“Morning is an important time of day, because how you spend your morning can often tell you what kind of day you are going to have.” Lemony Snicket
One of my current personal practices of this school year is choosing to wake up at 3:50 am three out of five work days. I’ll state the obvious: It’s not fun at the moment the alarm sounds. Messages, vying for attention, encourage me to hit the snooze button and/or skip the early wake up, “just this one day.” After all, one time won’t hurt me. Those messages are strong, loud, and clear as sleep threatens to overtake me, especially now that it is full-on winter with its early morning chill and darkness. I want to be weak and give in, but I know if I give in once, I’ll give in again and again until I ultimately return to old habits that tend to stress me out.
To be clear, the other two work days, I get up one hour later–4:50 am–which, trust me, feels like a treat. By the weekend, I’m exceptionally foot-loose and fancy free, setting the alarm for 5:50, which feels like being served up a warm brownie with ice cream on top!
Okay, okay, perhaps I am being a tad bit dramatic, but the point is that I’ve discovered, after several months of implementation, that waking up early fairly consistently each morning offers me numerous benefits, many of which were unexpected. It began mostly as a way to get in a workout first thing in the morning before going to work, and that is still one of the main motivating reasons. However, I discovered that I was reaping a few unexpected benefits as well.
I became curious and wondered if I was merely experiencing some sort of placebo effect or if there was any solid data/research to support my anecdotal benefits. Therefore, I began to nose around the internet gleaning information from various sites, trying to stick to the more reputable sources of research.
*Early risers tend to be more proactive about their day
One of the first sources I ran across cited Harvard’s Biologist’s (Christoph Randler) work pointing to the fact that early morning risers tend to be more proactive. This is due to the fact that they must think ahead and organize for the morning the previous evening in an attempt to anticipate and minimize potential issues. I can attest to the fact that I had to learn early in the process the importance of nightly organization in order for the early morning routine to flow efficiently.
I continued reading on to learn more. Here are a few more positive benefits to rising early according to those with more expertise than me:
*Ability to accomplish most important task(s) (or personal goal) first thing
Since the early morning hours are typically the quietest, the mind (and schedule) are fairly clear, freeing early risers to focus on the most important, or most challenging, goal of the day–in my case, that’s usually some sort of 5-10 minute devotional, followed by 30-40 minutes of writing/editing/revising/updating website, and finally about 2-3 minutes of clearing out junk work emails that accumulate overnight in my inbox and making note of important emails to tackle first thing at work. I do these few tasks while sipping a cup of coffee allowing me to feel a small sense of accomplishment, even before I head to the gym. In fact, according to the Harvard Review, in a 2010 study, that early morning sense of accomplishment, sets the tone for your day, allowing early risers to feel more agreeable, optimistic, and conscientious. Who knew?
*Morning exercise boosts the brain
As a general rule, exercise benefits the body and mind, no matter what time of day it is completed. However, people with busy schedules find that they are better able to stick with an exercise routine by completing it in the morning. As an added bonus, working out in the morning allows early risers to take advantage of all of the feel-good endorphins produced by the brain after exercise. Plus, exercise reduces heart disease, boosts brain cognition, regulates blood sugar and weight, and tends to improve your mood. Therefore, if completing the workout in the morning ensures that you don’t miss a workout, then early risers are checking several boxes before the start of the official workday. Check, check, and check!
*Outlook and sleep quality improves while risk for depression decreases
Typically, those who wake early, tend to go to bed earlier, and experience overall better sleep quality which can positively increase outlook. We can all relate to how we feel after a horrible night of tossing and turning, especially on a Sunday night after a weekend of sleeping in, when sleep seems so elusive. According to the Sleep Foundation, by keeping a fairly consistent daily wake-up time, including the weekends, you can maintain your circadian rhythm, allowing you to fall asleep faster and sleep better. Additionally, a 2012 study conducted by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research confirms that early risers tend to have more consistent sleep leading to healthy, happy, and overall sense of well-being. Moreover, recent 2021 studies, one published in JAMA Psychiatry and an additional one published in Molecular Psychiatry, point to the fact that rising early can significantly reduce your risk for depression as well as other mental illnesses.
*Increased productivity
Rising early has been shown to increase productivity by enhancing one’s ability to problem solve according to the Journal of Sleep Research. It also turns out that waking up early reduces stress (Think: beating the stress of morning rush hour), increases alertness, and minimizes forgetfulness. Early risers have more time to acclimate to the day by moving beyond that sleep inertia period–that slower moving time period when thinking can still be foggy and the body is not fully awake–increasing focused concentration upon arrival at work, and thereby potentially increasing productivity. Additionally, they have time to complete more tasks before becoming overtired, a major culprit of forgetfulness.
In the end, most researchers agree that by implementing a fairly consistent bedtime/wake-up routine, it is possible to train your body to wake up early. One thing is for sure, I like my sleep as well as the next person, and I certainly don’t enjoy those first moments of the alarm sounding, especially on those three extra-early days. However, the benefits I have discovered, and now confirmed, far outweigh those few moments of discomfort. I am able to meet my daily writing goals, miss fewer workouts while exercising in a fairly empty gym without being dog-tired from work, and I am much more energized and positive, well, most days. The only caveat: I am typically in bed, no later than 9:00 pm, much to my family’s chagrin–not they really mind.
I won’t claim early rising is for everyone, but it’s working for me. Nor can I say that I will do it forever, but for the time being, I will continue with my pre-dawn rising. If it was good enough for Ben Franklin, one of the greatest inventors ever, it should work for a simple school teacher and writer, like me. Who’s in with me?
Steph Simply 