How to get up early if you hate mornings.

Getting up early is a daunting task, but it isn’t impossible. With the right strategies, anyone can become an early riser.

Now I know a question popped up in your mind just now.

Why even bother?

Well there’s a whole host of benefits to waking up early. It’s been shown consistently that waking up early leads to better productivity and a better mood. The peace and quiet allows you to focus on what matters the most since your mind’s at your sharpest. Plus, Testosterone levels are at their highest from 7am to 10am, so working out in the morning is gonna be twice as effective.

With that said, here are 5 tips that’ll transform you from a night owl to an early riser - even if you hate the mornings.

Start slow

Most guys who struggle with early mornings tend to dive in headfirst, attempting drastic changes overnight.

The trick is to work up to your goal in increments so you aren’t waking up tired and miserable. So if your natural wake up time is 11am and your goal is 5 am, try waking up 15 minutes earlier than 11am. After 3 days, move the time back another 15 minutes. This process is gradual but it’ll help your circadian rhythm adapt to your new lifestyle which’ll make the whole thing a lot easier.

Prepare the night before

90% of the race is the training you did before race day. Similarly, waking up early is roughly 70% about what you did last night. Apart from sleeping early at night, try to make sure you’re going to the bed as comfortable and relaxed as possible.

You can do this by making sure you have comfortable clean sheets and pillowcases, and the room is as dark as possible. Consider using blackout curtains, white noise machines, or eye masks. Lavender scent has been shown to bring comfort and aid in falling asleep so consider buying a lavender air freshener for your bedroom.

Pro tip:Don’t fall asleep scrolling through social media or watching stressful films. That may feel like a good time but the extra stress hormones and overloaded dopamine levels are not beneficial for your body. Your body will have to allocate resources regulating your hormones throughout the night and won’t have enough time to prioritize recovery. If you're constantly tired and lazy in the morning, this is probably one reason why.

Have a no nonsense routine

Now that you’ve figured out the hardest part - actually waking up, let’s talk about how you can make the next few mins easy and relaxed so you don’t fall back asleep.

First set a few ground rules.

1. Never hit snooze. You’ll eventually end up turning off the alarm and sleeping in.
   
2. Don’t start scrolling social media right away. It’ll kill your motivation to get out of bed
   
3. Caffeine is your friend. Wake up and start brewing some coffee. The activity will signal your muscles that it’s go time and you’ll slowly feel the grogginess wear off.
   

Go digital

In 2024, there are amazing sleep apps to help track your sleep and provide you insights on your sleep quality. They monitor your vitals using a simple smartwatch or a ring. If you’re really serious about your sleep, consider investing into something like this. They will also help you reset your circadian rhythm and help you find the most ideal sleeping routine for your body.

No cheat days

Fixing your sleep isn’t like fixing your weight. You can’t have cheat days where you slip up and do what you feel like doing. Breaking your sleep routine every week will ruin all your hard work. Try to stick to your sleep schedule as rigidly as possible to break all past habits and build your new routine.

There you go,

If you’ve had a broken sleep schedule for quite a while now, making these changes is gonna feel like an uphill battle. You’ll get frustrated and angry and that’s natural because waking up early is hard. There’s a reason the military uses early wake up times in bootcamp to build resilience.

Just be patient with yourself and make small changes. Baby steps and consistency will get you farther than brute force.

-Forte Team