanx for all the suggestions , I think I'll try Green tea or Peppermint tea first as I actually have some of that already :)
I'm open to pretty much all thats been suggested but I draw the line at chucking cold water over my head , hehe

I definately find having a shower first thing in a morning helped me. At the moment I can't because I don't own a hair drier right now and have to look professional by 8am, often earlier than that so I don't now. But I also find just having a plan on what you're doing for the day and focussing on that and doing things helps keep you awake.

An apple is meant to wake you up more than a cup of coffee or tea does.

^ I heard that too. Someone I know says it works.

Man... The 'Water Treatment' is the best tool in the age old battle of sleepy headednesss!

:tongue2:

^^Either that or have someone wake you by tickling your feet. When I was a teenager, my Mum used to wake me like that - it woke me up enough that I could invent new swearwords on the spot.

Put your cd/mp3 player beside your bed with a funky cd in there.then you can hit play wen your eyes open and let the music wake you up!!

My housemate often has trouble waking and sometimes in a crisis I have to wake him in a hurry with little warning. What I've found works in this situation is the shock treatment. I tell him "you're late" or "the computer is on fire" or something like that. I know a bit weird. I also gave him a song to put as his alarm because the ones on his phone were too quiet. The song is "Bad Day" by R.E.M (if anyone remembers them) and it jerks him out of bed and then he is able to get on with the day. - Just sharing the weird and wacky ways of the world

lol!
if i put on music first thing it will generally help wake me up.
now i'm talking decent happy music, death metal wont work!!
Soundtrack to your favourite movie can work too!

I would advise some sort of black tea. Coffee always wakes me up but makes me jittery. Plus, unlike most peppermint teas, it has caffeine in it!

Good thread, but I have a difficult time even getting out of bed! I hit the snooze for sometimes 30 min......then if I don't have coffee right away, I simply cannot function. I actually set my coffee maker on a timer so I can have some the minute I walk to the kitchen...lol

You could also try doing a morning Yoga sequence. Not sure if you're into that, but Yoga Journal.com has a 20 minute one with Jason Crandall...You may have to google his name, podcasts, and Yoga Journal or something like that because it's kind of hard to find it on the site. Anyways, if you have problems finding it, PM me and I can send you a link or something. He also has some good DVDs out; I dig his style. (Sorry, that was a total Jason Crandall plug. lol)

Edit: Sun Salutations are another idea. They're a series of Yoga poses meant to awaken you. (Duh. lol) ;-)