Why Waking Up at 5 AM Every Day Just Makes Sense

Why Waking Up at 5 AM Every Day Just Makes Sense Waking up early might be either a good or bad thing depending on your sleep pattern and your daily priorities.Sometimes, it can be really frustrating to wake up an hour or two before the alarm goes off, especially after you worked yourself to the bone all night.What’s even more frustrating at times is that after you wake up, you can’t get back to sleep no matter how much you want to.If you’re the kind of person who pushes paper all day and has very little room for rest, this might not be the article for you.However, you will find that most of the world’s successful, hardworking and unique individuals wake up earlier than the rest of the common folk and have a set routine for the morning. Some of those famous individuals include;Apple CEO Tim Cook gets up at around 3:45 am.Vogue editor Anna Wintour gets out of her bed at 5:45 in the morning to play tennis.Virgin Group founder Richard Branson 5:45 am.Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz 4:30 am.The reason why this is the case is so t hat you can get a headstart in the morning and be more productive. By adopting this attitude, you’ll be one step closer to being like one of the most popular and successful folks on earth.It’s all about the sense of control and the heightened willpower you obtain from defeating the inner voice that wants you to get back to bed.Here are some of the reasons why getting up at 5 am could be the best thing to get the most out of your day:1.  ITS THE BEST TIME FOR WORKYou may have noticed how often you, as well as several other workers, check their media devices during office hours and that happens more often than you’d think. It is quite a major distraction and while you may pledge to put it away (some people actually do), it becomes very challenging to do so due to the depth of your urgent responsibilities.This is especially true when you need to check up on your kids if they’ve gotten back from school safely or are not sick. It’s also common to constantly check your email or Slack in order to reply to important messages.Thankfully, those messages and distractions won’t be a bother to you at 5 in the morning. It is literally the best time you can actually have to focus solely on work without having anything else get in the way.You’ll soon realize how much you can accomplish in three hours from then before you get to your office.2.  YOU HAVE MORE TIME TO YOURSELFReserving nighttime for work can be quite distracting due to friends and family members coming home for a visit, your favorite sports game is one and what’s worse is that you’ve been drained from your day.Therefore shifting your personal time for the mornings can give you a chance on all of the favorite things you want to do. It becomes easier for you to do exercise, practice some dancing, read up on some books and catch up on the latest news among so many other things. The best in all of this is that there are no distractions, so you can lounge around however you want.Many of the successf ul early wakers found that doing this leaves them energized for the whole day. They become much more focused on the tasks at hand and become less anxious about their responsibilities.People who don’t do this usually go to work in a rush and are left without having any time to think about what they want to accomplish.Hence, transitioning to mornings reportedly yields more productive results and less anxiety.3.  YOU BUILD DISCIPLINEWhen we normally get up in the morning, with the covers on our face and the alarm ringing at the side of our bed, the little voice in our head saying I’m exhausted.You won’t get used to getting up early with a habit like that. Therefore, you’ve got to reform your habit and the way to do that is by building discipline.This means you’ve got to cultivate this habit into your routine by pretty much forcing yourself out of bed when the 5 am alarm goes off. It won’t just give you enough time to prepare yourself for the morning, but also for life itsel f.If you’re one of those hardwired night owls, you can catch up on as much sleep as you want. But if you haven’t found that stride yet, then perhaps waking up early is the best time for you to hit that peak in productivity. And early doesn’t really mean 5 am, just earlier than when you usually get up.4.  YOU HAVE TIME TO EXERCISE When you’re an early bird, you just enough time to lose some of those unhealthy calories you’ve been putting on. That means you can no longer make any excuses about full schedules or over-demanding office clients and all that. Three hours is plenty enough time for at least a 30-minute brisk walk.It’s up to you and what kind of weight-reducing activity suits you best, be it lifting weights, doing push-ups, cycling or even practicing yoga or tai chi.5.  YOU GET HUNGRIER ALL DAYBecause you wake up early and the fact that you commit yourself to an hour’s worth of exercise, you may feel hungrier for an entire day. So long as the post-exercise enzym es in your stomach are active, you can eat a hearty meal as the digestive process moves your food along quicker.6.  START YOUR DAY WITHOUT FEELING RUSHED We’re pretty sure you’ve had your moments about waking up later than when you were supposed to and then realized that you overslept. This gives you a shot of adrenaline as you quickly go to the shower, make breakfast and make a beeline for your office.Starting your day while feeling rushed is not the right way as you come into the office looking less organized and aware of your daily responsibilities. That’s why getting up early should be part of your everyday habit.It’s okay to be late once in a while, but if this happens constantly, then you need to fix this. It’s the kind of habit that does not fit in well with your boss, friends, and loved ones.7.  