Benefits Of Waking Up Early

[Guest]

By early I mean everything 6 am and even earlier. And I mean voluntarily. Doesn't count if you are forced by your job or w/e

I hated waking up early since I can think...literally. First day in school, I hated it. I hated it my entire life until today, I still hate it with a passion. It destroys me.

But I often gave it a try, always with mediocre results because I wanted to increase the quality of my life and my productivity. This week I tried it again, I tried to wake up at 6 am. It was amazing at first, I got so much done throughout the morning. By 10 am I would be done with almost my complete daily routine, it was very nice. But now, after 3 days in a row of waking up at 6 am I decided to give it a rest because:

• I feel tired and unhappy throughout the day
• I eat less
• My results at the gym get more and more poorly, can't lift my max weights anymore
• Actually I don't get so much done, because after like 12am or 1pm i get sluggish and kinda wasted
• I don't feel like myself

And keep in mind this is only after 3 days of waking up early. Today I decided to give it a rest and woke up at 10 am, and I feel better already. my nervous system is regenerating. Tomorrow I will try waking up at 7 am instead of 6, or maybe even at 8. Hostly lifting weights and doing good at the gym is important for me, I'm not sure if I want to risk that.

My question to you is, may it be there are humans who simply shouldn't wake up early? Maybe I should just stay up longer to get my shit done and wake up later. Or is just just the first period of time which is so uncomfortable, and it will get better? Often I read about the amazing habits of people waking up early and what wonders it does for them, but I am not so sure about me. Do you think after weeks of forcing myself through it, it will get better?

I know that I am either not made for this or I am simply just a pussy right now. Thanks for reading and any suggestions you might offer me

Also let us know what waking up early did for you, if you practice it  What benefits did you get out of it?

Edited February 18, 2016 by The Alchemist

[SmokeAndMirrors]

Hi,

I think the amount of sleep one needs differs for every person, but when you get it is a matter of habit. You most likely could get used to it, without bad effects on gym performance or anything else, you should make the shift slowly, though. Yes, you could "make" yourself for it, but no, you are not a pussy, sudden and extreme changes to your lifestyle just make you "suffer" (homeostasis).    

 I got so used to waking up at 4:50 because of work, that it just stayed like that for more than a year after I quit that terrible job (I do not like to get forced out of bed either^^). Paradoxically I get up more easily whenever I could just sleep in, and these are the days when getting up early is really enjoyable to me. The moment you tell me to be somewhere at a certain time and I have to get up to meet that, I hate getting up no matter the time. At the moment I try to get up at 6, no matter the day of the week, it is just easier to have the same time every day, rather than sleeping in on the weekends and shifting back every monday. (I will try to get to 5:30 afterwards)

So why do I still want to get up early even though I do not think the time of your sleep makes a differance? That is simply due to the way our society uses the day. I want to be awake at least 1 hour before I have to leave the house, rather more (that's why I try to get it to 5:30 eventually, have to leave at 7 during the week), so I can do some morning ritual things that really help me (stretching and breathing, lemon water + wheat grass, shower, breakfast, reading, planing the day). It is not only my work that starts at about 8, it's basically the whole society that get's going, and I want to be an active participant. It is hard to organize life (meeting friends and family, shopping, ...), if your wake-sleep-cycle is fundamentally different. So in order to be there right from the start, while still being able to do my morning ritual, I just have to get up early. If you live alone on a mountain, don't want to do a morning ritual or do not care for the social stuff, you probably do not benefit from getting up early.

"The early bird catches the worm."  might be true for many birds, but you probably wont impress any owl with that saying (they are pretty happy sleeping in, leaving the worms to the day shift and eagerly catch mice during night time, I suppose). So in short: It strongly depends on the circumstances of your life, what time is the best for you to get up, as long as you sleep the amount you need and get done what you want to get done during your waking hours. It just so happens that most people live in a "daylight society", need to be at a certain place at a certain time, and would profit from a morning ritual, hence the well meaning advice to get up early.

bye

paul

Edited February 18, 2016 by SmokeAndMirrors

[Psychonaut]

Quote

I feel tired and unhappy throughout the day

If you are tired, sleep a bit in the afternoon. When I sleep for 1-2 hours in the afternoon I wake up fresh. It is like I have two days in one day.

I am also a long sleeper, but I get a lot more done if I consistently wake up earlier. When I get up at 11am it's about 1pm till I have showered, meditated, cooked and eat. Then I do something and it 4pm, 6pm, day almost done. Eat, time flies by, its dark and puff day is gone. 

[Guest]

@Psychonaut When I sleep 1-2 hours in the afternoon I could actually just wake up 1-2 hours later, and regarding the management of time the results would be the same , it would also be more practical not to divide the day and I would not feel so tired anymore. 

