If you are reading this post, most likely you’ve been searching and reading up on all the benefits from waking up at 5 AM in the morning. You see all these titles like “9 out 10 successful people wake up at 5 AM”, “The miracle of 5 AM” (*this is an actual book, that I’ve read before deciding to start waking up early). You are also most likely thinking you are a night owl and you have no clue how is it humanly possible to do that. Well a year and a half ago I was in your shoes and here is what I’ve learned from this journey.
Not a night owl
The first thing that I learned was that I wasn’t actually a night owl. I never thought that waking up before 12 at noon was humane, especially if you combined that with a morning jog. For me these people were insane. Anyway, like many people, I jumped on the hype train and I can now say with a hand on my heart, that I feel physically bad if I do not wake up early and if I stay up late. So myth one - DEBUNKED
Oh yeah, just to mention this if you didn’t already know that, the switch wasn’t easy, it was hell. I literally fell asleep everywhere during the days, even though I made a transition with a single hour switch per day. Basically, you have jet lag for 2 weeks - you are tired, headaches you feel dizzy and you just want to go hide under a blanket.
The 5 AM is not an important part
The biggest myth is that actually waking up exactly at 5 AM is what makes things amazingly sort themselves out, BUT that is not the case. It actually doesn’t matter if you wake up at 4, 5, 6, 7, or even 8 AM. What is important is to have time for yourself and for the things that are important to you. 5 AM came as an example based on the fact that most people start work around 9, so even if you have an hour commute, you will still have 3 hours free before work to focus on what is really important in your life. (*Spoiler alert for all the workaholics, work ain’t always priority one).
If your work starts later and finishes late, it doesn’t mean you have to deprive yourself of that valuable 8 hours of sleep. It just means you have to calculate how much time you need before work and at what time you need to hit the Z-s in order to be well-rested. Yes, there are some benefits if you go to bed before 23:00, but if you can’t due… well life, you can still make it work.
Mental Benefits
I would say this is the biggest benefit I’ve seen from this schedule, my work revolves around people and deadlines (ain’t every job like that huh), so I have a lot of stress on my plate, not to mention the fact that I was relatively new in Germany and didn’t speak the language yet, which made things even more fun. I can’t stress enough how much having the first hours of the day to myself has helped me be more relaxed, have better emotional handling, as well as not crumble under all that stress. Just imagine the following two scenarios and let me know in the comments which one do you prefer:
Morning 1:
Wake up 30 min before you have to leave for work because you slept through 20 snoozed alarms.
You try to get ready as fast as possible - brush your teeth, put on whatever clothes you find, grab a cup of coffee, miss out on breakfast all while checking your socials.
Run out of the door and stress in traffic, because you are going to be late for that important meeting
1 hour after you woke up you are already at work, not fully mentally active, and starting to stress over things coming your way, just because you still haven’t finished your coffee.
Morning 2:
You wake up 4 hours before having to leave for work
The first 1 hour you use for coffee, some relaxing music, breakfast, and maybe some light reading (yes, reading, not scrolling in your Facebook)
You do for the next 30 to 50 min exercises, yoga, jogging, whatever fits your sports style.
10 min shower.
You have 2 hours to focus on whatever you see as important - spending time with your family, studying to further develop yourself, enjoy a hobby, take a course etc. You can find many books on the topic of identifying what is actually important to you and how to set your goals/to-dos'.
Morning 1 was me before starting to wake up early and morning 2 is me after that and yes it doesn’t always go exactly like, because well… life, but even if you manage to get 3 out of 7 days in the week like that, trust me it is worth it.
Health Benefits
From seeing my example morning schedule, you might already know what I am talking about. We’ve all been there after a hard day at work, feeling too tired to go the gym or for a run, so we skip that day, but the next day is the same, so we skip that as well, etc., but when your body is fully rested in the morning, you had enough time to properly wake up yourself and combine that with morning exercises this will increase your chances of having long term health benefits as well as maybe hitting those new-years-resolutions we always make.
Another health benefit is, by doing this, I started going to bed more consistent, getting my 8 hours of sleep, while taking advantage of the best hours for sleeping between 22:00 and 00:00. This is for me personally, it is not guaranteed that it will work for you, but with this, I stopped feeling like I was chewed up and spit every morning while also minimizing the time need for me to regenerate from 11 to 8 hours.
Personal Benefits
On top of all the mental and health benefits, having this time where my mind is fresh helped a lot in a personal aspect:
I’ve picked reading again (I have a tone of books I want to read)
I had times for interesting online courses to further develop my career
On the occasion when my wife wakes up early we have more time to spend together
I became more consistent with setting and achieving my goals
You can’t do it without this
As already mentioned, this is anything, but easy. Even after a year and a half I still get hit in the afternoon by the need for a power nap and I found one thing that helped me the most with not giving in to the dark side (not that I haven’t occasionally taken an afternoon nap, which screwed up my sleep cycle and every time I do that it takes a painful week to get back to my schedule and feeling good again) and that thing is sport.
