Fast Company<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Early risers get a lot of good press: They are supposedly more productive<\/a> and possibly better problem solvers<\/a>. But after a month of forcing myself out of bed at 5 a.m., I learned that getting up early isn\u2019t always the best thing for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m a morning person, and most days I\u2019m out of bed by 5:45 a.m. I usually have 15 minutes before the rest of my household starts to wake, and I use this time to enjoy a cup of tea as well as the stillness of the morning. I look forward to this time so much that I wondered, What would happen if I expanded the 15 minutes to an hour?<\/p>\n\n\n\n While it was a nice thought, getting up at 5 a.m. was harder than I expected. My alarm went off a mere 45 minutes earlier than normal, but I had to drag myself out of bed. With no plan other than tea and stillness, I quickly learned that an hour is too long. The second day I decided to meditate, a practice I\u2019ve wanted to do but never seemed to have the time for. Unfortunately, I fell asleep in my chair. Eventually, I took out a piece of paper and did a brain dump of all the things I wanted to get done in January\u2013at least I had a plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As the month went on, I used the time to get a head start on work, but by 9 p.m., I was exhausted and would head to bed. That meant I lost out on evening time with my husband and son.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Why was 5 a.m. so much harder than 5:45 a.m.?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Forty-five minutes can make a huge difference, says Damon Raskin, MD, a sleep expert affiliated with Concierge Choice Physicians in Pacific Palisades, California. \u201cWe get our deep restorative sleep in the early-morning waking hours when REM sleep occurs,\u201d he says. \u201cIf you shorten that, you are going to feel unrefreshed, and you\u2019re not going to have enough sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Turns out that simply adjusting your alarm clock isn\u2019t the best way to make a long-term change. Instead, understand that your brain is always looking for patterns, says Shawn Stevenson, author of Sleep Smarter: 21 Proven Tips to Sleep Your Way to a Better Body, Better Health and Bigger Success<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYour body clock, or circadian rhythm, governs how your body is in sync with all of life, and when you make a shift in that, there will be residual fallout,\u201d he says. \u201cBy waking up 45 minutes earlier, you proactively created at-home jet lag. If you keep pressing it for several days, your body will eventually sort itself out, but there is a more graceful way to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBy waking up 45 minutes earlier, you proactively created at-home jet lag.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n First, withdraw from electronics at least an hour before bed, which affect the quality of your sleep. \u201cWhen it comes to our health, most of us know that calories aren\u2019t equal; 300 calories of broccoli aren\u2019t the same for your body as 300 calories of Twinkies,\u201d he says. \u201cSleep is similar, and unfortunately many today are getting Twinkie sleep, not cycling through proper brain activity because electronic devices suppress melatonin (the hormone that controls sleep cycles).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Every hour you are exposed to blue light from a device, you suppress melatonin production for 30 minutes, says Stevenson. \u201cYou may be getting eight hours of sleep, but you will still wake up feeling exhausted,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Morning exercise will also help by regulating your cortisol levels, the hormone that gets you going in the morning, says Stevenson. \u201cNormal cortisol rhythms spike in the morning and then gradually bottom out in the evening,\u201d he says. \u201cIf you are changing your wake time, five minutes of exercise can help reset your rhythm. Do body-weight squats or walk around the block.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Implementing a gradual wake time will also help. \u201cMove your wake time up by 15 minutes and go through that for a couple of days to a week,\u201d says Stevenson. \u201cThis is especially important if you want to establish a consistent sleep pattern.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n And not having a strong plan doesn\u2019t help, says Stevenson. \u201cIf you don\u2019t have a reason to get up, and your body wants to rest, forget about it,\u201d he says. \u201cYou need something that will fill that space that is compelling.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Being the proverbial \u201cearly bird\u201d has its advantages, says Shanon Makekau<\/a>, medical director of the Kaiser Permanente Sleep Lab<\/a> in Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMorning people have been shown to be more proactive, which is linked to better job performance, career success, and higher wages, as well as more goal-oriented,\u201d she says. \u201cThese people tend to be more in sync with the typical workday schedule, versus night owls who may be still be waking up at around lunchtime.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nA Better Way to Get Up Early<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The Benefits of Getting Up Early<\/h3>\n\n\n\n