The following article will show you 6 reasons not to be an early riser. It also shows you why it’s important to meet your own decision when it comes to the question of when to get up in the morning. I have been working in an office where the employees had flexible work time for years. Flexitime meant for us that we were allowed to start working during the timeframe from 6 am till 10 am. I was basically allowed to start and finish working whenever I wanted to, as long as I was present during the core time. This was an amazing freedom in terms of time scheduling, especially when taken into consideration that most employees have to work from “9 to 5”.
Due to the fact that only a slight percentage of my work consisted of customer advisory service and phone calls with other companies, it was easily possible to start working at 6 am and finish work between 2 and 3 pm.
The early bird catches nothing.
This is why many of my former colleagues became early risers and were used to this lifestyle for many years. During my employment with this company, I have made my first experiences on being an early riser that were often not as great as many promise.
“Early to rise and early to bed makes a male healthy and wealthy and dead.”
James Thurber
In the following, I will show you 6 reasons that speak against being an early riser. First of all, however, the most important thing to keep in mind:
Make your own experiences! Just as always in life you should make your own experiences before you decide to be an early riser or whether to get up just as usual. There is no “ultimate” concept or technique that works best for every human being. Sure, there will always be a technique that some consider for themselves (!) to be most effective, which does not mean that it is effective for you as well! That’s simply not how it is and the attempt to force yourself with self-constraints into one specific concept can be painful and discouraging. Everyone is an individual and peaks performance and concentration at a different time during the day, which is why I highly recommend testing both techniques in order to find the one that allows you to be most effective. After getting up really early for months, I can clearly say that I’m not productive as an early riser. I experience my peak of creativity in the evening hours. However, should you be one of the lucky ones that wakes up naturally at 5 am or if you have no choice when to get up, due to shifting work, you should better not read the following…
6 Reasons NOT to be an early riser
1. Tiredness along the day
When I started to become an early riser I really became tired during the day, as my body and mind weren’t used to go to bed that early. Not to mention getting up in the morning at 5:00 – 5:30 am. However, I’ve noticed that not only was I tired during the day, but I also got problems at falling asleep in the evening. Also, my colleagues who were early risers for several years showed many signs of tiredness during the day. Every one of them tried to cope with that consistent tiredness in a different way; some drank a lot of coffee, others drank energy drinks or coke. Only a small minority drank no caffeine at all – like me. A workmate of mine was an early riser since finishing her apprenticeship and tried to cope with it by taking afternoon naps, as she finished work mostly at 3 pm (she didn’t drink caffeine as well). However, she wondered why she found it difficult to fall asleep and suffered from insomnia at some days.
2. Sleep deprivation and reduced quality of sleep
I find it quite difficult to go to bed early in the evening. When I do so I have trouble to fall asleep, even when I’m really tired. This resulted in the fact that I was suffering from sleep deprivation. The quality of my sleep had reduced; it felt as if I had to get up as soon as I had fallen asleep. Basically, it all comes down to whether you live in synchronization with your biological rhythm or not. I didn’t at the time when I was an early riser.
The time you wake up is negligible, what matters is your sleep consistency. Going to bed and rising in a consistent way helps you to boost productivity and allows you to fulfill your individual sleep requirement.
3. Lack of creativity, effectiveness, and concentration
People that decide to become early risers due to social conditioning, “All my colleagues are early risers, they say it’s effective,” often experience a lack of effectiveness in general, as they aren’t listening to their very own biorhythm but are forcefully trying to change this rhythm. I can only speak for myself, but I’m not creative in the morning at all, I can be concentrated, fit and sane – but not creative. My creativity starts to rise in the later hours and some of my best ideas have arisen at night.
4. Compulsive Lifestyle
Personal development is a fairly broad term and has many different facets, however, one thing that it should not support: a compulsive lifestyle. Being a late riser or getting up like anyone else between 6 and 8 am shouldn’t be considered as a weakness or a harmful habit that needs to be addressed immediately. It is simply your own preference that allows you to work during the periods you peak concentration. Forcing yourself to get up early with self-constraints is not only exhausting but also causes your body to experience a lot of stress. Being a grown up person, you should decide for yourself what works for you, in your job/business; no matter what friends, parents, “experts” and co-workers tell you.
5. Adverse health effect
Scientists from the University of Westminster found that people who get up early (before 7 am) have higher levels of the stress hormone than those who tend to sleep in; even more negative: their stress level remained high all day. The negative effects of stress do not need to be stressed out in this article, however, as soon as stress gets chronic it can cause suppressed immunity, migraine, and depression. The early risers who participated in the study reported having bad moods and even muscle aches.