YOULL RELISH THE SILENCEWaking up early presents one of the greatest benefits of a hard-working individual like yourself silence. That’s right! Not waking up to kids scr eaming, crying babies, car honking, lawn mower, leaf blower or even television noises is truly the best experience you could wish for.And since you can’t hear anything but a pin drop, you can use this opportunity to take care of any important task you have pending for the office or for the house.As a matter of fact, former general manager of Microsoft, Jeremy Krost, wakes up at 3.30-4 am for two reasons: quiet time and clarity of thought. As the once wise Blaise Pascal used to say, “the sole cause of mans unhappiness is that he does not know how to stay quietly in his room.”This couldn’t be any truer and once you have developed your new morning habits, you will grow to appreciate peace and happiness in the morning hours.8.  LESS TIME WASTED AT NIGHTS AND WEEKENDSWaking up early can make you less inclined to late-night activities, parties or gaming.The reason why that’s a good thing is that it saves you up on much-needed energy for the morning and you won’t end up feeling tired or unprepared for the office, which is also a plus for your health. You also become less inclined to go out on weekends, which allows you to donate more time to your family and relatives for instance.As such, you end up wasting less time during the weekends and nights as well. Going over the clock means that your productivity levels take a nosedive.9.  SAVE TIME AND ENERGY ON COMMUTINGRush-hour traffic can be a real problem if you go to your office like you do every morning. Fortunately, waking up early can easily quell this problem. Taking an earlier bus or train is suitable since it is less busy.It’s more pleasant to travel and you can get to work faster and earlier just to tackle some leftover assignments. If you have a personal commute, you can reduce heavy gridlocks and lower your journey time significantly.10.  YOU SLEEP BETTER It turns out that waking up early allows us to get to bed earlier at night. Because of this, we are able to sleep quicker and easier. This is quite beneficial since office workers no longer feel the need to work right before bed.It’s relatively tougher to sleep after grinding through all that paperwork and emails. But waking up at 5:00 am makes it easier to wind down. Sometimes you may get fewer hours of sleep but you feel better because of the deeper sleep. And using sleep-inducing apps and gadgets makes the experience much better.Another additional advantage is that you may not experience anxiety about the things that you want to do for the next day. The decreased levels of stress can also lead to higher levels of satisfaction.So simply put, getting up early allows you to take care of extra work, get some exercise, save up time and energy on your commute, and lounge however you want. It is by far the most productive and energetic part of your day that you can’t hope to miss out on.Most of the time, evenings are rarely considered the most productive, even for night owls. Many folks spend their evening mindlessly watc hing TV, wondering what kind of drink to have or just doing other stuff around the house. This is obvious as we spend most of our energy for the whole day.Waking up early allows you to structure your day around the peaks of energy. Of course, it doesn’t mean that your new wake up time has to be 5 am automatically, not if you’re a 7:30-8:00 am regular. That’s because getting rid of 2-3 hours of sleep overnight is setting yourself up for failure.HOW TO BE AN EARLY RISERIn order to wake up early at 5:00 am, you’ve got to condition your body by hammering down a few new habits if you want to get there, such as:Establish a Night Time RoutineGetting your body to wake up early requires a good plan. You can’t just automatically make yourself get up at 5 am, especially if your usual wake up time is 7 am.One of the ways to prep your body to wake at 5 in the morning is to start winding down earlier than you normally do. Create a proper night routine that you can stick to every night.P lease note that waking up early is going to be hard and you will find yourself making plenty of excuses to get more sleep. You have to minimize these negative effects by planning ahead with the following:Keep a book or a journal in placeKeep your gym clothes or running shoes laid outEnsure your coffee or energy supplement is ready to goKeep your phone or alarm clock in a position where you can hear it and get out of bed immediately without knocking it down or hitting the snooze button and falling over.Switch Off Your Digital DevicesBe sure to keep your digital devices away for the last 30-60 minutes of the day before going to sleep. Every hour that you’re exposed to your phone or tablet’s blue light, the melatonin production in your brain stops, which is the key hormone for sleep.Focus on BreathingSome of the biggest sleep preventers are your negative mood swings such as anger or frustration, especially after you’ve had a long day. To get around this, focus on your breathing p atterns to change your physiology so that you can get to bed with a relaxed mind instead of always thinking about your problems.Visualize Your Way to Sleep Several studies show that when Olympic athletes visualize for an hour, it’s equal to seven hours of physical practice. So before going to bed, it is imperative that you put your electronic devices away and devote 5-10 minutes using various visualization techniques.Tire Yourself to BedIf you want to go to bed earlier but aren’t tired, then make yourself tired by reading a book or listening to a podcast.Open Curtains Before Going to BedBefore going to bed, it is important to open your curtains so that you can be exposed to the first rays of the sun in the morning. This contains a range of benefits such as promote calcium absorption, empower immunity and strengthen bones.CONCLUSIONSo now you see how productive and efficient your day can become by waking up early in the morning. It’s worth noting that waking up at 5 in the morn ing is a bad idea only if you’re trying it out and don’t have any plans for the wee hours.You don’t need to wait until 2019 to create a resolution plan to wake up early since most resolutions fail anyway. Instead, you should try making the habit of getting up early into a ritual for December.That’s because the holidays are usually the time when you eat and drink more.But be sure to keep those calories in check by waking up early and going to the gym. It may be a hard journey, but it will be worth it in the end.