The pressure to be a morning person is pretty intense.
If you’re reading this, you’re likely either an early riser, thinking about becoming one, or neither… yes, I’m talking about you Sam Stinger :).
You may feel pressure to wake up at 5 a.m. With social media and the new comical morning routine trend, waking up early certainly feels like the move.
People may be wondering what my morning routine is. No, it does not include rubbing a banana peel all over my face. When I’m on my A-game, my morning routine includes drinking electrolytes (usually Nuun or LMNT), a workout (usually a running workout – follow me on Strava!), some select exercises and stretches that are important to me, a healthy meal (usually a green smoothie), and a shower to feel fresh for the day.
In this article, Alexa Mikhail writes about how waking up early could boost your life with 5 key steps:
- Don’t sacrifice sleep. Waking up early should not compromise sleep, as prioritizing rest through good sleep hygiene is essential for mental health, productivity, and overall well-being.
- You can ‘slow down’ your morning without getting up super early. To reduce morning stress without sacrificing sleep, try choice reduction and prep the night before.
- Know your strengths and weaknesses. Be honest with yourself and evaluate whether waking up earlier will enhance productivity and well-being, or simply add more tasks to your day.
- Don’t expect to adjust right away. Transitioning to an earlier wake-up time may be tough at first, but patience and self-acknowledgement can help as your body adjusts.
- Have an intention. On tough mornings, reconnect with your personal motivation. This can help you push through, as relying on trends alone won’t sustain you. For me, this looks like mapping out exactly what my workout will be. So all I need to do is roll out of bed, get dressed, drink some electrolytes while I’m warming up and waking up, then go!
Waking up early is often linked to success. Think of someone successful in your life. Chances are, they wake up early! Waking up before the world gets busy allows time for personal time and priorities. By building a habit of waking up early, you develop consistency and time management, traits common in successful people. Give it a shot!
Charlie Coppola
Waking up at 5 a.m. every day could improve your life. 5 key steps can help make it work for you
“The pressure to be a morning person is pretty intense,” says Samantha Snowden, a mindfulness teacher at Headspace, the popular meditation app.
So, will waking up at 5 a.m. make all the difference to your day? Some experts say yes.
For starters, getting up earlier can improve confidence, Snowden says, because it can feel like an accomplishment. And there’s something to be said for not constantly feeling like you’re in a rush, which only elevates stress levels and negatively impacts mental health.
Slowing down helps our nervous system ease off the gas and regulate our thoughts, Snowden says. And if you can use those extra morning hours to make time for yourself in a way that calms you down, it can bolster productivity and make you feel less depleted by the end of the day.
If you’re contemplating rising before the sun, experts say you need to keep in mind the following …
Don’t sacrifice sleep
Choosing to move up that alarm should not come at the expense of sleep. Over time, a lack of sleep can lead to negative mental health outcomes like anxiety and depression and put people at risk for chronic illnesses like heart disease.
“Everyone has a different kind of job with different kinds of demands, and a lack of sleep can present many challenges for us, as far as emotion regulation [and] our ability to focus,” Snowden says. “These are big capacities that we need to get through the day, to be productive and do our jobs well, and to be present for our loved ones.”
“If getting up at 5 a.m. every morning creates a barrier to you getting enough restful sleep, don’t do it,” says Benders-Hadi.
You can ‘slow down’ your morning without getting up super early
Waking up early helps diminish that uncomfortable feeling of being rushed. But Benders-Hadi says there are alternative, more incremental steps that can instill that sense of slowness without sacrificing sleep.
One way is through choice reduction, or limiting the number of things that you need to decide on the morning of a busy day when your stress levels tend to peak.
“Think about reorganizing your morning routine so you have less to do, for example. Lay out the clothes you plan to wear the night before,” Benders-Hadi says. “Prep your breakfast and lunch meals to-go ahead of time, and do the same thing for any family members you may be caring for.”
“You’re checking in with your body sensations, your mood that morning, and you’re observing it with non-judgment, with openness,” she says. “That sets the tone, that sets the rhythm, the speed, [and] the pace of your morning.”
Know your strengths and weaknesses
Benders-Hadi recommends we all be honest about whether a few more hours in the morning will improve our well-being. For those who work better without distractions, in a quieter environment, or who need a longer self-care routine to feel productive during the day, getting up early can help.
“You should also take into consideration whether the change in routine will lead to improved productivity, or whether they will just be stuffing more into their day,” she says. “Regarding work, for example, do you have a set amount of work you need to accomplish each day, where starting earlier enables you to finish earlier, or will getting up earlier simply add more to your plate?”
Don’t expect to adjust right away
Especially for night owls, choosing to get up earlier won’t feel comfortable immediately. The body’s circadian rhythm, or natural body clock, needs time to adjust to the new routine, Snowden says.
Have an intention
On days when rolling out of bed feels downright impossible, it’s important to return to your intention to get up, whether that’s to improve your daily productivity or enjoy extra time to read or work out. Talking to other early-morning risers can help you understand what motivates them. Wanting to follow a trend, especially on the hard days, won’t be enough.
“You’re going to kind of need to connect back to your motivation,” Snowden says. “What is driving this for you? And what do you imagine to be the benefits that you’re really personally going to enjoy and get from this?”
