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Do You Really Need To Wake Up That Early?

by Vincelog
37 replies
Be Conscious

It is always good to wake up early as it will allow you to have more hours to work on something that is important and contributes value into your life. However sometimes I find that waking up early is not really meant for everyone.

Most people are influenced to wake up much more earlier because of reading personal development blogs or books. However I don't totally agree with that.

I think that it is needed for people to be conscious of their own body and know what is the best time for them to wake up feeling energized, inspired and alert. Not everyone will wake up at 5am and feels great and not everyone can feel the most productive at 6 am. What I am trying to focus on is to take advice with a grain of salt, what is great for others does not mean that it is great for you. You need to start living consciously instead of following blindly.

The author of the 4 hour work week, Tim Ferriss, says that he writes better at 2am - 4am and I believe rarely there are others that will advice you to write in that time. You will need to be conscious and start learning more about yourself. Find out the time that you will wake up feeling great and be inspired for you day. Nobody know better about you than yourself.

Cheers,
Vincent
#early #wake
  • Profile picture of the author TeddyP
    I don't think you NEED to wake up early. I personally like it though.

    The reason I like it is because there is something powerful in the morning IMO, This might be weird, but for me there is something re-energizing about going out side in the mornings - while it is mostly quiet still, the air is fresh, the birds are chirping and the sun is rising.

    It seems right timing your waking up with the world's waking up.

    I know kind of kooky - but it makes me feel good so i do it.
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    • Profile picture of the author JakeRhodes
      You're exactly right Vince. You have to find what works for you.

      While I can manage to do it I'm not naturally an early riser. My body seems to work best by sleep from 4am to 11am. Thankfully because I'm self-employed I can do this.

      That is one of the problems of the personal development movement, when there's a certain idea everyone seems to latch onto it and preech it like the gospel. The key word in the phrase should be personal, experiment with various things, find what works for you and then stick to them!
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  • Profile picture of the author dino_rhino
    it really depends on your body clock and your work time. there are some night owls that can stay up til 5am or 6am and they wake up around 3pm. so it's basically the same.
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  • Profile picture of the author talfighel
    Before I got into Internet Marketing and started to really succeed online after 4 years of trial and error, I used to wake up the weekends at 11:00 am or even 12Pm but since I started to be full time online, I can not sleep after 8:30am.

    Maybe it is the age thing....:-)
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  • Profile picture of the author NijThinkIt
    Oh man, I am definetly a night person! My creative brain goes into overdrive at night. Too many distractions in the day. I think everyone is different.

    I do yoga now and meditate so most of my morning is spent doing that and answering emails.
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    • Profile picture of the author Vincelog
      Originally Posted by TeddyP View Post

      I don't think you NEED to wake up early. I personally like it though.

      Hi TeddyP,

      The reason I like it is because there is something powerful in the morning IMO, This might be weird, but for me there is something re-energizing about going out side in the mornings - while it is mostly quiet still, the air is fresh, the birds are chirping and the sun is rising.

      It seems right timing your waking up with the world's waking up.

      I know kind of kooky - but it makes me feel good so i do it.
      It is great! If it makes you feel great then just do it. Some people follow what others are doing but results differ for them but they just do it because others did it. As long as we are living consciously, we will be making the right decision instead of the following the herd's decision.

      Originally Posted by JakeRhodes View Post

      You're exactly right Vince. You have to find what works for you.

      While I can manage to do it I'm not naturally an early riser. My body seems to work best by sleep from 4am to 11am. Thankfully because I'm self-employed I can do this.

      That is one of the problems of the personal development movement, when there's a certain idea everyone seems to latch onto it and preech it like the gospel. The key word in the phrase should be personal, experiment with various things, find what works for you and then stick to them!
      Hi JakeRhodes,

      I love the phrase personal experiment. Try and keep trying until we find what works for us is the way to go. Thanks for the phrase.

      Originally Posted by dino_rhino View Post

      it really depends on your body clock and your work time. there are some night owls that can stay up til 5am or 6am and they wake up around 3pm. so it's basically the same.
      Hi Dino_Rhino,

      if it works for them, why not?

