In today’s fast-paced life, it has become quite difficult for a person to have stable timings in life. We don’t eat on time sleep on time and also don’t wake up on time. For most people, waking up early before the office or school time is what they have to do. It can be around 7 to 8 in the morning and for most people, this time is enough for their daily routine. But is it enough?
How about waking up as early as the sun rises? Does it have any merits? What about health benefits? Well, it does have various benefits. These benefits are what attract people to take up this lifestyle approach and make it a whole lifestyle choice. Some of the points why waking early is great for health will be discussed below.
Here are 7 benefits of Waking Up Early
Better Productivity:
When you wake up early, you have plenty of time on your hands. People are deep into sleep at this time. For any early person, this time is a golden opportunity. You can do whatever you want to do but can not do normally because of lack of time. This time is great also because as the rest of the world is asleep, you get a peaceful surrounding which makes your mind more productive. It is great for those who are into fields that require a high level of productivity such as acting, music, and other art-based fields.
Weight Management:
According to various studies, people who stay up late at night have it easy when it comes to gaining weight and not being able to maintain it. Waking up early helps in reducing weight. According to one study, night owls consume 240 calories extra if compared to those who sleep on time. It becomes a big issue if you’re trying to keep your weight in check. So for those, who are overweight and trying to lose weight, waking up early is an important step that should always be considered.
Better Mental Health:
Those who sleep early have better mental health. Those who don’t stay up late at night, have less of a particular genetic variation which makes them less likely to develop mental health issues such as depression. Those who sleep late were also to develop more psychological issues compared to early sleepers. Waking up early is great for the mood. It keeps the mood more happy and more optimistic. They have a cooler temperament and are better at gaining skills and learning.
More Life Longevity:
According to a BBC study in 2018, those who stay up late at night are more likely to die early. The study had a good number of people ( 400,000) who were studied and asked to label their waking-up habits. These candidates were seen later on after they died and data showed that night owls died earlier compared to those who used to get up early.
Disciplined Life:
Those who wake up early are more active and have a more balanced lifestyle. By waking up early, you learn to be more disciplined lifestyle. You learn to value the time and to respect the time of others. With a more disciplined approach to life, it becomes easier to have a better and more productive life.
Some tips for waking up early
Now that we know the benefits of waking up early, it is necessary to develop the habit of waking up early. The prominent reason for the habit is that it becomes fairly easy to wake up. Below are some of the steps to wake up early.
- Alarm: For waking up, having an alarm is the best and the easiest way to get started. You can set up your alarm at the right time you need to. You can set up multiple alarms for yourself. The ring of the alarm should also be quite loud so that it can be functional.
- Sleeping early: For waking up early, sleeping early is also a must. If you don’t sleep early, it will be not possible to wake up early as the body needs an adequate amount of sleep. We can sleep early by adjusting our lifestyle like eating dinner early, eating less food, and avoiding any digital screen so that our melatonin production doesn’t get affected.
- Physical activity: The body must have some physical activity for overall health apart from setting the sleep time. When we do heavy exercise, our body gets tired and this makes it easier to hit the bed early.
- Proper hydration: Hydration is necessary for deep sleep. To have decent quality sleep, it is important to drink plenty of fluids. When the body lacks fluid, issues like muscle spasms, headaches may hinder the sleep cycle so it is important to drink plenty of water the whole day and especially before hitting the bed.
- Making the environment comfortable: This is a point that many people often overlook, it is important to have comfortable bedding. A bed that may be too hard or soft, can cause pain and other issues in the longer term which can cause affect the sleep cycle. The room temperature should be quite comfortable and not too hot or cold. Any issue in the environment can make it difficult to fall asleep quickly which in turn makes it quite difficult to wake up early.
Other benefits of Waking Up Early
- Better relationship: This comes as a surprise but sleeping early is also a big point for a better relationship. Those who sleep early have more time on their hand so they can put more time into their relationship. Couples can also take part in certain activities that are done in the early morning such as meditation or cardio workouts that can help in the overall development of the relationship.
- Early rising for the development of better habits: Waking up early works as an opportunity to develop certain habits that can be utilized in the early morning time frame. Habits like meditation, and breathing exercises are some of the good habits that are more likely to be developed by those who wake up early.
- Motivation: Early rising works as a motivation booster. For those who lack motivation, it is a great way to get some motivation and as stated earlier, waking up early gives us more time at the hand so we get time which allows us to do our work which in turn also serves as a big motivation factor.
Last words
The benefits of waking up early are plenty, it is not just limited to biological benefits. It is more than just having better physical health or mental health. It is more about having a great life that is supported by better mental, physical, social, and psychological health. It is important to know about these issues and have a detailed understanding of the benefits.
Waking up early should be taken as an approach for the whole life and it should not be just limited to achieving some goals. It is a whole philosophy of life and should be taken as such. Only then, the full benefits will be achieved. It may indeed take some time to get a hold of this habit but with determination, it becomes just a matter of some time to become an early morning person from a night owl.