Berkeley Scientists Discover Secret to Waking Up Alert and Refreshed

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley have found that by focusing on three key elements – sleep, exercise, and breakfast- one can wake up each morning feeling refreshed and alert.

Tips the researchers identified: Sleep for a longer duration and at a later time, engage in physical activity the day before, and consume a breakfast low in sugar and high in carbohydrates.

Do you feel sleepy until you’ve had your morning coffee? Do you struggle with sleepiness during the workday?

If you struggle with morning alertness, you’re not alone. However, a new study from the University of California, Berkeley, shows that waking up feeling refreshed is not just a matter of luck. The scientists found that paying attention to three factors – sleep, exercise, and breakfast – can help you start your day without feeling groggy.

The findings come from a detailed analysis of the behavior of 833 people who, over a two-week period, were given a variety of breakfast meals; wore wristwatches to record their physical activity and sleep quantity, quality, timing, and regularity; kept diaries of their food intake; and recorded their alertness levels from the moment they woke up and throughout the day. Twins — identical and fraternal — were included in the study to disentangle the influence of genes from environment and behavior.

In the new study, Vallat, Walker, and their colleagues looked at the influence of genes and non-genetic factors, including environment, on alertness upon waking. By measuring how alertness varies among individuals and in the same individual on different days, they were able to tease out the role played by exercise, sleep, type of breakfast, and a person’s glucose response after a meal. Credit: Raphael Vallat and Matthew Walker, UC Berkeley

The researchers found that the secret to alertness is a three-part prescription requiring substantial exercise the previous day, sleeping longer and later into the morning, and eating a breakfast high in complex carbohydrates, with limited sugar. The researchers also discovered that a healthy controlled blood glucose response after eating breakfast is key to waking up more effectively.

“All of these have a unique and independent effect,” said UC Berkeley postdoctoral fellow Raphael Vallat, the first author of the study. “If you sleep longer or later, you’re going to see an increase in your alertness. If you do more physical activity on the day before, you’re going to see an increase. You can see improvements with each and every one of these factors.”

Morning grogginess is more than just an annoyance. It has major societal consequences: Many auto accidents, job injuries, and large-scale disasters are caused by people who cannot shake off sleepiness. The Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, the Three Mile Island nuclear meltdown in Pennsylvania, and an even worse nuclear accident in Chernobyl, Ukraine, are well-known examples.

“Many of us think that morning sleepiness is a benign annoyance. However, it costs developed nations billions of dollars every year through loss of productivity, increased healthcare utilization, and work absenteeism. More impactful, however, is that it…