It took me four years of research, experimentation, and excuses, but I was finally able to manage my early morning habit. And it was worth it. I assume that you are reading this article because you too have tried to develop this habit (probably more than once) but for some reason failed.
Luckily, you don't have to go through this alone anymore, you have me and my experience.
Undoubtedly, the habit of getting up early has had a huge impact on my life: it has allowed me to set aside several hours a day for myself and the main tasks that are extremely important to me. And if you develop the same habit, it will affect your life in a similar way.
The experiences of several famous people confirm the importance of waking up early:
- Indra Nooyi, PepsiCo CEO, gets up at 4:30 am;
- Richard Branson, founder and president of Virgin Group - at 5:45;
- Michelle Obama, former First Lady of the United States - at 4:30;
- Tim Cook, Apple CEO - at 4:30 (doesn't get up, at this time he starts sending out letters);
- Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks - until 5:00;
- Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter - at 5:30.
Indra Nooyi, Richard Branson, Michelle Obama
Tim Cook, Howard Schultz, Jack Dorsey
Many other incredible people also wake up very early. Before you continue reading, stop for a moment and honestly answer this question:
Is this one of the articles that I will bookmark to come back to when I have time?
If yes, save the bookmark and skim through the text, perhaps you will find a couple of useful tips for yourself (and save time).
A year from now, you may regret not starting today. Karen Lamb
And if you want to develop the habit of getting up early, then I have everything ready for you.
The so-called 5am club has been very popularized in recent years, but getting up early doesn't mean getting up at 5am. I'm not saying you can't do it, just that it's not necessary. At a minimum, until you develop a new lifestyle.
One of the reasons why it took four years to establish my habit: I didn’t connect it with my lifestyle . I was a student then, and now I am an entrepreneur.
You need to decide what time to get up based on your current activities, responsibilities and tasks, such as work (study), family (do you have children, spouse), social circle, hobbies, travel, etc. Get up from five to six in the morning is extremely difficult if you worked the night shift or if you are a student and hang out in clubs and parties. And if you fly a lot and often experience jet lag, then it becomes physically unbearable to wake up at the same time every time.
So to determine your ideal wake-up time, ask yourself:
What time is the best time for me to get up, given my personal and professional life?
Having decided on the time, let's move on to strategy. As you know, getting up early does not depend on the alarm clock, but on this:
- Mood and goals.
- Evening routine.
- Sleep quality.
- Rise and morning routine.
Let's look at each point.
Set only one alarm clock
Speaking of alarm clocks. “Just five more minutes” is a phrase that will never allow you to wake up normally in the morning. And alarm clocks that ring at 7:00, 7:05, 7:10, 7:15, etc. only make you even more of a zombie. It may seem like you can get some sleep in those five minutes, but somnologists (doctors who study sleep disorders) around the world agree that fragmented sleep makes us more groggy and ruins our mood. Falling asleep after an alarm clock, the brain begins a new sleep cycle, and waking up at the same moment is extremely unpleasant for it.
Mindset and goals
The mind is more important than the mattress. Robin Sharma
We humans love instant gratification of our desires. And so you will look for any possible excuse to sleep more. In the first few days for sure. Remember the most important thing: you will have to sacrifice a lot, especially in the first month. And you need to prepare for this. You will give up several get-togethers, face a lack of energy, and your productivity will decrease. But you need to put yourself first. And for this you need to set goals. They are important for two reasons.
Goals motivate us
Goals push us when we want to give up and hit the snooze button. The more emotion you put into a goal, the more leverage it will have. Not only for awakening, but for everything else in life.
Goals determine our actions
There are goals and there are systems. Each goal implies a set of actions that need to be performed to achieve it. For example:
- Goal: lose 10 kilograms by October 1, 2017.
- System: consume less than 2000 calories daily (no sweets, chips and other crap) + exercise: cardio twice a week (swimming or running), strength training twice a week and yoga for stretching.
I could describe it in more detail, but now it's your turn.
Choose your top three goals for the next year and plan how to achieve each of them.
Once you've done this, move on to defining your evening routine.
