Waking up early. World seems so quiet, rest of your family and friends are sleeping. But you're getting out of bed, washing your face and sitting on your desk to start your day early. To get that work done, to do that exercise, achieving it all a few hours before everyone else wakes up.
This video is brought to you by Squarespace. I've always been a morning person and been waking up between 3 to 4 am since I can remember. Currently I'm a fourth year medical student and when I first started med school I had a lecture by a neurology professor about circadian rhythms which means your biological body clock.
That lecture had 7 to 8 slides but for you I pulled out the key information and also added some tips from my personal experience as an extreme early bird. Everyone is unique and have different biological clocks. This chart that I stole from the professor shows that there are people with various biological clocks in our world starting from extreme morning people like myself to extreme night people So people who tends to stay up until late at night or even until early morning.
It's a whole spectrum You must have heard Apple CEO Michelle Obama, The Rock All of those successful celebrities wake up before 5am. Waking up early is often portrayed as being productive in the media. Contrary to common belief, being an early bird doesn't automatically make you more productive than night owls and vice versa. There has been many occasions, especially on holidays, where I still wake up at 3am but binge watch my favourite Netflix show, which is questionably a productive activity. So it's about how you spend your time, whether it's an early morning or late at night.
But for me, one of the biggest advantages... of waking up early is that there are less distractions in early hours of the day which makes it ideal for deep focus work. It's described by Newport as state of distraction free concentration when your brain works at its maximum potential. If you want to become more of a morning person you can train your body clock and here is how I wake up at 3 a.m. naturally without an alarm.
Firstly go to bed early. It sounds basic but it is essential. Let's ask my flatmates about my sleep schedule who's been witnessing me wake up and go to sleep sleep throughout the year. Here I am with Clara, Lavi, as known as flatmate number one.
What? No, I'm flatmate number one. Actual flatmate number one. How is my sleep schedule like? Very odd.
It's really weird. Only time I see Em is if I'm up in the morning for my breakfast and that's when she has her lunch. We barely see you because you're asleep so early. We just hang out in the mornings. Do you know what time I wake up and go to sleep?
Oh, um. I think you wake up at like around 4am and And about 6pm I think you go to bed. Even though my flatmates exaggerated it, but I still go to bed early, around half past 7. Because getting enough sleep is the key to waking up feeling refreshed. For me, enough sleep means 7 and a half hours of sleep. But this can change from person to person and it also differs by age.
These are the hours of sleep. each age group need according to health service of the UK. That's why you really want to avoid sacrificing sleep to become an early riser because it will catch up with you.
You can cut your sleep short to wake up early for a couple of days but then sleep deprivation will cause you poor concentration, anxiety, tiredness during the day and it won't be a sleep routine you can maintain. If early rising means cutting sleep don't do it. How to fall asleep early using light therapy. If you're not used to sleeping early once you're in bed falling asleep can be difficult. Reducing blue light exposure before bed is helpful.
Studies found that warmer colored lights increase melatonin production, which is the sleep hormone of the body, the hormone which makes you more sleepy. To encourage my body to sleep, I make my LED lights warmer colored, so yellow, orange and red tones. If you don't have access to LED lights, then you can just make your room darker by dimming your lights.
Also, less exposure to bright lights by reducing your screen time on your phone or on your laptop. as you start winding down should help as well. I choose to just not bring my phone into my bed so I don't scroll on TikTok and Instagram aimlessly whilst I'm supposed to sleep. You can also make use of lights when you wake up in the morning. This is actually part of a treatment called light therapy in medicine and it's used in patients with sleep disorders.
You can create light therapy at home for cheap by just doing the opposite of what you do in the evening. So when you first wake up in the morning make your lights cooler coloured like blue or cool white. or you could just make your room brighter by turning on your lights.
And it helps you feel more energized and alert during the day. Morning routines and waking up with a plan. Having a goal and a plan motivates you and makes it easy to get up.
So understand why you want to wake up early in the first place. For example, because you want to get ahead of your revision before school, or exercise before work, or just have time to meditate and pray before leaving home. Having a morning routine sets the tone for the day, and it gives a sense of structure and purpose, which can help improve overall productivity of your day. And when you're being consistent with your morning routine, your body becomes used to the schedule and helps you naturally wake up at the same time each day.
For me, early morning is the time where I can focus. and learn the best so I prioritize getting as much studying done as possible. If you want to see my 3 a.m.
morning routine you can watch it here. Exercise. It's well known that exercise has lots of benefits and one of them is that it increases sleep quality and helps you fall asleep faster. Exercise affects your body clock by increasing body temperature and by producing adrenaline rush which makes you more awake and alert.
That's why it's recommended to exercise in the morning or early afternoon. Avoid doing high intensity exercise within an hour. of bedtime as it can keep you up at night. For longer lasting results move your body clock slowly.
So advance your bedtime a bit earlier each night until the desired bedtime is reached. For example go to bed at midnight one night then 11.45 the next then 11.30 the following night and so on. Doing this progressive change in your sleep routine will help your body adapt more easily.
Consistency. Keeping your night routine consistent and following bedtime rituals are useful. For example simple stuff like brushing your teeth, putting on your pyjamas, whatever you usually do before going to bed, do it a bit earlier. This reinforces in your mind that it is bedtime. Diet.
Eating late at night or too close to bedtime can keep you awake. Especially if it's a big meal, your body will be focused on digesting the food rather than relaxing and preparing for sleep. I usually eat my last meal of the day at least three hours before bed.
Also, avoiding caffeine and sugary food in the evening improves quality of sleep as well. So why do I wake up early? Many people in my comments seem worried because I wake up at 3am every day but I've been living like this for over 20 years now. I'm naturally a morning person, my default is to wake up early.
I'm embracing what works best for me and my skin is the best. schedule, and I hope you do the same, whether it means waking up late or early. If you want to find out about your body clock, you can check out the questionnaire I put in the description.
I linked the exact questionnaire the neurologist asked us to do before the lecture. Wait, I need to think what I have to say first. Okay. What do I want to say? Whatever you want to say.
Lovely!