      Originally Posted by talfighel View Post

      Before I got into Internet Marketing and started to really succeed online after 4 years of trial and error, I used to wake up the weekends at 11:00 am or even 12Pm but since I started to be full time online, I can not sleep after 8:30am.

      Maybe it is the age thing....:-)
      Hi Talfighel,

      I do not know the reason, but may you are right. It seems like the older we get, the lesser sleep we need.

      Originally Posted by NijThinkIt View Post

      Oh man, I am definetly a night person! My creative brain goes into overdrive at night. Too many distractions in the day. I think everyone is different.

      I do yoga now and meditate so most of my morning is spent doing that and answering emails.

      Hi NijThinkIt,

      Every body operates differently and from what you had said, it seems like you are the most productive during your night time.

      Cheers,
      Vincent
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      • Profile picture of the author MarkMilan
        There may be a valid argument that we've evolved to sleep during the night and be awake during the day, and therefore we're geared towards working during the day. That said, I say to each their own; if sleeping during the day and working all night works for you, then do it.
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        • Profile picture of the author Anjanette Fountain
          People definitely operate differently. It also depends what the day consist of. I am a morning person (not 5am). I do allow non business time for my day and tend to get up earlier to allow for that.

          At night, my world is so much more quiet and tend to do different work like reading to understand & implement, personal emails & calls.
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        • Profile picture of the author noah.whitmore
          Originally Posted by MarkMilan View Post

          There may be a valid argument that we've evolved to sleep during the night and be awake during the day, and therefore we're geared towards working during the day. That said, I say to each their own; if sleeping during the day and working all night works for you, then do it.
          I think that this whole topic is very interesting. There are a lot of people that would agree with you about how it's natural to sleep at night and be awake during the day, but there was a scientist back in the day named Michel Siffre, that did experiments where he studied subjects isolated in caves for months at a time. He ended up finding that almost everyone ended up falling into a 48 hour sleep cycle.

          That means sleep for 8-12 hours and then stay awake for 36-40 hours. I know I'm getting a little off topic here, but I thought that it's very interesting, you should Google his name.

          I usually find that I can write best at around midnight to 2am myself. But, everyone's different.

          -Noah
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  • Profile picture of the author PrettyJenny
    My body cannot function at all in late night, I go to bed fairly early and rise early as well. In the summer I normally wake up very early, around 6, sometimes 5, but in winter hell no, I struggle to wake up by 7.30! I also need at least 8 hours of sleep per day, otherwise I can feel the difference right away the next day.
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  • Profile picture of the author ASM Marketing
    It's interesting to learn how different people require different amounts of sleep. It would be even more interesting, for me, to know if any warriors follow a polyphasic sleep pattern?

    Polyphasic sleep - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    Many a genius has used this pattern to maximize productivity and retain mental clarity for longer. It's also commonly named the Da Vinci sleep pattern, but other famous leaders such as Margaret Thatcher have adopted a simliar, or the same, sleeping habit.

    Polyphasic sleepers report that once they have adjusted to their new sleep patterns they experience more energy, less body soreness and a sense of heightened clarity, energy and motivation.
    Those who follow a polyphasic sleep schedule sing its praises. With 22 hours to be awake, a productive day takes on new meaning! Gone are the mornings of stiffness and soreness that come from spending hours in bed. Additionally, some individuals who practice polyphasic sleep report heightened clarity, energy and motivation and an overall improvement in their sense of control.
    Polyphasic Sleep and other Alternative Sleep Patterns - Sleep-Deprivation.com

    I'd love to imagine myself doing this, but personally I love beds WAY too much!

    Alex
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    • Profile picture of the author John_Paduchak
      I'm definately a night person I can work late nights if left to my own design. My wife though is an early bird so we had to find a happy medium.

      I meditate and do frequent hypnosis so I find I require less sleep and do a 1 hr hypnosession instead of a power nap and I'm good to go again.