Bright light
According to a study published in the journal Science in 1980, light affects the production of melatonin in mammals, including humans. Melatonin is a hormone that regulates circadian rhythms. The activity of other hormones responsible for the immune system, nervous system and freshness of the skin depends on it.
Melatonin is like a vampire: it comes out only at night, but does not suck blood, but normalizes sleep, allowing the body to rest, process information and prepare for a new day. The problem is that while it's dark, melatonin doesn't want to go away, causing our eyelids to close as soon as we turn off the alarm. The solution is simple: turn on the light and tell melatonin that it’s time for him to go back to his wooden coffin.
It is important to do this right away before you fall back into sleep.
Third night
Needless to say, the anti-electronic diet worked. If earlier I had to toss and turn in bed for an hour, looking for sleep somewhere between the sheets and pillowcase, now it came in the first minutes. To my surprise, the artificial schedule didn’t disappoint either. On the third morning, I decided to cheat and set two alarms: one for half past six, the second still for seven. The first should have sounded a warning and smoothly brought me out of sleep. The result was even better. Having turned off the early alarm, I could no longer fall asleep, even when I honestly tried to force myself to do so. As a result, without waiting for the second signal, I turned on the light and began charging as usual.
Evening routine
Many people think that getting up early starts in the morning, but this is far from the truth. First of all, you need to set yourself up for success in the evening. And this can be done in different ways.
Stop using gadgets before bed
Excess light with a noticeable proportion of the blue spectrum (displays of smartphones, tablets and computers) before bedtime negatively affects the quality of sleep. Therefore, one to two hours before bed, turn off all gadgets and focus on yourself.
Prepare for the next day
Instead of deciding everything in the morning and wasting precious willpower and decision-making ability, think about everything in the evening. Decide:
- What are the three priorities for tomorrow?
- What to wear tomorrow?
- What to eat tomorrow?
Think about your day and imagine your perfect morning.
Time flies quickly, and if you don't start paying attention to the important things, you'll miss out on a lot. So always ask yourself, what happened today? What have you achieved? What are you grateful for? What made you happy? And imagine the perfect morning. This alone will influence the desire to wake up and not turn off the alarm clock.
Read
With our busy lives, it is difficult to find time to read, but if you give up gadgets, it is easy to allocate half an hour a day to read books. For the soul or professional growth.
The best breakfast for waking up
Tea, fruit drink, and cool juice add vigor. Breakfast should be light and nutritious at the same time. It will set you up for work and give strength to your body. You can wake up with:
- oatmeal;
- yogurt;
- eggs;
- fruit;
- berries;
- a small piece of chocolate.
This food is rich in microelements and vitamins. It gives a feeling of fullness without overloading the gastrointestinal tract.
Forget about coffee in the morning
Traditionally, there is an opinion that coffee is needed in the morning to wake up better. British experts say that it does more harm than good. Drinking coffee on an empty stomach interferes with the absorption of glucose. They recommend drinking coffee not before breakfast, but after.
Tea copes better with waking up than coffee, since its invigorating effect lasts 4 times longer. This is due to the work of theine. It has a softer and longer-lasting effect. It is important not to skimp on tea. In the morning it is better to drink a good unpackaged product.
There are many ways to help you wake up quickly. But organizing the right daily routine will allow you to feel great and maintain health and youth for many years.
How do circadian rhythms or biological clocks work?
When we sleep, the body repairs itself and gets rid of toxins, which helps us function normally when we wake up. According to scientific research, after 17-19 hours without sleep, mental abilities decrease so much that the brain begins to work in much the same way as if we had been drinking a little.
The optimal number of hours of sleep for each person is different due to different biorhythms. Our internal clock is the suprachiasmatic nuclei located in the brain. They receive information about whether it is light or dark, morning or evening. And, depending on the time of day, they increase the activity of other areas of the brain or inhibit it. Another organ that controls biorhythms is the pineal gland, or pineal gland. This is an endocrine gland that produces the hormone melatonin, which is responsible for balancing our internal clock.
Photo: istockphoto.com
The length of the daily cycle is different for everyone. There are those who are ready to rush into battle early in the morning (“larks”), while others prefer to get involved in the work. Most often this is determined at the genetic level, but there are cases when biorhythms adapt to one of the family members or change under the influence of hormones. This is why teenagers during puberty are often night owls.
