7 Amazing benefits of waking up early

A few years ago biologists conducted a transformative study on the benefits of waking up early in the morning discovering a number of shocking advantages that morning people have overnight owls.

The study investigated a physical phenomenon called the circadian clock– a biological meter that cycles within our bodies every 24 hours.

This clock affects when you’re hungry, how fast your heartbeats, and when your body is ready to sleep.

As you can imagine, not everyone’s clock looks exactly alike. We each have something called a chronotype – a unique schedule that determines the times we are most likely to feel tired.

Have you ever wondered why you start yawning a lot around 4 o’clock every day? Well, Your unique chronotype is the reason why.

So, why am I telling you all this? Because those biologists, the ones who revealed some of the advantages of early risers recognized that our circadian clock also tells us when we are most productive by pointing out two extreme time periods which happen to affect every chronotype the same way.

These periods are early morning around 5 AM and late evening around 9 PM – whether you have good sleeping habits or not; your body always treats these extremes the same way. One is for waking up and the other is for going to sleep.

What are those benefits? And does adjusting your sleep schedule really make that big of a difference? Biologists and psychologists have been testing the same exact question for years.

So, am here to tell you about the incredible things they found. Here are the 7 amazing benefits of waking up early. Learn how changing your morning routine can change your life and improve your lifestyle.

1. Discipline

For anyone that has actually tried to wake up at 5 AM, it isn’t hard to see why.

No matter how used to it you are, it requires a remarkable amount of mental fortitude to avoid slamming your hand down on the snooze button.

But there is one cavalier, there are plenty of people in the world who get up this early because they have to.

However, to maximize the benefits you should be getting up extra early by choice. If you know that you could go back to sleep yet still decide to wake up at 5 am every day you’ll gain a unique, intrinsic discipline that can positively impact every facet of your life.

2. Proactivity

A number of studies (1, 2, 3) found that morning people are significantly better at anticipating problems and minimizing the amount of risk involved.

These skills stand from two important observations about individuals who wake up early. They are more proactive in almost any situation and they report feeling more control over their personal and professional lives.

These advantages allow early risers to operate with more confidence free from the cloudiness of an anxious mind. Because waking up early increases both efficiency and spare time they can focus better on their objectives while slowing down to consider new perspectives before making critical decisions.

For the same reasons, morning people are also more likely to work outside of their comfort zones feeling motivated and powerful when facing new challenges.

3. Stress reduction

So, by allowing yourself extra time to complete a morning routine you can mitigate the amount of extraneous mental stress you might experience throughout the day.

Think about it like this: what sounds like a better way to start your morning: Slowly eating breakfast and taking a long relaxing shower or rushing off without food to just sit in bumper to bumper traffic?

Yes, these are two extreme scenarios but this difference actually accounts for a significant disparity between the satisfaction level s of early risers and those of night owls.

Difference between early risers and night owls

In fact, studies(1, 2, 3 , 4, 5, 6, 7) have found that early risers are generally more optimistic, agreeable and conscientious in addition to feeling more in control and ambitious.

Night owls, on the other hand, tend to be creative and intellectual but suffer from higher rates of pessimism, anxiety, and depression.

This is because a relaxing consistent morning routine destresses both the body and mind allowing you to warm up for the day instead of just jumping headfirst into the chaos.

Also read: 5 Easy tips and tricks to help you sleep better

4. Inspiration

This is also a great way to get your mind going before you actually have to go to work or school, ensuring that you are ready to do your best work by the time you get there.

What are the best things to get inspired by? Well, the sources are unique to you. But you have to pick something that directly relates to your goals and challenges your thinking.

Whether you like listening to informational podcasts, watching documentaries or reading thrilling books; use these forms of inspiration to give your day direction.

Remember to learn from whatever you are listening to, don’t just treat it like any other distractions. I personally read the bible in my morning routine, it builds up my character, fills me with positive meditation and energy to help me confront the day’s challenges with joy.

You can even combine your inspirational media with breakfast to stimulate your mind while nourishing your body.

For those of you who find yourselves watching TV every time you eat, this can be a great alternative, just make sure that you are paying attention to portion size because consuming food while viewing media can lead to overeating.

5. Better sleep quality

How many times have you gotten excited to sleep in on the weekends using those late mornings to catch up on some much-needed rest?

The truth is that sleeping in doesn’t really do you any favours because sleep quality has little to do with the actual volume of sleep.

Sleep quality is far more dependent on consistency leaving you the most well-rested when you are able to maintain a regular sleep schedule.

Because of that master biological clock, your body tries to physically prepare for periods of unconscious rest to ensure that you experience four full rem cycles which take about eight hours.

So, whenever you stay up until four or three in the morning you are making it much more difficult for your body to correctly anticipate and enter a deep sleep.

For anyone that has pulled an all-nighter, you may have noticed that you are the most tired right before sunrise then suddenly start to feel awake when you see the sunlight.

Even though you haven’t slept, the presence of light sends your brain a subconscious signal to wake up even though you never actually slept.

So, when you do try to fall asleep, in the morning, your body will be confused, and ill-prepared.

Thankfully, you can avoid all this by maintaining the same seven to eight-hour schedule on weekends allowing you to make the most of your free time instead of wasting it by sleeping too much.

Also read: How to sleep better and feel more refreshed

6. Timing nutrients

I am sure you’ve heard the saying that breakfast is the most important meal of the day but not actually many people know why.

Many people don’t realize that the body still gets hungry while we sleep even if we are just lying in one spot all night. When we wake up in the morning we are actually breaking a fast.

So, it is crucial to refuel immediately instead of waiting until lunch. This is a problem that many night owls face almost every morning. They wake up at around 10 or 11 am so that they are too late for breakfast and too early for lunch which leads them to skip the first meal of the day and over-eat during the second.</p

This habit ultimately slows them down because breakfast is there to wake up our metabolism, which is responsible for converting food into usable energy.

If our metabolism isn’t up and running before that giant lunch, it’s just going to make you feel lazy. This skewed eating schedule is also correlated with weight gain, poor concentration and a lack of productivity. So, avoid these negative outcomes by starting every day with a balanced meal.

7. Quiet time

For individuals busy with school, work, friends, and family quiet time can be hard to come by. They are left with little time to think about their lives, goals, and future because they are always needed somewhere but by starting their day an hour or two earlier they can wake up when the rest of the world is still sleeping opening up daily opportunities to set goals and discover new opportunities.

Whether you want to try a new hobby, start a work-out routine, or just need some time to think; those relaxing morning hours give you the freedom to do work on bettering yourself.

Remember how I said the tone of the whole day is set first thing in the morning? Well, making good use of this quiet time also guarantees that this day will start off stress-free.

It won’t be long before you notice some improvements in performance, decisiveness, and concentration, all thanks to that hour of quiet yet productive free time you earned by waking up early.