      I do think there is some truth to the saying that the early bird catches the worm because I know alot of execs that are in the office and get the vast majority of their work done between 6 and 8am.
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  • Profile picture of the author emofree
    waking up early is hard but its great its a part of a normal daily routine in our lives ... i know there's this immense power when your waking up in the morning. I bet it's the morning sunlight in the wee morning that gives us energy.
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  • Profile picture of the author clubvikram
    Banned
    A very relevant topic,i am also a morning person,i love to start my work at 4:00 AM and when i work from 4:00 AM i find that 90% of my objectives are achieved till 12:00 PM.And then i am free to work even more and achieve more.
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  • Profile picture of the author Adrian Cooper
    All humans sleep too much, eat too much - and the wrong food - and sometimes drink too much.

    I personally believe that 6 hours of sleep is adequate for adults, and starting early in the morning is vastly more productive than starting late.

    Food has a huge amount to do with it as well.

    A vegetarian/vegan diet as well as being infinitely more health, also consumes far less energy than digesting flesh, requiring a much longer recovery period.

    A major essential amino acid - meaning it must be consumed as food - is L-Tryptophan, which the body metabolises to first Serotonin - crucial for wakefulness and well-being, and then further metabolises, under the influence of darkness, to Melatonin which regulates sleep and Circadian Rhythms.

    Lack of L-Tryptophan in the diet can cause all sorts of issues such as depression, fatigue or chronic fatigue, obsessions/compulsions, bi-polar disorders and so on.

    So diet is a huge part of this. I don't want to start a discussion on diet, but it has been conclusively proven that meat and dairy products are toxic to the human system, tolerable only because an immunity has been developed from birth.

    If you want the proof read this book. In fact everyone should read this book:

    The China Study

    The author is regarded by everyone, including doctors and peers as the greatest nutritionist that ever lived.

    The China Study is the result of 20 years intensive research involving three international universities.

    Diet is related to sleep, concentration, health and much more. This book could change your life and quite possibly even save your life - read the hundreds of reviews for yourself.
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    • Profile picture of the author Truffle
      Originally Posted by apc01 View Post


      If you want the proof read this book. In fact everyone should read this book:

      The China Study

      The author is regarded by everyone, including doctors and peers as the greatest nutritionist that ever lived.

      The China Study is the result of 20 years intensive research involving three international universities.
      I bought the audio version of this book a while ago, never got around to listening to it though. I'm thinking I should've bought the book instead of the audio version. I always get bored listening to audio tapes etc. Can't keep still with my hands and eyes.

      I actually forgot about this untill you mentioned it. I'm going to start listening to this, or I'll buy the book as well

      On the whole getting up early, I used to have no problem sleeping till noon or beyond, but the recent few years I've been getting up earlier and earlier. These days 9 in the morning is a long sleep.

      With an alarm clock I have absolutely no problem getting up, the only thing I dislike is the temperature difference. My room is usually pretty cool, so it's always warmer under my sheets. That's the only tricky part to getting up for me.

      greetz,
      jobic
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    • Profile picture of the author zhunzi
      Originally Posted by Adrian Cooper View Post

      All humans sleep too much, eat too much - and the wrong food - and sometimes drink too much.

      I personally believe that 6 hours of sleep is adequate for adults, and starting early in the morning is vastly more productive than starting late.

      Food has a huge amount to do with it as well.

      A vegetarian/vegan diet as well as being infinitely more health, also consumes far less energy than digesting flesh, requiring a much longer recovery period.

      A major essential amino acid - meaning it must be consumed as food - is L-Tryptophan, which the body metabolises to first Serotonin - crucial for wakefulness and well-being, and then further metabolises, under the influence of darkness, to Melatonin which regulates sleep and Circadian Rhythms.

      Lack of L-Tryptophan in the diet can cause all sorts of issues such as depression, fatigue or chronic fatigue, obsessions/compulsions, bi-polar disorders and so on.

      So diet is a huge part of this. I don't want to start a discussion on diet, but it has been conclusively proven that meat and dairy products are toxic to the human system, tolerable only because an immunity has been developed from birth.

      If you want the proof read this book. In fact everyone should read this book:

      The China Study

      The author is regarded by everyone, including doctors and peers as the greatest nutritionist that ever lived.

      The China Study is the result of 20 years intensive research involving three international universities.

      Diet is related to sleep, concentration, health and much more. This book could change your life and quite possibly even save your life - read the hundreds of reviews for yourself.
      I'm a lacto-vegetarian, and if I sleep any less than 7hrs for several days straight, I'm looking at a cold! I need a solid 8hrs+ every night to be healthy. If you look back to our more ancient roots (pre-electricity, pre-alarm clocks, etc), most humans slept for about 10hrs/day.

