Waking up on the wrong side of the bed? Maths expert discovers the best way to start the day

Virgin Radio

28 Jul 2022, 08:12

Want to know the best way to start your day, every day? It’s all down to maths, according to one expert. 

Arithmetician Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon has developed a new scientific formula for how to ‘wake up on the right side of the bed’ at the start of each day. 

The study follows new research by Special K Crunchy Oat Granola, which found that the average UK adult admits to waking up in a bad mood twice a week, equal to a staggering total of 8,881 moody mornings over a lifetime. 

Special K asked 2,000 Brits about their morning routine, and the findings revealed over a quarter of Brits (29 percent) regularly ‘wake up on the wrong side of bed’ and 39 percent don’t know how to turn their day around if it starts badly. 

A further quarter (25 percent) of us also claim that it’s not until at least 11am before the tired and grumpy feeling even starts to lift.

Almost half of us (49 percent) blame a tired morning on broken sleep, while 28 percent admitted to not having a good breakfast. 

Dr Imafidon, who has featured on shows like Countdown, studied the factors that affect how we wake up and start our mornings and used the results to develop a scientific formula for how to ‘wake up on the right side of the bed’ every day. 

Using the following variables: 

• s is minutes spent showering 

• e is minutes spent exercising

• b is minutes spent eating breakfast

• h is hours spent sleeping

• w is difference (in hours) between when you get out of bed and 7.12am

• c is minutes spent on any other unique ‘getting ready’ activities, divided by 2 (e.g. word puzzles, reading the news, meditating)

• g = 37 (based on the ideal number of minutes to get ready on average, identified by the study)

Dr Imafidon suggests the combination of showering, exercising and having a good breakfast are the core elements for Brits to have a good start to the day.

Breakfast is doubled in the formula to give it more weighting, as this was voted as the top priority for Brits to get off to a good start in the morning.

The study found that 6.44am is the optimum time to wake up time and 7.12am the time to get out of bed for Brits, followed by spending 10 minutes in the shower, 21 minutes exercising and 18 minutes eating breakfast.

The data shows sleep is also an important factor for having a good morning. The formula applies the theory that the less sleep you’ve had (using 8 hours as the ideal amount) and the further from 7.12am you get out of bed, the less effective any time spent showering, exercising or eating breakfast is on helping Brits start the day in a positive mood.

Dr Imafidon explains: “It’s interesting to see how different factors in our morning routine can set us up for the rest of the day. Having this formula is a great tool to help start the day right. Not everyone has the same routine but a combination of the different elements should be key to ‘getting out of bed on the right side’ - especially after so many of us admit to regularly getting up in a bad mood!”

With the formula in place, will you be changing up your morning routine?