The four key factors that make a difference in waking up well in the morning are power through to lunchtime alert and refreshed at one end of the scale, grogginess and multiple taps of the snooze button at the other.
The team behind the study says the factors can be changed to make sure we get off to a better start.
The team of researchers led by Raphael Vallat of the University of California (UC) Berkeley asked "Why is it that we human beings vary in our alertness from one day to the next?"
Why don't we wake up feeling alert yet another day?
A total of 833 people took part in the study, most of which were twins. Food intake, physical activity, sleep patterns, and blood sugar levels were recorded over the course of two weeks.
Sleep profile is the first factor that matters. It was found that sleeping longer and waking up later was associated with better mornings.
The amount of exercise people got the day before was one of the factors. Increased levels of movement in the day, as well as less physical activity at night, were associated with more continuous and less disrupted sleep.
Breakfast was available. Morning meals with more calories had the opposite effect on the brain. The researchers could focus on the nutrition of the food if the calories were kept the same.
A surge in blood sugar levels after breakfast was associated with reduced concentration. Participants who ate a high-carb breakfast had a lower bloodglucose response.
Too much sugar leads to a sugar crash instead of a sugar rush because the body processes food differently.
The age of the volunteers, the mood of the volunteers, and what time you go to bed and what you have for breakfast are some of the factors that can affect daily alert.
The results show a set of factors that are not fixed. According to Vallat and colleagues, the majority of factors associated with alertness are not static.
The team wants to investigate some of the mechanisms behind these associations to gather more accurate data, and the participants reported their levels of sleepyness, which weren't measured using any scientific instruments.
In addition to reporting their daily behaviors, participants ate standardized meals and wore an accelerometer wristwatch to measure sleep and activity, which is better than most studies that only use questionnaires.
A challenge for future studies will be determining how and why sleeping longer and sleeping later, relative to that person's typical norm, boost morning alertness. Oversleeping can affect wellbeing.
The safety of those who work in jobs where mistakes can be fatal, including firefighters, nurses, and airplane pilots, is affected by improvements in sleep quality.
The researchers say that the failure to sustain alertness throughout the day is a major cause of road traffic and occupational accidents, accounting for thousands of deaths each year.
It is estimated that insufficient sleep is responsible for significant work related loss of productivity, greater healthcare utilization, and work absence.
The research has appeared in a journal.
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