Why Elena starts her day with exercise

• 31 Oct, '18
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If you live at [The Ascent](https://www.iconinc.co.uk/locations/liverpool-the-ascent), you might be wondering what the secret is to Elena’s endless energy. We caught up with her to find out what it is that makes her such a morning person and now we’re inspired!

Q: We need to know, do you sacrifice sleep to get up early?

Elena: Not at all, I actually try to get as much sleep as possible but I structure my sleeping pattern around my daily tasks, rather than my lectures. You can seriously mess up your sleep by just waking up in time for lectures each day. Having a proper systematic sleeping pattern, where you wake up and go to sleep at roughly the same time each day, is crucial. And a sleep in should only be one or two hours more than your usual get up time.

Q: So what do you do with all that spare time once you’re up?

Elena: That’s a good question! What's the point of waking up and then just slouching around because you’ve got nothing better to do? Make it purposeful! Wake up with a goal. Wake up with determination. In all seriousness, I dedicate that time to myself and start every day with exercise. I know that might not sound appealing if you aren't a fan of sports or exercising but trust me, once you start you'll love it. It’s addictive! It can be anything from yoga, Pilates, boxercise, running, CrossFit... Personally my go to morning exercise is swimming.