@SmokeAndMirrors Yeah you are right, maybe I should just slow down and take it easy, since I have no pressure to wake up early. I don't want my gym results to suffer, so I should probably just start with waking up at 7 or 8 am and work myself slowly towards waking up at 6 am.

thank you for your advice guys.

[Psychonaut]

Sleeping 2 hours more in the night is not the same as sleeping two times a day. Google biphasic sleep. I don't have a rigid sleeping cycle, but if I am tired during the day I sleep. There is no point in trying to force it through and drag yourself down by being tired. You cant be as productive. But not being tired by just sleeping enough during the night is also fine. You just have to find what works for your daily time schedule.

[Scarecrow]

I wake up at 5:30 every morning since school. I felt horrible and tired all the time for a long time. But i kept waking up at the same time even on days off. Now my body is programed to wake up at that time,dont even need a alarm clock. And i feel great because my sleep schedule is consistent. Cant even sleep in till 6 because my bodys ready to go. Its touture for a while, but edventually you will feel great in the morning if you keep wakeing up at the same time every day no matter what. Plus your heathy morning routine of course.

[Ian]

Honestly, I think there is more to sleep than just the number of hours you get. I have absolutely no evidence other than my own experience, but I am at least 5 times happier being awake 11am - 2am than 7am - 10pm. I get to wake up to glorious sunshine (sometimes) and I enter my best flow state at around 10pm. I absolutely adore night time.

I know I shouldn't "want what's natural if what's natural is shit" (Leo Gura), but in this case I think going with what feels like my natural sleep cycle is what's best.

There is nothing inherently more productive about certain hours of the day - the only consideration is when other people will be available. If that's not an issue in your life, then choose what gives you the most energy and ability to get things done!

Edited February 18, 2016 by Ian

[Guest]

@Ian thank you for sharing your story. I love this statement "What's natural is shit" lmao, I often think about this statement. Yeah i definitly feel better when waking up later

[Phocus]

@The Alchemist When you're waking up early, are you restructuring your day so that you're going to bed 4 hours earlier when you wake up 4 hours earlier and waking up naturally (aka without an alarm clock)?  I don't do that currently, but when I was in the Navy I used to go to sleep right when I got home from work and would wake up extremely early (so that my leisure time was first thing) and I felt exceedingly well rested as well as many other positive side effects.  I wouldn't think that 3 days is enough time to evaluate the effect of a change like this since it requires such a big shift in your daily routine and would take time to adapt to.

[ayokolomo]

16 hours ago, SmokeAndMirrors said:

Hi,

I think the amount of sleep one needs differs for every person, but when you get it is a matter of habit. You most likely could get used to it, without bad effects on gym performance or anything else, you should make the shift slowly, though. Yes, you could "make" yourself for it, but no, you are not a pussy, sudden and extreme changes to your lifestyle just make you "suffer" (homeostasis).    

 I got so used to waking up at 4:50 because of work, that it just stayed like that for more than a year after I quit that terrible job (I do not like to get forced out of bed either^^). Paradoxically I get up more easily whenever I could just sleep in, and these are the days when getting up early is really enjoyable to me. The moment you tell me to be somewhere at a certain time and I have to get up to meet that, I hate getting up no matter the time. At the moment I try to get up at 6, no matter the day of the week, it is just easier to have the same time every day, rather than sleeping in on the weekends and shifting back every monday. (I will try to get to 5:30 afterwards)

So why do I still want to get up early even though I do not think the time of your sleep makes a differance? That is simply due to the way our society uses the day. I want to be awake at least 1 hour before I have to leave the house, rather more (that's why I try to get it to 5:30 eventually, have to leave at 7 during the week), so I can do some morning ritual things that really help me (stretching and breathing, lemon water + wheat grass, shower, breakfast, reading, planing the day). It is not only my work that starts at about 8, it's basically the whole society that get's going, and I want to be an active participant. It is hard to organize life (meeting friends and family, shopping, ...), if your wake-sleep-cycle is fundamentally different. So in order to be there right from the start, while still being able to do my morning ritual, I just have to get up early. If you live alone on a mountain, don't want to do a morning ritual or do not care for the social stuff, you probably do not benefit from getting up early.

"The early bird catches the worm."  might be true for many birds, but you probably wont impress any owl with that saying (they are pretty happy sleeping in, leaving the worms to the day shift and eagerly catch mice during night time, I suppose). So in short: It strongly depends on the circumstances of your life, what time is the best for you to get up, as long as you sleep the amount you need and get done what you want to get done during your waking hours. It just so happens that most people live in a "daylight society", need to be at a certain place at a certain time, and would profit from a morning ritual, hence the well meaning advice to get up early.

bye

paul

Wow, I was going to say stop being a pussy and drink some coffee.