      So I guess if your information is correct, if I give up dairy I could probably go on less sleep?
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      • Profile picture of the author zhunzi
        I'm a bit of a night owl myself, if I had my preference, I'd stay up until about 2am every night, I get a second burst of energy around 11p.

        Because of working full time jobs, I've had to be an early bird sometimes, and I can understand why it works for some folks. As much as I hated crawling out of bed, I used to go exercise at around 6a, and I'll be honest, by 7a I felt on top of the world, but those first 30 minutes were rough.

        There is just something magical about the night that I love more than the early morning. There is nothing like the crispness of the early morning, right as the sun is rising, but I get my inspiration at night, not in the morning.
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  • Profile picture of the author ScottFox
    How many warriors on this thread have kids?
    I'm naturally a night owl myself but find that's less of an option as the kids' school schedules forces the whole household awake earlier than I'd like.
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  • Profile picture of the author homebasedmom
    It's good to see and observe the world when it is at peace early in the morning. Later you will never experience the same thing, not until the next morning rises.
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  • Profile picture of the author Delton Doucet
    I always like to wake up early, even when I stay up past 2 am, I'm usually up by 7 at the latest.
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  • Profile picture of the author Promptor
    Personally I think sunrise is the most depressing time of the day. Night time on the other hand is peaceful, especially after eleven or so. Everyone else is asleep. Everything is quiet when you go outside. You are free to do whatever you please without interruption or unwanted distraction.

    Since I quit my job and started working for myself I have lived in blissful unscheduled harmony.

    I sleep when I'm tired and wake up whenever my body says it's time (changes daily). I still average 7 - 8 hours of sleep per day but in random increments of 2 or 4 or 6 hours at a time.

    I eat whenever I get hungry. It is never "time" to eat. Don't need a clock and I never sacrifice a single precious brain cell thinking about what time it is.

    Stress is a thing of the past. I feel relaxed, alert, and very healthy.

    If we were robots a schedule might be a good thing, but we are human - and even though I am not a doctor, experience tells me our natural biorhythms don't seem to follow a regular schedule either.
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    • Profile picture of the author Vincelog
      Originally Posted by Promptor View Post

      Personally I think sunrise is the most depressing time of the day. Night time on the other hand is peaceful, especially after eleven or so. Everyone else is asleep. Everything is quiet when you go outside. You are free to do whatever you please without interruption or unwanted distraction.

      Since I quit my job and started working for myself I have lived in blissful unscheduled harmony.

      I sleep when I'm tired and wake up whenever my body says it's time (changes daily). I still average 7 - 8 hours of sleep per day but in random increments of 2 or 4 or 6 hours at a time.

      I eat whenever I get hungry. It is never "time" to eat. Don't need a clock and I never sacrifice a single precious brain cell thinking about what time it is.

      Stress is a thing of the past. I feel relaxed, alert, and very healthy.

      If we were robots a schedule might be a good thing, but we are human - and even though I am not a doctor, experience tells me our natural biorhythms don't seem to follow a regular schedule either.
      Hi Promptor,

      It seems that you prefer the night time towards the day time and it may be the time that you are most productive in. Working without the need to wake up early and go through the rush hour is truly a bliss too.

      Cheers,
      Vincent
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  • Profile picture of the author usmanshakir.emarketing
    i always try my best to get up early in the morning,
    for this i sleeps at neat 11:40pm
    and get up at near 7am.
    this gives me a time to do my collage work and preparation for the day
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    • Profile picture of the author cyowell
      This is an interesting question.

      In the traditional work-a-day world, I always was an early to bed, early to rise type of person.

      Now that I work for myself, some sort of night owl schedule took over.
      I like that it is quiet at night and seem to be very productive at that time and creative.

      But I like getting up early, so am in the process of adjusting my schedule.

      If you BELIEVE it makes you more productive, then it does. All a matter of choice in my opinion. You can find studies to support early to bed, night owl behavior and polyphasic sleep.

