Our morning routine, right from the moment we wake up defines a lot in how the rest of our day will pan out. The time to get up from bed varies from one individual to another and is dependent on a variety of factors and today I’ll be providing you with all the answers that come to mind when we talk about waking up early or waking up at 5 am.
You must have asked yourself at one point or another, why 5 a.m is a time you should wake up. The truth is that there are several reasons why this time is a beneficial period to get up. All of which is dependent on several factors.
From increased productivity to heightened activeness, there are many reasons behind 5 a.m being a beneficial period to wake up.
They all go on to be instrumental in different steps you’ll take during the day and your decisions about when you wake up and what to do when you wake up by then. But more, they assist you in making several other decisions. Travel with us on this journey to find out more about this.
Why Is It Good To Wake Up At 5 a.m?
Getting up from bed at 5 am isn’t one of the best for everyone, but the discipline it provides carries a powerful essence that, if adopted, even for a short period, has the possibility of transforming your life and assisting you in accomplishing your biggest ideas and goals a whole lot faster than you ever thought of.
Sleep is one of the most needed resources in our life, important to get on to other activities productively and successfully. Quite a lot of times, all you need to get on is some sleep after a long and exhausting day. Sleeping, after a lot of tedious activities, can feel amazing.
But as important as sleep is, the time at which that is done is important as it possesses a direct influence on the time you wake up.
This connotes that the time you wake up too goes a long way in your life. However, if you’re not someone who’s an early riser, there are reasons you might want to give your morning habits a change.
There are great benefits you open doors to when you adopt the habit of waking up by 5 AM every morning that can provide you with health and productivity, two things that are key in getting yourself a success. Here, we will take you through some of the benefits that you will get when you rise at this time.
1. Connecting Your Body And Mind
At different moments in our life, it’s of great benefit for our body and mind to be in sync. This ensures a lot of your total health and well-being.
Apart from the fact that it increases your productivity in the different activities you embark on, it also amplifies a lot of other qualities such as focus, understanding, and activeness in you, which helps you smoothen several roads you tread on.
When your body understands the time to close its function, it can be a lot less difficult to fall asleep. Similarly, when your body knows when to wake up, it can assist you in working more efficiently, causing you to wake up without feeling exhausted or passive.
With a sleep schedule, you can provide a connection between your mind and body. If you work on ways to get up daily by 5 AM, you give your body a chance to acquaint yourself with waking in the morning and falling asleep the night before.
After some time, your body will have opportunities of developing its internal alarm clock that will signify your wake-up time, giving rise for you to get more energy for the activities you have in the morning.
Waking up at 5 a.m provides you with opportunities of putting your body and mind in sync, paving ways for other benefits which can go on to make your life easier and improve your health and wellbeing.
2. Spare Time To Plan
Work can be quite exhausting sometimes, so much you don’t even have time to complete your tasks or even make a plan for the next day.
I understand how hard it can be to get organized in the evening after a long day at work, school, or even other places. Taking into consideration the time to sleep too, planning can feel like a chore.
Getting up from bed at 5 a.m provides you with opportunities of having some extra time to organize yourself and plan for the day ahead.
After a tiring day ahead and less time to go about some chores when you get back, sleeping early which is also a paramount thing to do can hinder you from making any plan the night before.
But when you wake up by 5 a.m, there are chances you can get on working on your plan ahead of the day. This can pave the ways for you to be extra productive during the day, provide you with confidence, motivation and also prepare you for the tasks you need to achieve.
It’ll ease your worries about getting on your tasks at work successfully and reduce the rush to get them done. With this, you’ll get enough time to make thoughts about your plans and how they can go to be connected productively.
If it’s a diet plan you have, you can make it work a step after the other. With this little time you have in the morning, you work on them without burdening yourself.
Whether it’s being strained about your exams or assignments, with this time, you can plan out some amount of time to achieve those things or maybe even get some extra time to study.
3. Time To Exercise
Keeping a healthy lifestyle is one of the best ways to keep yourself alive and improve your well-being. Your activity level and exercise takes a toll on your health.
And this can be quite difficult to keep up, after a long-filled day and a night packed with more important chores.
More time is gained, to work on your fitness when you wake up at 5 a.m. If you get up from bed in the morning and give yourself chances at an early start, you would surprise yourself with how much exercise you can fit into your morning routine.