In general sport or even any type of movement will get your blood flowing which will bring more oxygen to your head and it will get rid of those napping thoughts. If you don’t have the opportunity to stop what you were doing when you feel tired during the day for a 10-20 min quick work out e.g. you are in the office etc. a quick 10 min walk outside will do the trick.
Sport is also important in the morning to get your heart pumping. A 20-30 min workout in the morning can keep you fresh at least until lunchtime. Speaking of lunchtime, avoid overeating and if possible plan some kind of movement an hour after lunch, so you can combat the sleepiness that will kick in.
Track your sleep
Thanks to my smartwatch I got a tone of detail regarding my sleep cycles and patterns. One thing I found out through this tracking is that what is important is not only how much sleep you get, but when do you wake up. By tracking your REM cycles you can set the alarm for the perfect time, so you won’t feel like you just got run over by a truck. I’ve experimented with this and getting 5 hours of sleep but waking up at the right time of your sleep cycle felt much better than having 9-10-11 hours of sleep and waking up during the worst time of your cycle.
There are plenty of studies and books on this topic as well, so I recommend you grab one like “Why do we sleep” get yourself a smartwatch that has sleep tracking, and find your best wake up time. Keep in mind this may require some trial and error, also forget about the snooze button, this will might be the hardest part, but those 15 extra minutes do not benefit you in any way and you will see it for yourself in the sleep tracker.
Missing out on non-important things
Fear of missing out on a lot of things is what stops a lot of people from implementing a better sleep schedule. What I found out during this is there are three options for activities, people, and stuff in your life once you have your schedule:
It is important so you will find time during the day to take care of it
It is super important, so it is worth it going out of your schedule and suffering at least a week after that trying to get back on track (after 3-4 such important occasions, you will start seeing how many things are actually not worth sacrificing your mental and physical health as well as your other more important goals)
it is not actually worth it - can be rescheduled or you can just miss out, not a big issue the world continues to move on
Morning rituals
Creating your morning rituals is very important to trick your mind to actually look forward to this time of the day and as well as to get the best out of you while you are still fresh. For me what did the trick was the smell of morning coffee, combined with some smooth jazz and a nice book, the training part is always hard for me in the morning, but I do love the feeling I get after that, so I try to think about that instead of how hard it is to exercise in the morning. Some people meditate (personally I found out that this doesn’t work for me as it puts me back into a sleeping mode). Figure out what you like to do, what get’s your brain stimulated in a positive aspect, also what makes you happy, so you can start your day off better.
One thing I try to find at least 10-15 min for in the morning is to schedule my day. Usually, I do a general week schedule over the weekend, but I go over it every morning just to see if something needs changing based on reprioritization. For that, I use Google calendar as it can sync with a lot of different other apps like your Alexa, Samsung calendar, work calendar, etc.
Small tip: you can add a morning routine to your Alexa when you say something like “Good morning” she can give you information on your schedule, weather, traffic and start playing music for you.
Evening rituals
Evening rituals are as important or even more important than the morning ones. Our brains are constantly stimulated by our phones, TVs, video games, and in general screens everywhere. What I’ve done is set a relax timer on my phone which makes the screen black and white 1 hour before bed and mutes all my notifications, I turn off all screens around me grab a book, and slowly unwind from the day. Regarding book choices also keep in mind to get something light for reading e.g. in the morning I might read a technical book for my job, but in the evening I will read something like “The subtle art of not giving a F*ck” (Amazon affiliate link) or even some fiction. There is nothing better than an hour of reading away from screens in the evening to get you counting up the Zs as soon as your head hits the pillow.
You can also include other things like meditation, a hot cup of cocoa, a skin temperature shower (not too warm, not too cold, just perfect). Basically, the goal is to chill and remove anything that is fighting for your brain’s attention, so you can fall asleep at the desired time for you.
Final thoughts and tips
This is not for everyon, 5 am is not a fixed miracle. Experiment, note down your results, when did you feel better, when were you feeling more productive and figure out the best schedule that fits your life.
Tips:
give yourself an extra REM cycle on the weekends if you feel like you needed it
avoid overeating as it makes you sleepy
when making the transition to your new schedule do not push yourself too much as it may lead to unwanted physical effects (dizziness, vomiting, etc.)
the goal is to find a schedule that fits your needs, but also makes you feel better
do not be afraid to fail
Helpful tools, apps, and books (affiliate links) :
Samsung Smartwatch (Amazon affiliate link)
Why we sleep - by Matthew Walker PhD; (Amazon affiliate link)
The 5 Am miracle - by Jeff Sanders; (Amazon affiliate link)
Alexa;(Amazon affiliate link)