6 Science-Backed Ways For Night Owl’s to Become a Morning Person & Love It
If you spend any time online, you’ll inevitably come across an article (or 25) giving out steps to reach the near-mythical status of becoming a morning person.
It all sounds so simple: Stop hitting snooze. Drink a tall glass of water. Open the curtains and let the sunlight burn your eyes in. Easy enough, right?
For me, not so much.
I’m not a morning person and never have been.
I could sleep until 3 p.m. in college. Class at 8 a.m.? No chance (thank god my friends’ took good notes). Now I’m fortunate to work in an industry where work doesn’t really begin until after 10 a.m., so I usually wake up around then (save for the rare morning workout).
Still, the idea of becoming an early bird has always intrigued me. As I attempted to fit more into my days—work, a social life, exercise, and some necessary Netflix time—I realized there was only one way to keep up with all my obligations without going crazy.
Wake up earlier.
And here's the other thing. Waking up early in the morning can be really beneficial for the quality of your life. It can instantly put you ahead of everyone else who wakes up one to two hours after you have woken up.
Think of this as a head start. It might not feel like a big deal, but successful people love to create any extra time they can in their day.
Now, if you’re like me and you’re the furthest thing from those natural early risers (honestly, stop rubbing your 5 a.m. workouts in my face Brenda), it will take quite a bit of patience and determination to become one.
You are essentially going to change a habit that might be as natural to you as the color of your hair.
But once you do, you will never look back. The benefits will be just too much to let go of.
With this in mind, let's take a look at some of the ways you can become a morning person according to science.
Are you ready to beat the sun and build an unstoppable life?
1) Start The Day With Exercise
Are you a morning person who can't wait to rise with the sun and start your morning with upbeat energy? Or do you hate mornings and can't stand the thought of waking up early?
Well, according to statistics, 25% of people in the US are early risers. Another 25% are night owls, and the rest lie somewhere in between.
Early riser or not, you should already be exercising due to its slew of benefits. And if you start your day with some quick movements, it will help you achieve a wakeful state much faster.
The thing is, our body temperature drops when we are asleep. This makes it harder to wake up, especially in the mornings. All you want to do is just feel the warmth under your comforter. But exercise can help you raise your body temperature and achieve a wakeful state.
2) Get Enough Sleep (Use This App)
It is obvious that if you want to become a morning person, you will also need to go to bed earlier than you do. After all, you do need 8+ hours of sleep every day. What’s the point of waking up early if you have no energy and all you want to do is go back right to sleep.
Only when you get enough sleep are you able to wake up feeling refreshed. So, if you want to wake up at 6 a.m., it is advisable to go to bed latest by 10 p.m.
The trick to becoming a morning person isn’t a fancy alarm clock or sleeping to ocean sounds, for me, it was simply going to sleep earlier. Which isn’t always so easy to do. To hold myself accountable, I found the iPhone built-in bedtime feature to be SUPER helpful.
You can find this feature in the “Clock” app that comes default with every iPhone. I usually keep 8 and a half hours of sleep time to stay on the safe side, but this is a great tool to set a bedtime for yourself. Plus you get a reminder 30-min before your bedtime on your phone, that way you know when it is time to start winding down.
Also, make sure you do not use electronic devices at least an hour before you sleep.
The blue light emitted by these devices can make it harder for you to fall asleep. You can also use black-out curtains so that light from outside doesn't get into your room. This will ensure an even darker atmosphere for you to sleep in.
Want more easy and fast strategies to optimize your sleep? Check out my book notes on Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker, PhD.
3) Drink A Glass of Water
So actually, the online ‘gurus’ got this one right. The first thing you should be doing as soon as you wake up in the morning is drinking a tall glass of water.
Not only does it make you feel refreshed, but it also jump-starts your metabolism. Studies have shown that drinking water has a significant impact on your metabolism.
If you didn't already know, metabolism is the process by which the body generates energy. This process also generates heat and might contribute even more to making you feel awake.
So, every day, as soon as you wake up, make sure to drink at least one full glass of water.
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4) Take It Slow
If you follow me on social media, you may have seen my 66-day challenge where I went from sleeping at 4 a.m. to waking up 5 a.m. for 66-days straight. Guess what happened on day 67? I woke up at noon, and haven’t woken up at 5 a.m. since.
If you want to make a significant change all of a sudden, you are probably not going to be able to do it. Even if you do, you might relapse (I am a prime example). Therefore, it is better to make small changes over time.
So, if you wake up at 8 a.m. in the morning right now, and are trying to wake up at 6 a.m., try waking up 10 or 15 minutes earlier first. Once you have nailed this down, you can wake 10 or 15 minutes earlier than that. You can repeat this until you reach your goal.
Studies suggest that smaller changes might be much more manageable. So, the process of becoming a morning person becomes a little easier this way.
5) Don't Hit That Snooze Button (My Favorite Trick To Stop)
As hard as it might sound, you need to let go of your habit of snoozing your alarm.
Most people have this misconception that the extra five or ten minutes of sleep will make a difference and make them feel more rested. The reality is that snoozing your alarm and going back to sleep resets your brain to the start of the sleep cycle.
This makes the process of waking up even harder, and you are left feeling groggy.
My personal trick is to buy an old school alarm clock (this is the one I use) and keep it far away from the bed. That way, you have to PHYSICALLY get up and walk over to turn your alarm off, and by then you’re already up so won’t be motivated to hit snooze.
The ideal thing to do is just wake up when your alarm goes off. No matter how you feel.
This way your body starts adjusting to the wake-up time and fires that melatonin earlier in the day so you start setting your new routine for your internal clock.
6) Rise With The Sun
We, humans, evolved with the patterns of natural light (as with all other species). However, due to the invention of electric light, we are now exposed to light even when it gets dark in nature. This has altered the natural circadian rhythm of our bodies.
Circadian rhythm is the natural internal process that regulates the sleep-wake cycle.
To become a morning person, you must sync your circadian rhythm with nature. Rising with the sun and being exposed to sunlight early in the morning can help you do that.
To Wrap It Up
Being a morning person allows you to do more with the extra time that you suddenly have. Also, if you think about it, it is just the way nature intended it to be! (early bird gets the worm).
So, if you are one of those night owls and want to switch, you can follow some really great ways to transition. For now, just take 2-3 of the tips above and put them into practice.
It might take time, effort, and maybe even some frustration, but you will be able to pull it off as countless others have.
Here’s what to do next: let me know in the comments below, what is your biggest struggle to waking up earlier?
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References:
1) https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0178782
2) https://www.sleep.org/does-your-body-temperature-change-while-you-sleep/
3) https://www.academia.edu/10363659/Setting_goals_who_why_how
4) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14671205/
5) https://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/sleep-blue-light
6) https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/snoozers-are-in-fact-losers
7) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23910656/