From taking a walk, visiting the gym early or just a couple of minutes to stretch, this little time you get just waking up at 5 a.m helps you get it into your schedule, all of which go on to improve your health, in different ways, improve your productivity and keep you in an active state for the day ahead.
4. Healthy Skin
Our skin expresses so many things about us. From exhaustion to an illness on the verge of happening, that part of our body is a channel in letting us know about these symptoms. But more importantly, it’s one of the ways our body protects us from harm, hence the need to pay attention to it.
Your skin is at its best, first thing in the morning when you have a good night rest. When you wake up at early hours like 5 a.m, you get ample opportunities to show your skin some love. Something you might not get the chance to do at other periods.
Similarly, like people who don’t care about their breakfast, people who wake up later in the day pay less attention to healthy morning habits like exercise, which helps oxygenate your blood and gives rise to healthy skin.
Early morning risers can also utilize the spare time to get on certain skincare practices like exfoliating, moisturizing, and cleansing.
People who get up by 5 a.m also tend to possess regular sleeping habits. This way, their sleep routine is predictable thereby ensuring your skin gets proper time to renew its cells and rejuvenate.
Waking up at 5 AM gives you the chance to adopt habits that protect your skin and prepare it for the harsh possibilities the day holds.
5. Some Quiet Time
In a world where we’re surrounded by quite a lot of distractions and noise, the need for some time to find peace is a necessity. Focus, concentration, and opportunities to give things a second thought are a few of the benefits you can get with some quiet time to yourself.
When you wake up by 5 a.m, you give yourself a chance to get up before people around you. Whether you’re surrounded by family, friends, or even roommates, there’s a possibility these people around you wake up after this time providing you with little or no distractions to work on your plans.
Waking up at this time not only gives you some amount of time alone, but it also helps you get by that period without disturbances. A lot of benefits can be found in some quiet time, ones that’ll help your body, mind, and even soul in many ways.
The amount of time you get from this period can be used in a variety of ways. You can complete that book needed for an assignment, listen to your favorite podcast quietly, or work on a project that needs to be finished before the next day, all without any form of distractions.
Don’t hesitate to utilize every single moment you get when you wake up at this time as it’ll go on to help you become more active, confident and provide you with peace of mind.
6. Preparation
Do you have an interview you need to ace? Or a performance you need to get in order? Waking up by 5 a.m provides you with some time to prepare for any important activity you have for the day ahead.
This time you get to yourself, stay devoid of distractions, helping you find different ways to prepare better. This little time you have goes a long way in changing this important event. From visualizing how it’ll pan out to mentally giving yourself several tips to make it better, this time goes on to just increase your possibilities for success.
Imagine you get an unexpected message about a late payment or a fulfillment that is due. Waking up early allows you to be prepared ahead for it and get it done before it creates a problem. It goes to even lessen this shock and instead, provide you with ways to make it happen, giving you much-needed time to solve this issue before it is too late.
Preparing for the day also includes sorting your clothes, eating a good breakfast, or filling up your vehicle’s fuel tank, all of which paves a way for you to prevent any problems that may come up without prior notice.
7. Relieving Anxiety
Waking up late can be quite a bother, so much it goes to create not only worries but also problems like anxiety. On some days, there’s nothing worse than getting up from bed even a minute late. This extra amount of time you spend in bed goes on to disrupt your plans and make you unsettled for the rest of the day.
This worry is one of the leading causes of stress and anxiety by some people. It’s bad because it paves a way for less productivity, frustration, and a load of issues in any activity you embark on.
From working jobs that take a lot of your time to study that do nothing but suck several efforts from you, these activities lose all possibilities of success when anxiety kicks in.
When you get up early, the feeling of rush in you reduces and you get more time to be organized. This helps you in beginning your day feeling at ease, relaxed, focused, and on top of it all, knowing that you’ve got a head start on others and have already completed the most crucial task you have for the day.
And one of the best ways to get rid of this anxiety and accomplish this sense of peace and fulfillment is by turning back the clock and waking up earlier during times like 5 a.m.
8. Better Commuting
It doesn’t matter whether you take the public bus to work or you go to school in your private car, the problem of traffic jams is one we find ourselves stuck in, literally in today’s world.
This goes on to not only make you late but also frustrated, exhausted, and worn out even before you start the bulk of your day.