[Blessed81]

Thanks for posting this thread, i am in the exact same position you are and i want to wake earlier but its so damn hard.  Now that i am thinking about it i really think its just like any other habit, we need to do it for like a month and then we should get used to it.  I hate that i always have weird feelings about life when i wake up forced by an alarm clock.  I have so many crappy thoughts about my life for the first few mins of waking (is this normal?). Aand then after 5-10 mins i feel ok and i am good to go.  But those first 5 mins of waking to an alarm clock really suck ass.  

I want to be more productive damnit and i love my career so that helps.  I have no idea how people can hit the gym so early in the morning.  I tried it one time and it was the worst workout of my life.  I really think it just has to come from making it a habit and things will adjust.  To the OP, maybe we can have a 30 day challenge and try to keep eachother going for a month and see how we feel after?  Maybe do like a 30 day test lol.  Let me know.  Any other ideas keep them coming in. 

[Dhana Choko]

I think that it is not so much about when you wake up but when you go to bed. It is much easier to go to bed early than to wake up early - at least in my opinion. I have noticed that when I go to bed around 9pm and I read a bit and just calm myself down, it is much gentler and nicer than going to bed in a "hurry" and then forcing myself up at 5 am. I might not wake up naturally at 5 am, but I feel much better if I naturally wake up at around 6am and then start my day. I feel like I have "accomplished" something and it feels so nice and natural. 

[Olsson]

I personally am in a sstruggle right now to find out what my natural rythm is. I figure that when I have time I will live one month without technology and lights to just see what my does. Right now I can wake up early if i want to but have no problems at all sleeping in. And I actually feel better waking up later, altought I like in on another level waking up early. 

[Guest]

@Dhana Choko The problem is that I cannot fall asleep until like midnight, even if I try. Somehow I "wake up" in the evening

@Olsson Yeah it's a struggle indeed, a struggle between following your own rythm and getting that habit in place. How to know what the better way is?

 

I love the day...and I love the night. And the evening...I like to be active at those times. I somehow just don't like the morning...maybe this is the prefect solution. Waking up midday and being awake in the night, oversleeping the whole morning  Maybe that's my nature. What is the use of the benefits of waking up early, when you have no work/school schedule? It doesn't really matter when you wake up and when you rise, there are no benefits.

[Olsson]

I have to say though, that most losers I know they never wake up early. And many really cool guys I know (successful etc) wake up early. 

 

 

[Guest]

@Olsson This is only because mainstream society rewards people who wake up early. If you wake up early you can go to a job...or go to school.

When you wake up late you can't go to school or to work, that's why society considers you a loser.

But not us my friend, we are different. Enterpreneurs like us are not bound by the silly rules of society, this is why we can wake up late and still be massive winners. Just like Leo!

[Markus]

@The Alchemist 3 days? Of course you will feel like shit. You will feel like shit for the same reason jet lag happens: your circadian rhythm has been disrupted and it takes a while to adjust. If you want to experiment with waking up early, either shift your waking time earlier gradually or put up with the consequences of a sudden change. In any case, try it out over a longer period of time.

[Guest]

@Markus Yeah I get it. But is it actually worth it? The benefits still seem only to affect those who got to wake up early. Not sure if I want to let my results at the gym suffer just for shifting my waking time.

[Markus]

@The Alchemist I used to wake up at 5 am for I don't know, 5 months or sth I think. Therefore I'd have time to eat, shave, practice speed reading, do affirmations and visualizations, and meditate before going to school for 8. It felt pretty good to get those things over with. But I think it's being disciplined in general that feels good, time might be pretty irrelevant. Why don't I do it any more? I tend to be more alert late at night than early morning, plus time always seemed to pass too damn fast when I got up early (no idea what that's about). I still get up at 6 so I guess it is not THAT different but I don't do anything besides stretching, showering, eating and watching videos in the early hours. I don't do anything that really requires much concentration.

If you're a social person, you'll probably also find it inconvenient since you have to go to bed early. If you're a cave-dweller like me, and don't have responsibilities related to specific times, I don't think it really matters that much whether you get up at 4 am or 1 pm.

[Guest]

@Markus Yeah that makes sense. I also don't have any responsibilities and I'm also a cave-dweller...actually an attic dweller. Life is amazing when you can wake the fuck up wheneever you want

But on the other hand, there is also the comfort-zone challenge and the discipline side. It's like an ego game. Will I be hardcore, leave my comfort zone and make it? Or will I give in to the ego and wake up when it's easy to do?