You must decide when to wake up and fall asleep, focusing on your internal rhythms. But the number of hours needed for healthy sleep depends on the age and characteristics of the body. According to research by the American organization National Sleep Foundation, for people aged 18 to 64 years, 7-9 hours is usually enough.
What are the dangers of lack of sleep? Somnologist answers
Falling asleep correctly
Falling asleep in the evening affects what the morning will be like.
What mood did we fall asleep in, what did we do before going to bed, did our loved one give us love? All this will affect not only sleep, but also awakening, and therefore the entire next day.
If you eat a lot before going to bed, go to bed with a full stomach, or, even worse, drink alcohol, then the morning will be very difficult and unpleasant.
How can we wake up refreshed in the morning if we force the body to do the hard work of digesting food or eliminating poisons at night.
What time should you get up?
There is a huge difference between waking up at 5 am or 7 am, since somewhere after 6-30 this elusive early morning state disappears.
If I get up at 9, then it will seem to me that half the day is lost, and this is not far from the truth, because 3-4 of the brightest, cleanest and most effective hours will go into minus.
But still, we are all different, so fanatically demanding that you get up at 4 am tomorrow may not be worth it)) But you should definitely try to live in the early waking up mode for at least several months in order to actually do some conclusions.
FAQ
Question: “What about the weekend?” Answer: “It all depends on personal preference. But if you're just starting a habit, I'd recommend sticking to your new schedule on the weekends as well. Later, you can allow yourself one or two extra hours of sleep.”
Question: “How many times in a row can you wake up at the wrong time and not lose the habit?” Answer: “When a habit is just being developed, after 2-3 days it will not be easy to return to the achieved level. Once a habit has been developed, 2-3 days won’t ruin anything.”
Question: “What happens when I travel and change my environment?” Answer: “It’s a difficult question. First, have pity on yourself. Try to stick to your habits, but if it doesn’t work out, don’t force it.”
Question: “What if I unexpectedly have to go to a party?” Answer: “That’s very good. Just have fun. There is no need to force yourself to wake up at the same time as usual - sleep as much as you need.”
Sleep quality
“Most people do not know what and how affects their sleep and what can be done to improve its quality,” writes the author of the note. He cites several factors that improve or worsen sleep quality.
- Stimulants. At least six hours before bedtime, you should stop drinking coffee and alcohol and keep only green tea and water in your diet.
- Heavy food. Before going to bed, you should not eat heavy food - it burdens the digestive system and impairs the quality of sleep. The author recommends eating a small snack, nuts, or drinking a glass of milk before bed to avoid waking up hungry.
- Water. Before going to bed, you should drink at least one glass of water. If a person already drinks one glass of water before bed, you can increase the amount to two.
- Sports activities. Before going to bed, you should avoid physical activity for at least three hours. “Exercise is invigorating, and it will be more difficult to fall asleep afterwards.”
- Sleeping conditions. You need to purchase a quality mattress and pillow, and also make sure that the room is dark (if it is impossible to make it dark, a sleep mask will do). It is also worth paying attention to the temperature in the room.
- Time. You should go to bed at the same time every day. At first, the entrepreneur writes, it will be difficult, but soon the body will get used to it and the person will begin to feel tired just at the right time.
- Sleep optimization. The entrepreneur advises finding the ideal time to go to bed - one so that after waking up you really feel rested. “When you sleep, you go through certain cycles. Light sleep, deep sleep and REM sleep. The full cycle lasts about 90 minutes and is repeated several times a night. To feel rested, you need to wake up when the cycle is completed - after an hour and a half, three, four and a half, six, and so on. Of course, you won’t guess down to the minute, but over time you will understand what is more comfortable for your body.”
Getting up early: what you need to know
- CHANGE OF HABITS (FOR AN OWL)
It is difficult to transform an “owl” into a “lark”, because changing biorhythms requires organismal restructuring at the gene level. But if there is a need to get up early, a person is able to change his habits, which give rise to the daily “I’ll sleep for another 5 minutes,” and determine the quality of the day. An “owl” can learn to wake up early in the morning and get used to a new routine, but this does not guarantee that it will be a “lark” all the time.
