“Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise”. You must have heard this famous saying from your parents, or your grandparents or your well-wishers. We always reserve the difficult tasks for the day and reserve the night-time for resting and energising our bodies. This is not just a saying but there is a scientific logic behind the same.
As the day turns dark, our body naturally releases a hormone called melatonin through the penial gland. The release of melatonin indicates the presence of darkness. The presence of light can affect the production of melatonin in your body. Hence, we switch off all the lights before sleeping. The sleep cycle of a person is also linked with the circadian rhythm (24-hour internal clock). This rhythm is an internal, natural process which is directly influenced by the presence of light around us. Hence, we feel sleepy at night and awake and fresh during the day.
Bad sleeping cycle can disturb the natural process inside the body and can have a long-lasting effect a person’s physical mental as well as physical health. Therefore, people face jet lags when they travel through different time zones as their body takes time to adapt the new time zone.
Benefits of Waking Up Early
Plan out your life, lifestyle. Take notes of what is working out for you and make another list of what is not working out for you. This will help you analyse your habits, eliminate your bad habits and take up habits that benefit you in the long run.
There are several benefits that are being connected with waking up early. If you already wake up early, you must feel the benefits of that in your life. Those who do not see the morning sun usually miss out on the advantages of waking up early. Here is a list of benefits of waking up early:
- FOLLOW A MORNING ROUTINE
Greet the day in the morning. Waking up early and having a morning routine or a morning ritual can make a major impact and can become a great start for your day.
The best part of creating a morning ritual or a routine is that you can choose whatever you like. You can be unique with your ideas. You need not follow what someone else is following because that may not work out for you. You can fix a time to wake up, fix a time for your morning tea or coffee, read a book, go for a walk, meditate or follow anything that works out for you. Do what you enjoy doing, experiment and enjoy the process.
MORNING TIME, PRODUCTIVE TIME
Early morning hours are believed to be the most productive time of day because you are more energised, fresh and hence, productive in the morning. There are usually no distractions in the morning and you get uninterrupted time to yourself. You can accomplish any task faster when you don’t face distractions.
When you start your day early you can get done with a large portion of your tasks early in the morning, this not only helps you stay active but also keeps you productive and joyful.
- CATCH THE SUNRISE
The sunrise is usually accompanied with the sound of the birds, the sound of the rustling leaves and the warmth of the sunrise. The morning time is the best time for collecting your thoughts, to set a direction for the day or simply to enjoy your own company. Catching the sunrise not only warms your heart but makes you feel a deep connection with the nature. Aligning your body with the nature’s clock is a good way to balance internal natural processes of your body.
- DO NOT FORGET YOUR BREAKFAST.
When you rise up early, you start your day early, you follow your routine early and try to complete everything you are supposed to do for the day early. That means you can have your breakfast and early and start your day.
It is believed that the gap between the time of your dinner and your breakfast is the longest gap time in which you do not eat. So, when you eat in the morning, you are eating to fill the gap of the longest time, that is why it is called Break-Fast, indicating breaking the fast. Hence, it is important that you consume something healthy, wholesome and filling so that you gather the energy to remain active and productive throughout the day.
If you do not wake up early you are more likely to neglect your breakfast or may skip it altogether.
- MORNING EXERCISE
When you make up your mind to exercise in the morning, you are more likely to get done with it rather than delaying it for the day, as there is a high chance that you might get busy and skip it. Morning meditation and exercise not only relaxes your mind but also helps you start your day better while feeling energised for the whole day.
Exercising is a great way of maintaining a healthy lifestyle, connecting with your own self and identifying, accepting and eliminating your weaknesses and work simultaneously on your strengths. Exercising everyday can give you long term benefits in life.
- LESS PANIC
When you wake up early you get time to plan your day better and in a more efficient and relaxed manner. You are relaxed and you are able to inspect and introspect every aspect of the thing you think about. As you proceed with your day, you work on several things and clutter your mind, hence it becomes difficult to make an informed decision. Hence, brainstorming in the morning is the best way to think great ideas and plan out your day.
When you are relaxed, your mind stays calm and at peace, hence you can start your day better.
- IMPROVED SLEEPING PATTERN
When you wake up early, you are more likely to get in bed and sleep early. When you stay productive and active throughout the day, you stress out your mind and body and do not find it difficult to fall asleep on time. Your body then works accordingly and syncs itself with the inner processes of your body. When you sleep early your body relaxes itself against all the stress it takes up all day along, and when you wake up early you feel rejuvenated and relaxed.
Completing proper sleep cycles can positively impact both of your physical and mental well-being. When your mental and physical wellbeing is maintained, you tend to feel happier, stay energetic and joyous all along the day.
- SET GOALS FOR YOURSELF
Ask yourself what do you really want out of your life? What would help you to achieve that goal? Ask yourself often if you really want to move forward or just rest at the moment. Analyse your needs and wants make a list of things that you should do in the day, what would help you to achieve your goals better. Ask yourself questions often, analyse and appreciate your progress and move with determination towards your goals.
- TIME FOR YOURSELF
When you wake up early, you get more time to focus on yourself, you get extra me time for yourself to work on things that you might not get time for during the day. It is most important for a human being to spend time with themselves in life, it not only makes you aware about your needs and wants but also motivates you to become a better version of you for yourself.
HOW YOU CAN WORK ON BECOMING AN EARLY RISER
- TAKE BABY STEPS
Take baby steps and set small goals for yourself. Figure and analyse what would work out for you in the long run and what would not. Follow your morning routine, exercise to energise yourself. Eliminate anything that restricts you from becoming better and believe in yourself.
- GET OUT OF BED AS SOON AS YOU WAKE UP.
When you get out of bed when you wake up, you are more likely to not sleep again, and lose your time. You may start by going to the washroom, you may keep the alarm clock is away from you, so when you get up to switch it off, it is most likely that you are awake and you do not sleep again.
- DO NOT OVERTHINK.
Believe that you can follow this lifestyle and you deserve a better life for yourself. Do not let your mind to talk you out of it, because even if once you talk yourself out of waking up early, you are more likely to continue it and create an unhealthy pattern out of it. Go to sleep early, on time and make the most out of it.
- MOTIVATE AND REWARD YOURSELF.
Motivate yourself to live a better lifestyle, count the pleasures and benefits of having better and physical wellbeing in the long run. Focus on things that makes you happy and eliminate anything that pushes you back from your goals.
Reward yourself for achieving small victories in life. Be kind to yourself, believe in yourself and understand that everything great takes time and constant efforts. Before you sleep, imagine all the things that will make you happy doing the next day, so that before sleeping you know you would be doing things tomorrow that makes you happy and content.
- STAY AWAY FROM SCREENS
Staying awake on screens can help you sleep on time, sleep better and hence wake up early. Staying on screens can consume a lot of your time and may restrict you from doing the activities that you are actually supposed to do. Make a list of important things to complete on screen and discard anything not important at the moment.
CONCLUSION
Waking up early comes with better lifestyle, healthy habits and hence improves your productivity. You just need to make yourself aware of your pattern, make better choices for yourself and choose everyday to have a better day than today, in order to grow and learn better in life.
YLCC would like to thank Saloni Mann for her valuable inputs in this article.