Waking up at 5 a.m gives you opportunities to avoid this menace by allowing you to properly prepare and set out early. You create higher chances of getting to work safely or any of your activities without any hitches on the road.
Furthermore, you save yourself the problem of excuses, disappointments, or even waste of precious resources and efforts. Waking up at 5 a.m helps in creating opportunities for you to commute better, faster, and in a comfortable atmosphere.
9. Helps You Acquire Good Habits
Beneficial habits like discipline get a chance to be developed when you constantly create a routine of waking up early in periods like 5 a.m.
Understandably, you want to stay more in bed and get more comfort under those sheets but it takes a lot of will to leave this all aside for the greater good. When I learned the art of disciplining myself to wake up from sleep early, several parts of my life experienced a boost.
This attitude, while difficult to adopt, is important in achieving several life steps. By getting out of bed at 5 am, you’ve already done the most difficult thing you’ll have to do all day. You will imprint confidence on your willpower.
If you can get out of bed when it’s uncomfortable for you, it’s solid proof you can make anything work. With this behavior, you increase your chances of success in a lot of things. And, as a famous personality once said, “Discipline is the bridge between goal and accomplishments.”
10. Power To Make Your Priorities
The average U.S individual wakes up between 6.00 and 7. 30 a.m. Waking up by 5 a.m means more time to get on a couple of activities without distractions.
In a world where quite a lot of our activities revolve around our mobile phones, there are some distractions from important calls, social media updates, and emails to mention a few.
But at this time of the day, there’s less attention there which connotes an amount of peacetime for anyone who wakes up by them.
This way, you get chances of asking yourself important questions that’ll help your day and decisions that can influence your day in one way or another. Part of these decisions is the power to set your priorities.
With this, you can work on the most important things you have for the day first which goes on to help you have a head start for the day.
And better yet, by the time you get on other activities you have for the day ahead, you’ll feel calmer, happier, and in a better headspace.
11. Peak State
Peak moments are those times where you experience feelings of being in a state of improved mind. This happens as a result of you waking up by 5 a.m, connecting your body and mind, learning, and feeling yourself making good progress.
When you experience more peak moments, you achieve more transformations as a person. This goes on to increasing your standards.
When you adopt the habit of waking up by 5 a.m, peak experiences can become normal and expected in your day. Those moments of “awe” and gratitude and those when you feel completely absorbed by the brilliance and abundance become a thing you don’t have to work for.
12. Self Care
Getting up from bed at 5 a.m can present you with a useful amount of much-needed alone time. Alone time is beneficial for your concentration which is instrumental in improving your productivity and well-being in some ways.
One of these important ways is putting ourselves first and making self-care a priority for the day. This way, we shield ourselves from exhaustion, burnout, and even physical illness.
We are open doorways to our future success by adopting personal development as a practice and preserving moments of our lives that would otherwise be taken from busy work or other telling activities.
The unique thing about this is that when you work on changing one important area of your life, every other one will follow suit and organically experience change as well.
Waking up at 5 a.m offers you opportunities to give your body time to heal itself and even call out to you for any problem.
13. Sleeping Early
Naturally, your life cycle is connected and each part affects the other. This explains why waking up early helps you sleep early too.
Are you the type to find yourself up late at night and you don’t get enough sleep? One of the major merits of waking up by 5 a.m is getting the ability to go to sleep early.
If you rise at 5 a.m. and you’re productive throughout the day, you’ll be more exhausted by the end of the night, making it more comfortable to sleep. This clears the path to a better sleep cycle. And you’re familiar with the benefits of sleep for your health.
Turn a deaf ear to those who preach sleeping late. Shorter yet healthy and productive periods are much better than long but tired ones.
14. Renewing Your Motivation
The feeling of frustration after thinking that your day was a waste is quite common. It not only stops there but goes on to plant seeds of other negative thoughts in you, like reducing your zeal and motivation.
If you lack motivation and begin more work toward your dreams, you may develop a tendency to beat yourself up if you feel like you squandered a day.
When you wake up by 5 a.m, you honor your morning routine and create chances to work on your dream. This can feel reassuring and boost your motivation to go about the rest of your activities for the day.
You don’t have to invest a large amount of time into this. Your morning routine can be 15 minutes, 10 minutes, or even less.