“Early awakening was associated with greater powers of concentration, being busier and experiencing more hassles throughout the day as well as reporting more anger and less energy at the end of the day”
Dr Angela Clow
6. You have to get to bed really early
When I was an early riser I had to be in bed ridiculously early, depending on when I planned to get up and how long I wanted to sleep. Whoever decides to get up at 5:00 am has also to be in bed really early. This means that this person has to be in bed from 8 to 9 pm, which will reduce your spare time in the evening and affects the time you can spend with your family and friends. The benefits of being an early riser are bought dearly. You have lots of time in the morning or after finishing work, but a lot less time in the evening that you would normally spend with family and friends.
I’m – by comparison with early risers – a late riser, as I get up between 7-8am. I’m a late riser, not only because I make my own rules and have experienced that I’m more productive when I have fulfilled my sleep requirement, but also because I wouldn’t want to miss the time I spend with my family or friends at the evening – and the great ideas that have arisen out of these conversations.
What kind of riser are you and why? Feel free to leave your comment below! We’re excited to hear about your experiences as an early riser or a late riser.
23 Comments
I’m an early riser ever since… I often wake up before 5am and cannot fall asleep thereafter, so I’m one of the lucky ones that do not have to force themselves to get up in the morning.
Hi Anastasia, thats great for you! As you say that you wake up really early I think you are a “morning person”, so getting up late wouldn’t make sense! This is exactly how it should be done, listening to oneselve and considering what works best.
Getting up late doesn’t always mean your lazy. Getting up early doesn’t also mean you’re a busy person. You just have to know if you are a morning person or not. As long as you can be productive, any time to wake up would be perfect.
I like to get up early around 6 or so and go for a jog. It actually makes me feel more awake and I have a sense of achievement. I do agree on the point you can feel tired later on in the day but a 30 minute nap reinvigorates me, I’d recommend people to try it.
Dubem, the 30 minute nap you address in your comment is an excellent way to revitalize yourself during a long day! Thanks for that suggestion!
Getting up early is one of the ultimate things you can do for yourselves. It’s a great habit. Read Robin Sharma’s The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari. Getting up early is very important. And, I will also like to add, that a person does not require 8 hours of sleep. A person simply needs 6 hours. Really. I, most of the time, get less than 6 hours, and I am brimming with energy. Get a half-an-hour or even an hour nap in the afternoon. But do get up early. Dawn has magic in it.
What you write makes sense! For me, it’s all about balance, so I follow the sleep pattern that feels natural to me at the moment. At the time when I was writing this article, I felt extremely balanced while getting up late, as I had during that time the most creative ideas during the evening or in the night.
But at the moment, I’m in a completely different setting, I go to bed earlier and therefore wake up earlier, with approximately 7-8 hours of sleep. Whatever feels natural.
So, follow with whatever feels natural and balances you!
The healthy number of hours sleep an induvidual needs depends on age and the particular induvidual requirements. There’s no specific single figure. The average range of hours sleep needed for an adult aged 25-64 ranges between 7-8 hours although for some in this age group as little as 6 or as much as 10 may also be healthy for a particlar induvidual.
http://sleepfoundation.org/how-sleep-works/how-much-sleep-do-we-really-need
A person not requiring 8 hours of sleep is very invalid. I really wish that I only need 6 hours of sleep because there are many things I want to do. But when I tried that, I always end up being tired and sleepy. 8 hours of sleep works best for me unfortunately. I envy you.
On the side note, I am currently practicing waking up at 4am. What I wish to get from that is to be a productive person. Its been 2 weeks and i have yet to find it beneficial. Always unfocused at what I am doing.
I have a preference for being a late riser myself (something I’m unable to do as I have varying shift patterns. Although your post is well intentioned, a significant amount aren’t naturally inclined to be late risers. A individual’s chronotype (whether somone is an early/late riser or both ) is biological and determined largely by genetics.
Type A chronotypes (extreme early risers) generally have the longer version of the Per3-gene. Type B chronotypes (extreme late risers have the shorter version of this gene ). [1] Chronotypes tend to follow a normal distribution in human populations [2] i. e.when plotted graphically forming a bell shaped curve with the majority along the middle of the spectrum and fewer people at either extreme. Most teenagers tend to be type B but eventually settle into a stable chronotype for the majority of their lives after puberty. [3]
It’s physically impossible to change one’s chronotype [1], however an induvidual can train themselves into a different sleep pattern (although they’d probably feel jet-lagged most of the time). Many aspects of society favour those towards the Type A end of the spectrum but I believe if more places adopt flexible working hours, it would be healthier and employees would work more productively in the long run.
