Written by Kelsey Dickerson, College Life Editor

Waking up in the morning can seem harder as the semester progresses, but there are a few ways you can make getting out of bed easier.

Planning ahead of time may be what you’re missing if you have trouble waking up. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine suggests that having trouble waking up may be a byproduct of improperly planning out your sleep schedule, or underestimating the time you need to sleep.

Establishing a schedule can help your body get into a rhythm, and creating a routine before bed can give your body cues for when it should start winding down in preparation for sleep.

“I always put slippers right beside my bed so my feet aren’t cold in the morning,” Brittney Driver, a senior nursing major, said.

If you don’t have trouble waking up, but can’t seem to get yourself out of bed, there are solutions for that too.

Michelle Segar, a healthy living expert and motivation scientist at the University of Michigan, told everydayhealth.com that setting your intention for waking up early can be the best way to ensure you are motivated to wake up.

“I make deals with myself,” Aaron Purvis, another senior nursing major, said. “Like, if I get out of bed I get breakfast, but if I don’t then I won’t have time.”

Try setting up an incentive for yourself to make it out of bed by having your automatic coffee maker pour you a cup every morning at a certain time, or set up an alarm clock to play your favorite song every morning to automatically boost your mood. Getting as much natural light as possible as soon as you wake up is also a great way to get yourself going.

According to the National Sleep Foundation, exposure to light controls nerve pathways from the eye to parts of the brain that control hormones and other functions of the body that can make you feel wide awake. Bright morning light can also suppress levels of melatonin in your body, the hormone associated with sleep.

Remember that not all advice works for everyone. Even though some specialists suggest that you should never hit the snooze button, or always drink a glass of water when you wake up, those tips may not work for you.

“I set my alarm clock for two hours before hand, and I have multiple alarms on my phone and my alarm clock,” Jonathon Hembree, sophomore accounting major said. “I’ll normally put on a video or news story when I get up.”

It could be best to try out a variety of methods for getting yourself up and stick with the things that work best for you, even if that means tapping your snooze button every once in a while.