The Shocking Truth of Getting Up Early – You Need to Know This!
The early bird knows why. All the great geniuses that human history has produced to this day had one thing in common: they were early risers and knew that the morning hours promised gold, not the late afternoon hour. Leonardo da Vinci is said to have allowed himself no more than two hours of sleep a night to give him time for all his ideas. Modern lifestyle-guides on the subject of success or self-optimization also regard getting up early as one of the most important factors determining success or failure. Hardly any self-made millionaire counts himself among the late sleepers or sloths, on the contrary. Work weeks with up to 80 hours and more, such as those practiced by technology mogul Elon Musk, have to start early to leave room for plenty of sleep. Because we also have to sleep well if we want to lead a fulfilled and healthy, successful and self-determined life. Fortunately, modern science has also extensively addressed the issue of sleep patterns. Their findings are confirmation that sleepyheads actually have a strong disadvantage every day. In this article we’ll show you what benefits getting up early every day can actually have for you.
1. You’ll give yourself a leisurely start to the day
Productivity and increased performance are not the only focus of the golden morning hour. A simple, much more obvious reason gives an enormous advantage to the day that starts early. Quite simply, you have more time on your hands. Nothing can ruin your day faster than a morning filled with hustle and bustle and stress. Getting up an hour earlier may be an adjustment at first. If you consider yourself a total morning slacker, maybe start with 30 minutes of lead time first. But you'll soon realize, being able to have a second cup of coffee or tea in peace, relax and read the news, or maybe even browse through an inspirational book can catapult our quality of life to the next level even at an early hour. You can even get into the habit of little rituals that become your companion each morning for a new day full of opportunities and possibilities. Carpe diem will finally take on meaning again.
2. No more excuses
If you've always thought you couldn't spare the time for exercise, you unfortunately no longer have an excuse, as a fresh-faced morning person. Many people use the quiet morning hours for their workout. If the weather cooperates, a good headlamp and adequate clothing are all that is needed to confront the inner lazybones. And what applies to exercise naturally also applies to other areas for which we quickly have an excuse at hand. Meditation or cooking a healthy lunch or dinner in advance can also fit into an extended morning.
3. Your productivity increases significantly
Since the early bird catches the worm, we know who by contrast comes up empty. The same applies to us humans. Those who start their day's work early have more chances of success for a very simple reason. More time means more productivity. But the comparatively gentle start to the day is also responsible for the fact that we, as morning people, simply get more done than night owls or late sleepers, and a healthy amount of sleep also helps us to concentrate better during the day.
4. You can make yourself a healthy breakfast
To eat breakfast or not to eat breakfast, that is the question and in the meantime this point of contention has almost become a question of worldview. But it’s quite simple. A car with an empty tank does not drive, an elevator without electricity does not work. It is the same with our body. We might be able to get going on an empty stomach, but unfortunately our brain is only theoretically involved. It is precisely our control center in the head that needs energy in order to function. By the way, breakfasts based on unsweetened oatmeal and eggs have performed best in studies. This combination keeps you full and energized for the longest time. It prevents cravings and keeps our blood sugar levels at a steady level until lunch.
5. Good mood and high spirits are guaranteed
If you start your day stress-free, rested, mentally strengthened and with a healthy breakfast in your belly, you can actually only be in the best of moods. In any case, we remove any breeding ground for potential demons that could spoil our mood. If you want to be on the safe side, add nuts, flaxseed and a banana to your breakfast. They lift our mental well-being in the long term and ensure mental and physical fitness.
6. Your sleep quality improves
Seven to a maximum of eight hours of sleep per night is ideal for us. An excess harms us just as much as a deficit. If you adopt a daily routine that gets you out of bed early in the morning and back to bed just as early in the evening, you'll create ideal conditions for your sleep-wake cycle. The time before midnight in particular is extremely valuable for us in terms of sleep quality.
7. Morning people have better cognitive abilities
This fact actually follows from what has been mentioned so far. A good night's sleep, a healthy breakfast, and leisurely morning routines of workout and meditation are ideal starting conditions for our bodies, but also for our minds. Unlike people who set their alarm clock ten minutes before starting work, our brain has all the time in the world to get off to a smooth, confident start to the day. Our brain will be rested and has already been supplied with the necessary energy to function at its best. Exercise ensures better circulation, and reading the newspaper or a few inspiring pages of a good book gently revs up all the machinery
8. Less sleep, less stress
It is a misconception that more sleep saves us stress. Those who have less time available in the morning start the day with an increased pulse rate. Our organism doesn’t easily forgive this tough start throughout the day. We are literally at 180 and can hardly grasp a clear thought. Unfortunately, hectic mornings have a habit of retaining their toxic aftertaste throughout the remaining hours of the day, making stress the alarming theme of the day.
Our conclusion
If you start earlier, you'll get there faster. The term "starting advantage" is not a coincidence; it is not only justified in top-class sports, but above all in that royal class we call everyday life. “Everyday” of course means "all days," meaning late risers have to struggle with a bad morning routine five to seven days a week. Such habits not only rob us of quality of life, they permanently damage our health. If you always live by burning the candle at both ends, you shouldn't be surprised to one day feel burnout. It is now a world-wide recognized truth that the day begins in the morning. It is, so to speak, the foundation on which we build each of our days. We have the choice between quicksand or reinforced concrete. So if you're striving for daily happiness, you need a good beginning.