References:
1. http://www.b-society.org/research
2. http://edoc.ub.uni-muenchen.de/5168
3.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982204009285
Thank you very much for your fantastic contribution.
A person only needs 6 hours of sleep. Then I guess you are smarter than every doctor on the planet. Because they say 8-10 hours. You keep getting up after 6 hours and tell us your health status in about 10 years.
Sleeping patterns vary, I sleep about 8 to 9 hours a day. But there are also people who do not need more.
I like to go to bed when tired and wake up when I naturally wake up — sometimes that 8.5 hours later and most its about 7 hours. Usually get sleepy about 11 and wake up around 7. sometimes I wake up at 430 -5 and cant sleep get up and do something then have to take a nap before my next thing because I get tired as heck again
Sounds like a pretty natural sleeping schedule. I like it.
There is no such a thing as a morning person or evening person . Any body can do it if he put enough effort to it .Lazy people always create Bs excuses like the author above . Before the advert of electricity people in the past used to go to bed early and wake up early to do farming , hunting atc….one of the lame excuse to stay late and be unproductive is social life .you can have social life early in the morning . take your kids to the office with you .
This is such a western perspective on productivity. It really reads as 6 reasons to be lazy in the mind and body. Individuals should not subjugate themselves to extreme difficulty but they also should not be so weak in their disposition for change. Mind over matter is also a powerful thing.
Collective synchronization has proven to be efficient in precision and work, but of course with training and discipline.
This article is misinformed and not backed by any credible science on the matter.
That’s why there is such a thing known as freelancing for those who prefer individual freedom over collective team function.
This article seems to promote selfishness limitation, justifying people to not cooperate above and beyond their presumed limitations of ‘peak’ and ‘weak’ performance.
If everyone had the same basis of judging the criteria his would make more sense, but this is simply not true. We are not informed in the same way and in fact most people lack a proper discipline to look past their own actual ability to change, adapt and thrive instead of merely surviving for he bare minimum.
Look at models from Europe and Asia which advicate strict but fair work hour policies in which collective doing and syncing is the key to success.
Back in 2010 when I published his article, this was how I was thinking about this subject. Seven years later, I think quite different about the subject matter. In fact, I have become an early riser and am quite happy about it.
Hello Steve,
Thanks for sharing with us your last post (1/9/17).
You should consider your point of view as temporary. It’s always changing, and if you come to a point where you want to go back and re-evaluate an idea, that’s not a bad thing. We’re all wrong a lot of the time and backtracking on an opinion shows that you’re open to new ideas that challenge the way you view the world. After all, remember that, “only imbeciles never change their minds.”
Hello Luz,
Thank you very much for your wonderful comments. And you’re absolutely right about your suggestion. Considering one’s point of view as temporary and continuously evolving may help us in remaining open to new ideas. Thanks again!
Steve,
A good article. I believe the most important thing that came from this article is this: Know your natural circadian rhythm and listen to it. I always thought I should stay up until 10:30-11:00pm and get up around 06:00-07:00am. Huge mistake. I finally decided I wanted to start working out in the mornings which meant I had to be up at 05:00 and in bed by 21:45 to get the full on 7 hours of sleep. Long story short, I have never been so less-stressed, motivated, wide awake, no 2pm crash, no issues, and an excellent positive attitude. Learn your circadian rhythm and know it well, this will determine your life.
Steve, I’ve met quite a few people like you, “I get up around 7-8 and in bed around 10, sometimes later. I’m most productive around 2-6pm”. That’s excellent!! I am most productive between 06:00-09:00am. We are all wired differently and sometimes I cannot help but wonder; does the time of day we were born make the difference?
Great article! I really enjoyed it.
With respect,
Stephan M. Tjaden
Hi, Thanks for your top-notch article. But I want to say the benefits of early rising. It improves your quality of sleep. Keeping your body on a sleep routine will make it easier to go to sleep and wake up naturally at the same time each night. This is important for your body’s internal clock. If you go to bed late and wake up late on the weekends, for example, it’s harder for your body to adjust.
Waking up at between 8:30 and 9:00am is the time I feel the best. Sleeping eight hours is also the ideal number of hours. Unfortunately, my job demands that I wake up at 5:30 am and I feel lousy all day. I crash into a delicious two hour nap when I get home and then find it hard to sleep early in the evening. I’ve had this pattern for over 20 years and looking forward to following my natural sleep patterns during vacation and when I retire. I believe I’m a creative type of person and I enjoy my dream time during sleep.