How and Why to Become an Early Morning Riser

Is being an early morning riser the key to being a successful and healthy woman? 

Many people certainly think so!

There are many CEOs (Tim Cook, Howard Schultz), and successful, well-adjusted people (Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, and Indra Nooyi) that all say waking up early is the main reason they are able to live the amazing life they do.

But what does being an early morning riser exactly let us do?

Plenty! 

But let’s back up.

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Let’s start with the main reasons why to become an early morning riser!

Why become an early morning riser:

1. Fewer distractions

What kind of distractions can there possibly be at 6AM?

No one in the household is probably up yet. There is no one to ask you what time we’re meeting today, who is making dinner tonight, and what time we’re meeting that other couple for drinks later.

You can do anything and everything! You can do all the things that you want to do, but never seem to have time to finish! 

Or you can meditate, work out, read, journal, anything!

This brings me to the second point.

2. More proactive + better anticipate problems => more successful

Harvard researcher Christopher Randler has found that those who are early risers are more proactive, better at anticipating problems and then minimizing them. 

The result of this – these people are more successful! 

If you are more proactive, you are willing to take risks, take chances that you might back away from if you are a late riser.

With more risk, however, there are more problems. But amazing, early risers are better at anticipating these problems and then dealing with them! 

This leads to success!

3. Gives you a sense of accomplishment

If the two reasons above (no distractions and proactive attitude) are not enough by themselves, simply the act of waking up early, gives us a sense of accomplishment.

Often we’re hard on ourselves – tending to see the negative side of ourselves.

However, the simple act of waking up early gives us a boost of accomplishment right away in the morning. The effect of this – coming up next! 

4. Decreased depression risk

Waking up early has been found to decrease our depression risk.

This may be tied to the sense of accomplishment that we get from waking up early (#3).

This sense of accomplishment gives a boost in energy and positivity that decreases the likelihood of getting depressed.

5. More productive

People who wake up early have more time for organisation, goal-setting, and planning the week. 

The importance of goal-setting and planning our time cannot be understated. 

The result of being able to do this in the morning, is that these people will be more more productive, more successful and less stressed, as much of our stress comes from poor planning.

6. Higher energy levels

Research has found that night owls have shorter attention spans, slower reactions, and lower energy levels.

On the other hand, early risers have higher energy levels. 

Some people think that those 30 minutes of extra sleep time will help increase our energy levels.

But actually, the opposite is true! By waking up early, we increase our energy levels!

With higher energy levels, imagine all you can do! 

7. Time for breakfast

If you’re waking up late, you’re probably taking a quick shower, putting on your makeup, while drinking your coffee, throwing clothes out of the closet trying to decide what to wear, grabbing your keeps, and rushing out the door. 

What is most often put to the wayside?

Breakfast. The meal that is called, “the most important meal of the day”.

It’s the meal that sets the precedent for the whole day. If we eat breakfast, especially a breakfast high in proteins, we are less likely to snack during the day and certainly less likely to go for a chocolate bar or another unhealthy option throughout the day.

Why? 

• We will be full from the breakfast
• Protein keeps us from wanting to snack on carbs

8.  Make healthier life choices

People who are early risers tend to make healthier life choices.

What does this mean?

It means they make healthier food choices – they will eat a delicious salad instead of a burger. They will choose to take the stairs instead of the elevator. They will work out. 

The result of this? 

They will feel better physically and psychologically!

9. More positive emotions and more life satisfaction

If all of the above are not enough for you, research has shown that just by waking up early, we can experience more positive emotions and more life satisfaction.

This one act to your day, can leave you feeling happier with yourself, and with your life.

And how marvelous is that!

If you haven’t noticed, many of these play off of each other. 

For example, a sense of accomplishment decreases depression risk.

Fewer distractions and being more proactive, will make you more productive, which will give you a sense of accomplishment.

They all play together and they all start from waking up early.

So then, let’s get into how actually to wake up early. 

How to become an early morning riser:

Clearly there are many amazing reasons why to become an early morning riser! 

But it’s easier said than done. Maybe you’re looking for a New Year’s resolution, or you want to make a life-change. 

This could be the one change that you make that could impact the rest of your life. 

With all these benefits that we went through above, it makes sense that more positive benefits will come out of it.

For example, with more energy levels, making healthier life choices and more positive emotions, you’ll have positive effects on your relationships, you’ll have more energy at work, work better, be kinder to others, and so much more!

This simple act of waking up early can have more positive effects than only the ones listed above. 

1. Don’t make drastic changes 

If you’re waking up at 8AM right now, all of the sudden waking up at 5AM just isn’t going to cut it. It’s not going to work. You may wake up at 5AM one day, feel awful all day, and then never do it again.
The result of this is that you’re going to feel unmotivated, disheartened, and likely won’t try it ever again.

And I totally agree! Why would you? Why would any of us do something that makes us feel so awful?!

So instead, work your way to 5AM (or whatever time you want to wake up). 

If you’re waking up at 8AM right now, move it 30 minutes earlier to 7:30. After a couple days, when you’ve gotten the hang of that, move it another 30 minutes earlier – to 7AM. 

And continue doing so until you are at the time you want to be waking up.

Even when you get to that time, it takes a while for something to become a habit. So continue on, knowing it will get much easier, and your body will become adjusted to waking up at this new time!

2. Exposure to light 

Being exposed to light right away in the morning has two effects:

1. Causes the brain to stop making melatonin, which will make us want to wake up.
2. Light has positive emotional effects – makes us feel better.

