You might have seen videos or news articles about all the amazing benefits of waking up
at 5am, 4am or anything in between.
Some of those benefits might include: being more productive, focused, motivated, happier etc..
That's complete rubbish and I'll explain why.
Getting up early won't make you more focused or productive.
In fact, it could actually kill your productivity.
Just because some CEO of a company or a navy SEAL wakes up at 4am, it doesn't mean you
should wake up at that time as well.
Today I'll explain why not everyone is suited to wake up that early, and why it's ok if
you don't.
Then you can decide for yourself if you want to follow that advice.
First point: One of the things that is often forgotten is that people have different sleep
chronotypes.
We are not all early risers.
There are people who go to sleep early and wake up before the suns comes up, without
a second thought.
We tend to call them "early birds" or "larks".
They are indeed, the most productive and efficient in the morning.
But, not everyone is able to wake up early and function at their best.
Some people operate better if they wake up later in the day.
We call those people "night owls".
They go to sleep late, and wake up late.
And they mostly do their best work late in the day, or at night.
Also I want to point out that our chronotype is mainly determined by genetics and is not
something we can freely choose.
However today's society is sadly not built for night owls.
Most jobs start between 7am - 9am, making it extremely hard for those people to get
the sleep they desperately need.
These early start times are beneficial for "early birds", but "night owls" get the short
end of the stick.
Schools are another misfortune, as they typically start around 8am.
This is a problem because adolescents and teenagers have a forward shift in their biological
clock.
During puberty, their sleep rhythm is moved forward, meaning that they naturally go to
bed late, and wake up late.
This goes on until around the age of 20, then it starts slowly shifting backwards again.
Sadly, most people don't know this, and the schools don't really care, so a lot of teenagers
end up sleep deprived.
Parents tend to think that because their kids want to sleep late, they must be lazy.
But that's simply wrong.
We're just not allowing natural tendencies to take place.
Second point: A lot of people think that if they start waking up at 5am, they'll have
more time in the day.
But that's not really the case.
It shouldn't matter if you wake up at 5am or 9am.
Take a look at this example: This is Jane and she's an early bird.
Jane goes to sleep at 9pm every night, and wakes up at 5am every morning.
This is Mike and he's a night owl. Mike goes to sleep at 1am every night, and wakes up
at 9am every morning.
Who has more time in their day?
Neither has an advantage over the other.
They both get exactly 8 hours of sleep, and both are awake for 16 hours.
So does waking up early result in having more time?
Of course not, as there are only 24 hours in a day.
Which brings me to my third point: You should never wake up early, if you plan on sacrificing
your sleep.
Let's go back to Mike.
One day he read an article about all the amazing benefits of waking up at 5am.
He was excited about the benefits, but what really sold him on the idea of waking up early,
was the possibility of gaining 4 hours of extra time in a given day.
Instead of having 16 hours of wakefulness, Mike would have 20.
He liked the idea, as that would mean he could use those extra hours to work on his business.
Of course, that would mean he would only get 4 hours of sleep, instead of the usual 8.
However Mike didn't care and that night he went to bed at 1am, like he usually does.
But he set the alarm for 5am, instead of 9am.
When that alarm rang, Mike could barely function.
He felt sluggish, tired, irritated and most definitely not happy or motivated.
Sure, he gained 4 hours of extra time in his day.
But what he didn't expect was that, for all of his waking hours, he would feel sub-optimal.
He couldn't concentrate properly.
He couldn't think straight.
And for the entire day, he felt exhausted.
Waking up early is not an excuse to lose out on sleep.
Remember: If you want to wake up early, you also have to go to bed early.
People who actually wake up at 5am don't go to bed at midnight.
They go to bed around 9pm and get between 7-9 hours of sleep, like they should.
Lack of sleep, especially long term, will lead to a lot of health problems, physical
and psychological.
﻿So please don't be one of those people who think they can function on just 6 hours
of sleep or less.
It won't kill you directly, but it will still shorten your life-span.
This has been well researched and documented, yet people still fail to realize how important
sleep actually is.
They think they're gaining time by skipping on sleep, while in reality they're just digging
their own grave.
Fourth point: People who wake up late are not lazy, even though that's what our society
tends to believe.
If you sleep late it just means you have a different sleep schedule, nothing else.
Early risers might think they're more productive, because they get work done before other people
wake up.
But guess what?
"Night owls" get their work done, while "early birds" are asleep.
So in the end it doesn't really matter when we wake up, as long as we get our work done.
Yes, some CEOs wake up early and get everything done before noon.
But what about all the CEOs who wake up late and still accomplish everything they set for
themselves?
Don't blindly believe that waking up early is the only secret to their success.
After all, you can wake up early and still be an unproductive loser.
So don't judge people for waking up late, judge them for the amount of work they get
done instead.
To conclude this video, I want to say that waking up early is not for everyone.
While some people will benefit from it, others will a be at a disadvantage.
You need to be the correct sleep chronotype to get value from it.
So if it's a chore to wake up early, don't do it, if you have a choice.
You're simply fighting against your own biology.
If you have to wake up early for work, you might benefit from getting a different job
that fits your natural sleep pattern.
But if you have to wake up early for school, you'll sadly have to push through it, as there
are no changes planned in our public school system.
Also if you want to wake up early, you have to get enough sleep in the process, and not
sleep deprive yourself.
Otherwise you're doing more damage than good.
However, while genetics do influence sleep behavior, our environment and sleep habits
still play a role.
So, it's entirely possible that someone is naturally an "early bird", but due to their
bad sleep habits, it could look like they're a "night owl".
These people will indeed benefit from waking up early and see a positive change.
Anyway, if you're not waking up at 4am, 5am or whichever hour, don't feel bad.
You're not lazy because of it.
You're lazy if you procrastinate and don't get done, what needs to get done.
Also you're not losing out on time.
In fact, if you're getting enough sleep on regular basis, you're actually extending your
life span, as it regenerates your body and mind.
Remember, sleep is one of the most important biological functions.
Every animal on our planet needs and wants optimal sleep.
But since we are all different, the timings differ between all of us.
So don't judge others, or yourself, based on their wake up and sleep time.
Thanks for watching.
I hope you enjoyed the video and learned something new today.
Always keep on educating and improving yourself, so you can be better than yesterday.