The Benefits of Waking Up Early: 3 Reasons to Prioritize Your Morning Routine

I hate waking up early. In fact, it might be my least favorite thing to do. Ever.

Morning routines keep popping up in my social media feeds. Waking up early seems to be the key to success for a lot of top-performers, regardless of their industry. Some might go on an early morning run or do a morning yoga practice. It seems happy people also drag themselves out of bed before the sun. In fact. Andrew Huberman, Standford neuroscientist, cites evidence that waking and seeing the rising sun can improve circadian rhythms and in turn improve sleep patterns. But I hate waking up early. In fact, it might be my least favorite thing to do. Ever. But what I really like is having woken up early. Here’s three reasons why you should prioritize waking up early.

The world is still asleep.

If you can discipline yourself to get up before everyone else, you’ll have the benefit of being alone to focus on what you need to focus on. My wife and I had a daughter four months ago. She’s our first kid, and I’ve learned that my time is no longer my time. The biggest life-hack I’ve found is getting up before my daughter and wife are awake. Not only can I focus without domestic responsibilities, but nobody’s sending me emails either. Which is great. I dislike email nearly as much as I dislike meetings. On my best days, I wake up and get an early morning workout, but sometimes I sit and read in the morning. Whatever it is, at least you can have some solitude and peace doing it.

Waking up early makes the rest of your day easier.

It doesn’t matter if you exercise first thing in the morning, work on a creative project, or sit around reading and drinking coffee, you’ll have a better day if you’re up early. Of all the times I’ve slept past my alarm in life, I could count on one hand how many times I actually enjoyed the extra minutes of sleep. But nearly every time I’ve been awake before the sun, I’ve felt better going through my day, even if I wasted most of that early morning shuffling around my house. Trust me. Early mornings positively affect your days. 

Your brain is in a unique state early in the morning.

Some methods of yoga insist that you practice before the sun is up. If you go to a yoga class and hear the teacher instruct a surya namaskar, that’s what that’s all about. Surya namaskar translates to sun salutation, greeting the sun. In fact, some meditation teachers insist that you wake between 3-5 am. They teach that the bavana (I translate this to vibe or subtle feeling) at that time is the most satvic (meaning the most chill and reflective vibe). On a neurological level, your brain is coming out of sleep cycles, cortisol and neuroepenephrine are beginning to flow through your nervous system and frontal cortex. Evolutionarily, these neurological wake-up signals are priming you to begin focusing, but you’re still close to that dream state you were in a few minutes prior. That’s a potent mixture for creativity and reflection. Use it. 

The trick for all of this is how do you drag your tush out of bed? I’ve tried an embarrassing amount of tricks to get myself to wake up early. You can search and try some out. But to be honest, the only thing that has ever worked is reminding myself every morning, “You don’t like sleeping in. This sensation is a trick.” Most days I win. Many days I fail. But the goal is to get out of bed and carpe diem. Seize the carp.

That’s a potent mixture for creativity and reflection. Use it.