Even that little period can create a step for you to feel better about the way you spend your time. The trick is to find what helps you get in shape and stick to it.
The beautiful thing is by carving out bits and pieces of time each day, you can help yourself avoid feelings of failure. You’ll also be able to convince yourself to work on your goals consistently and efficiently for days, weeks, months, and even years.
15. Sustaining A Healthier Diet
When you wake up by 5 a.m, you get opportunities to plan the best diet to begin your day with and you make it happen without hitches.
More importantly, individuals who wake up early have tendencies to eat breakfast, while those who wake up late, often rush out the door and have to grab something convenient which might be unhealthy for them as a result of them not thinking this through, or they might decide not to eat breakfast altogether.
The issue with skipping breakfast is that it gives room for bad and poorer eating habits later in the day. If you’re hungry because you missed a meal, the doughnut in the break room may be too tempting to not give in.
This goes on as a daily habit and poses a lot of threats to your health. Waking up by 5 a.m helps you avoid this and just provides you with that time needed for you to think through the best meal for you and more, time to bring it to life.
Is It Unhealthy To Wake Up At 5 a.m?
Doing different things in life have different sides to them, mostly the good and bad. All of which are dependent on different factors. Waking up at 5 a.m is no different.
As much as the numerous benefits have been mentioned, it’s natural to also ask if 5 a.m is a healthy time to wake up. This question doesn’t have a universal answer as it is based on a major contingency – sleeping late.
When you sleep late, it can be quite unhealthy for you to wake up early. As adults, experts recommend that we get at least 7 hours of sleep. So the moment you don’t fulfill this and you wake up by 5 a.m, it can be unhealthy for you.
You might feel good or normal but in the long run, it’s detrimental to your health and wellbeing.
As beneficial as it is to get some time ahead in the morning, don’t do it at the expense of your sleep. This can go to be a habit and promote a burnout culture that tips you over the edge.
Furthermore, it can make you experience daytime sleepiness which can make you unproductive at any activity you set your mind to do, which might lead to accidents, irritability, and forgetfulness.
It can even go on to lead to more health consequences that manifest in the long term.
So yes, waking up by 5 a.m is unhealthy when you sleep late and don’t get enough hours of sleep.
Is Waking Up Early Good For Mental Health?
Waking up early is a habit that begets a range of benefits but in the end, does it improve one’s mental health? This question comes up in different aspects of our life. Our mind and its well-being go a long way in helping other parts of us, hence the reason to be aware of making it better.
According to scientists, individuals who are naturally early risers are less likely to develop mental health problems than “night owls”,
Large-scale genetics research even discovered being biologically programmed to wake up early is connected to great amounts of happiness and a reduced risk of schizophrenia and depression.
Understanding that adopting a lifestyle of sleeping late which directly has a negative impact on when you wake up makes your circadian rhythm out of its track, which opens doors for quite a lot of problems.
Remembering that people who sleep early and wake up early on a more regular basis helps you to be less prone to depression and anxiety compared to other people who do the opposite of this.
Yes, waking up early is beneficial for your mental health, and more importantly, your general health.
What Happens To Your Body When You Wake Up By 5 a.m?
For quite a lot of people, just thinking about waking up at 5 a.m is accompanied by an exhausting and unsettling feeling.
But understanding there are some pretty great reasons why you should avoid hitting snooze and the benefits ingrained go a long way. Contrary to the beliefs of most night owls, waking up early is significant for the health of your mind, body, and overall wellness.
According to Kasey Nichols, doctor of naturopathic medicine and sleep expert for RAVE Reviews, waking up with the rise of the sun is a process that’s totally natural because melatonin production and the internal regulatory clock are impacted by sunlight—or lack of it.
This, he said, explains as one of the reasons why some people get depressed and sleep more during months where there are fewer hours of daylight.
He continued by stating that waking up to let those early hours of sunlight sink in, possesses the possibilities of improving your mood.
Waking up early can also help, in regulating your cortisol levels, which are known to keep your blood sugar in check, reduce inflammation, and regulate your metabolism. “This cortisol gives you the energy to get up and tackle the challenges during the day,” Nichols says. “The high cortisol earlier in the morning is another reason many people do not feel hungry in the morning,”
he explains.
In all, waking up in early periods such as 5 a.m makes your body active and regulates certain hormones in it. All of which goes on to improve your health, in different ways.