- IT IS EASIER TO WAKE UP EARLY WITH AGE
In adulthood, biological rhythms change, and a person gradually experiences less and less need for night rest.
- IT'S HARDER TO GET UP EARLY IN COLD SEASONS
The desire to sleep longer is exacerbated in the fall and winter, when the days become shorter and attempts to get up early fail. In the cold seasons of the year, the consciousness refuses to accept 6 am on the dial, because it’s dark outside, which means it’s not time to get up yet and you can continue to doze. The sun's rays, hitting the retina of the eye, send a message to awakening, so the habit of not curtaining the windows at night and additional light sources in the morning will help you wake up.
- REM SLEEP
There are phases of sleep that alternately replace each other: fast and slow. REM sleep is light, short and superficial; it is during this phase that a person easily wakes up with the feeling that he has slept well.
Rise and morning routine
At this point, we have discussed almost everything that indirectly affects early awakening. Now decide which of the two strategies you will follow.
Immersion method
You immediately go to bed exactly at the desired hour and stick to this regime. This is quite possible, but remember that unexpected changes in your routine will greatly affect your alertness in the morning.
Gradual method
It is most effective to change your wake-up time gradually, shifting it in the first days by 10-15 minutes until you feel that you are used to it, and then start waking up at the right time. If you usually get up at 8:00, don't immediately jump up two hours earlier. First, get up at 7:45. Get comfortable for a couple of days, then move to 7:30. This will take some time, but the impact on your energy will be minimal. And it’s not so psychologically unpleasant, it will reduce the risk of giving up everything. But if you often change time zones, you will have a hard time.
When choosing one of the methods, do not forget about a few things.
Find the right alarm clock
To postpone or not to postpone, that is the question. All of us
The day should not start with scary or annoying music. This defeats the purpose of the whole idea. Find an alarm clock with a leisurely melody that makes you feel positive (you may not like it over time).
Personally, I chose the motivational speech from the “Rise and Shine” video.
Note: For the first couple of weeks, keep your alarm clock away from your bed so that you have to get up to turn it off.
Get help
You probably have a friend who already wakes up at the right time. Ask him by all means to help you wake up at the appointed hour. Let him just send you messages or call you 10-15 minutes after your alarm, and that’s it.
Gamify the process using the X method
Get a large wall calendar that has the entire year, or at least one month, printed on one page. And hang it in a visible place.
Mark each day that you got up at the right time with a cross. In a few days you will have a chain. Just keep going and the chain will grow every day. You will love looking at her, especially when you have several weeks of this regime under your belt. The main thing is not to break the chain.
This method works quite well and is enjoyable, especially if you stick with it for a while.
Think of something to do when you wake up
You need something that will relieve your drowsiness. First, drink some water. Then walk around, wash your face and brush your teeth. Make your bed. Open the window, let the light in (it’s not a fact that it will be light at five in the morning, but a portion of fresh air will do you good).
ATTENTION: Do not read email, news, social networks and blogs for a couple more hours - distance yourself from them.
There will be a lot of time for this later, and the morning belongs to you .
Do what you like
For me it's making coffee. I turned it into a ritual. After making the bed and washing my face, I make coffee and sit on the balcony, thinking about plans and reading a book.
Morning activities
They depend on your goals and the systems you need to follow to achieve your goals. But the main rule is this: whatever you do, set aside one hour for it. Spending three hours in the morning exercising, reading, watching tutorials, drawing, and doing projects for the soul is doable, but it will inevitably overwhelm you and you will fail.
Here's what I can suggest:
- Think through and evaluate your goals.
- Engage in physical activity (exercise, running, swimming, yoga).
- Meditate.
- Read (or watch training courses).
- Spend time on projects for the soul or for work.
- Spend time with your spouse or children.
- Prepare the meal (that you planned in the evening).
Before considering other options, read this article.
Please note: you may experience a lack of energy in the first couple of weeks. But this is normal, the body must adapt to the new schedule.
Pro tip: If your strength suddenly leaves you, take a 20-30 minute nap during the day.
Sometimes you won't be able to wake up on time, which can make you upset and ruin your whole day. Don't worry, be glad you slept longer and focus on the important things, and tomorrow everything will fall into place.