Let’s start with the first one:

When it is nighttime, the dark signals to our brains that it is time to go to sleep. So the brain makes melatonin, which makes us sleepy.

In the morning, the opposite happens. When our bodies sense light, our brains stop making melatonin and we start to wake up. 

The second point: 

Light has been shown to have positive effects on our emotions. It makes us feel more positive, hopeful, and happier. Especially during the winter months.

Getting this hit of sunlight in the morning, gives us a much needed boost in positivity – this will make it easier to get up. We won’t be as grumpy having to wake up so early.

So things that you can do:

• Sleep with the curtains open so that light comes beaming in
• Get a light therapy lamp – it will start shining a sunlight-like light when you wish to wake up 
• Get up and turn the lights on right away (this is probably the hardest one as it relies on us making decisions as soon as we wake up)

These first two are better because we make those decisions the night before, instead of the morning, when we are more likely to hit the snooze button.

3. Give yourself a reward

Making a change in your routine isn’t always easy. It takes some time for something to become a habit. 

There may be days when you feel groggy – especially when you’ve just adjusted your waking up time. 

So it is important to give yourself positive reinforcement. 

What is the thing that will make you super happy? 

Maybe it’s a Starbucks latte on your way to work, a new purse or book, a weekend trip to your local winery.

Whatever it is, treat yourself! 

The reason for this is two-fold:

1. Pavlov’s dog. Let me explain: Your brain will start to associate the positive reward with waking up early. Eventually waking up early will start to give you the same positive feeling that the reward gave you. This means, you’ll start feeling as happy waking up early as when you get a new purse! 
2. On those mornings when it is especially hard to wake up, it’s simply kind to yourself to give yourself a little treat afterwards!

4. Go to sleep earlier 

This seems like such a simple one. But it’s not. 

How often do we stay up late, not doing much? After spending all day at work, it seems so nice to stay up a little later having some more me-time. 

But actually, it’s not the best. We’re too tired to actually even enjoy that time. We are more likely to enjoy the me-time in the morning when we are well rested. 

So to go to sleep earlier, here are a few things you could do:

• Set a time when you want to start getting ready for bed 
• See how long it takes you to get ready for bed and see if you could cut something out 
• Don’t turn on another episode on Netflix. Just don’t. 

5. Take your bedtime seriously

If we’re going to sleep at midnight or 1 in the morning, there is no way we’re going to wake up at 5AM. Or if you’re like me, you’re not even going to wake up at 6AM.

So take your bedtime seriously. We should really be getting 7 hours of sleep. But if you can function with 6, work back from when you want to wake up. 

If that is the time you need to be asleep, see how long it takes you to fall asleep. For most people, it is around 15 minutes to half an hour. Factor that time in as well.

Essentially: wake up time – 7 hours – falling asleep time = time to be in bed.

Example: 6AM – 7 hours – 30 minutes = 10:30 bed time

Take this seriously. 

Like we talked about above, set a timer, turn off Netflix, talk to your partner about your new bedtime, so you are on the same page.

Do whatever it is you need to do to be in that bed at your desired time.

6. Do not rationalize

Take away all decisions that you need to make in the morning and do not let yourself rationalize another 10, 15, 30 minutes of sleep.

What does this mean?

1. Make your decisions at night:

• Where your light is coming from
• Where your phone is going to be 
• What time you are going to wake up 
• Whether you are showering in the morning or evening

2. Stop rationalizing

• Turn off your brain in the morning 
• Go into automatic mode and just get up – don’t think about it – the moment you think about whether to get up, you’re in trouble.

7. Put phone away from you

If your phone is your alarm clock, put it away from you. That way, you will have to get up to turn off the alarm. 

A slight addition to this is to turn on the repeat alarm. 

A trick that happens is that we put the phone away from us, but we set the alarm to ring only once.

So what happens in the morning? The phone rings, and we know it will soon stop. So we continue sleeping. 

So turn your phone on to be annoying, to not stop ringing until we get up and turn it off ourselves!
And then don’t go back to bed! Remember the “do not rationalize” step. You’re up! The hard part is over, just keep going! 

8. Proper nightly ritual

A proper nightly ritual consists of 3 things:

1. Remind yourself why it is important for you to get up early. If you don’t have a reason to wake up early, you simply won’t do it.
2. Visualize waking up early and all that you will do. This will send you positive emotions associated with waking up. And it will get you prepared to waking up early in the morning. 
3. Take a few moments to breath. This is to unwind from the day and get you settled into a good night’s sleep. With a good night’s sleep, waking up in the morning will be easier. 

9. Don’t be so hard on yourself

It takes time. You’re going to have days when you don’t succeed in waking up early.

And you know what? 

That is fine! 

It’s hard changing your routine. And it takes a little while to make something a habit. 

So take each day at a time, and if you don’t succeed one day, it’s not the end of the world. It’s not a reason to give up.

So try again tomorrow. Try something different. Then try again the next day. Remember why you are doing this!

And at one moment you will realize that you are waking up at 5AM effortlessly! 

I hope you’ve enjoyed this article on how and why to become an early morning riser!

Waking up early can truly change your life for the better! 

I hope you have the courage and determination to give it a try! 

Let me know how it’s going!

Also, if you have any questions, or if there is a topic you are dying to know more about, give me a shout-out on Instagram or leave a comment below!

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Have a wonderful week!