After being a night owl most of my life, I recently started going to bed earlier in the evening and started getting up earlier in the morning. I read that getting up early was a common trait of successful people. Since I want to be a successful person, I decided to give it a try. In this article, I list several benefits of waking up early, based on my personal experience. I also provide tips on how to wake up early in the morning and become an early riser.
Benefits of Waking Up Early
Below are some of the benefits of waking up early:
- More productivity. You are the most rested in the morning and the most tired in the evening. By increasing your morning time, you increase the time during which you have more energy to complete daily tasks.
- Healthy eating. By giving yourself more time in the morning, you will have more time to prepare a healthy breakfast and pack a healthy lunch. You will also save money.
- Exercise. When you plan to exercise in the morning, you are less likely to cancel an exercise session because you are tired, have to work late, or have to attend to some other task. You may also experience an additional caloric burn due to exercising during a fasting period (i.e. the time you were asleep).
- Easier commute. You have the flexibility to arrive at work or school earlier in the morning, you may encounter an easier commute. The earlier you hit the road, the fewer cars you will encounter. If you take public transportation, you may encounter less of a crowd and fewer delays.
- Less time for time-wasters. Once you become an early riser, you will have less time in the evening for watching TV, binge-watching Netflix or playing video games.
How to Wake Up Early in the Morning
Here are some tips on how to wake up early in the morning:
- Start on a day you are not busy. On the first day that you start to wake up at an earlier time, you may be tired. Consider starting the new sleep regiment on a day when being tired won’t have a big impact, such as a day when you are off from work or school.
- Go to bed earlier. This may seem obvious but I’ll state it anyway. Set an earlier bedtime and stick to it. When I first started waking up early, my bedtime was nine hours before my new away time.
- Ensure that your bedroom is quiet and dark. Make sure your bedroom is free of distracting light sources, such as a laptop or a computer. If your smartphone has a nighttime setting that silences, notification sounds, use it.
- Put your alarm clock away from your bed. If your alarm clock is next to your bed, that will make it easier to hit the snooze button or off button. If your alarm clock is across the room, you will have to get out of bed to turn it off. Once you are out of bed, stay out of bed.
- Immediately get out of bed and start your morning routine. Resist laying back down for even a moment.
- Turn on the radio. Hearing your favorite tunes or listening to breaking news can help you get into awake mode.
- Keep the same schedule seven days a week. You may be inclined to sleep in on your days off. Doing so may hinder your ability to become an early riser in my opinion. Also, the benefits of waking up early are the same on your work and school days as they are on your days off.
- Sleep in when you need to. Once you have converted to being an early riser, don’t be afraid to occasionally sleep in. It’s more important to get enough rest than to rigidly stick to a set wake time.