      Do what works for you at the time. Everything, including sleep patterns, is subject to change.
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  • Profile picture of the author SOT
    Hi Vincent -

    Personally I think my most creative time is between 11pm-1am but if I get overtired (say my kids are ill and wake me up several times a night before getting up at 6:30am), then I can go for weeks without actually making progress on my projects! I have loads of chores during the day so the only real time I get is before I have to pick the little ones up from pre-school! I would LOVE to be able to get into the creative groove 11am-1pm but so far - not.

    Susan
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  • Profile picture of the author subisa852
    I sometimes have a hard time getting up early and hates that I have to get up early for work, but have gotten used to it over the years. Just as long as I get about 6 to 8 hours, I can say these are enough hours that can help me function throughout the day.
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  • Profile picture of the author pevans13
    I personally hate getting up early. In fact i consider myself nocturnal and would much rather sleep all day and work at night.
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  • Profile picture of the author eienblue
    Yes, it will gives us more time and we can work with more concentrate, because early morning is usually silent.
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  • Profile picture of the author zim
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  • Profile picture of the author Coach Ramy
    True...I personally am up at 7 everyday...I just feel like I have a lot more time and I'm a lot more productive when I wake up early....Working at night is just really not my thing
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  • Profile picture of the author he_who_brings_order
    Originally Posted by Vincelog View Post

    Be Conscious

    It is always good to wake up early as it will allow you to have more hours to work on something that is important and contributes value into your life. However sometimes I find that waking up early is not really meant for everyone.

    Most people are influenced to wake up much more earlier because of reading personal development blogs or books. However I don't totally agree with that.

    I think that it is needed for people to be conscious of their own body and know what is the best time for them to wake up feeling energized, inspired and alert. Not everyone will wake up at 5am and feels great and not everyone can feel the most productive at 6 am. What I am trying to focus on is to take advice with a grain of salt, what is great for others does not mean that it is great for you. You need to start living consciously instead of following blindly.

    The author of the 4 hour work week, Tim Ferriss, says that he writes better at 2am - 4am and I believe rarely there are others that will advice you to write in that time. You will need to be conscious and start learning more about yourself. Find out the time that you will wake up feeling great and be inspired for you day. Nobody know better about you than yourself.

    Cheers,
    Vincent
    I agree that not everyone has to wake up early.

    Unless someone who writes personal development blogs studied you personally, it is not necessarily to be true for you.

    Therefore, we should experiment with ourselves and see how it goes.

    For some people it will work great, but for others it will not work.
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    • Profile picture of the author MissTerraK
      I just let my inner alarm clock decide

      When my eyes open LOL!

      It varies between 5 am thru 9 am
      MissTerraK
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  • Profile picture of the author websitemrktg
    I get about 5 1/2- 6 hours of sleep a night. I think the wake up early thing is really up to the individual. This idea was created in times when people pretty much all had the same or similar work hours. As long as your getting a good night or days sleep it does not really matter what the time is. 12 hours a day is probably too much but to each his own
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    • Profile picture of the author RalphJP
      Waking up at 3am is a must for me now. It's all about not allowing the distractions of the day interrupt what I am trying to do. If I can get a solid 3-5 hours of work done with no phone calls, texts, IM I get so much more done. I usually still have time to do some praying and meditation and exercising.
      If I can start my day off in the right way and get the most important things done first, it makes for a less stressful day.
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  • Profile picture of the author Shaleniie Devi
    i find that waking up in the early hours of the morning brings about a sense of renewed energy, the air smells fresh and it's very very peaceful. But of course I mean when it's still dark before the sun rises after which I don't really like it.

    The positive abt waking up early in the morning is that i know i have a whole day ahead of me. When I wake at mid-morning or aft (quite often these days), I feel lousy and a sense of dread that half my day is wasted. I love the wee hours of the night as well but i don't know it's more like the next day to me...

    ok from writing this, what i've realized is that i need to buck up and start waking up earlier. more hours ahead for me then.

    Thanks for reading my rambles...
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    • Profile picture of the author Marko Polo
      Even though I'm not that much of a morning person, I still find it relaxing and calming getting up around 6 and sitting outside with a coffee and taking in the fresh air...that time of the morning is still relatively quiet before the peak traffic starts.
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