At What Time Should I Sleep To Wake Up At 5 a.m?
Your sleep schedule may not be one of your major priorities but it’s important to keep it in check, as getting enough sleep is crucial to your health in many ways.
You understand now from the previous topics discussed that the amount of sleep you get can affect everything from your weight and metabolism to your brain function and mood.
Hence, for someone who wants to wake up by 5 a.m, it’s only natural to ask for the time to sleep.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics and the CDC Trusted Source, these are the general sleep guidelines for different age groups:
- Birth to 3 months: 14 to 17 hours
- 4 to 11 months: 12 to 16 hours
- 1 to 2 years: 11 to 14 hours
- 3 to 5 years: 10 to 13 hours
- 6 to 12 years: 9 to 12 hours
- 13 to 18 years: 8 to 10 hours
- 18 to 64 years: 7 to 9 hours
- 65 years and older: 7 to 8 hours
This way, you get to calculate what time is beneficial for you to sleep if you want to wake up by 5 a.m.
Keep in mind though that everyone’s sleep needs are different, even within the same age group.
Is It Important To Wake Up Early?
Waking up early might carry a lot of benefits but its importance is one some people still question. I believe this depends on the individual who has this thought in mind.
From their needs, the purpose to the overall benefits, these factors determine the yes or no to this question.
Looking at the benefits discussed in previous topics, the importance of waking up early cannot be underemphasized.
These topics do well to imprint and explain the significance of sleeping early and some of the demerits when some factors don’t add up.
So look at these benefits and see if they work to your needs. That way, you get your answer.
Why Is Waking Up So Hard?
Waking up early sounds rosy and carries a lot of benefits but adopting this habit is easier said than done. Making this habit a success requires a lot of discipline, zeal, and will. Most importantly, the purpose behind it is also a huge drive.
Early morning wake-ups can be difficult, as the thought of sleeping in is usually a much more appealing alternative. However, waking up early carries several positive health benefits, including better concentration, improved quality of sleep, long-lasting energy, and productivity, to mention a few.
Finding it hard to get up in the morning isn’t just about wanting to get more comfort under the covers of your sheets and hating mornings.
Other factors such as lifestyle factors, medical conditions, and medications can contribute to this feeling. Some of which include:
- Parasomnias, such as sleepwalking and night terrors
- Sleep apnea, which leads to periods of halted breathing during sleep
- Sleep deficiencies, which can comprise of not getting good quality sleep, or sleep deprivation, which means not getting enough sleep
- Stress and anxiety.
- Depression, which has been studied to cause excessive daytime sleepiness and insomnia
- Circadian rhythm sleep disorders, which can deter the development of a regular sleep routine.
- Certain medications.
- Chronic pain, which can make it a lot less easy to get a good night’s sleep
These can cause you waking up early to be quite difficult but it can also be worked on, which means with some effort, waking up early can be easy to achieve.
Waking up early takes commitment, but it’s not an impossibility to turn even the latest riser into an early bird. I have created a detailed post on how to wake up at 5am every day if you are wondering how to effectively do this without feeling tired or struggling with exhaustion/fatigue.
Conclusion
Several people set the alarm with their intentions, understanding that’s the time they need to get up to meet the day’s demands. But then they find themselves snoozing their alarm clock that seems to ring way before they’re ready to wake up.
Waking up at early hours such as 5 a.m might not be one of the easiest things to do, but getting in this habit for any reason you want can provide you with a lot of benefits. This doesn’t go without saying that certain things have to be fulfilled to make it a healthy habit.
Understand that you carry the power to make different things in your life healthy and that also includes the time you sleep and wake up.
For some who are biologically predetermined early risers, waking up at 5 AM may be natural and helpful. But, doing well to understand that some others differ in their nature is equally important. These individuals are wired to sleep on a different cycle and trying to change can be quite a chore.
No matter how high they try, they just can’t seem to find a way. This is where it is important to study yourself and find ways around it that’ll satisfy your needs.
Never make yourself feel bad because you aren’t waking up at this time and more importantly, don’t be pressured into it.
In the end, though, it’s not all about taking all these tips without weighing them. It’s about learning about and knowing your unique sleep preferences and the times that work for you to sleep and it’s still healthy. Above all, getting adequate and consistent amounts of sleep is the goal.
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