5 Reasons Why You Find It Hard To Wake Up At Early Everyday
By: Katie E. Lawrence
Tags: Mental Health, Health, Productivity, Psychology, Self Improvement

There’s been quite a bit of talk on the internet both for and against waking up at 5 AM in the morning. As someone who has religiously woken up early and also outright avoided it, I have arguments on both sides. What I’ve come to the conclusion, though, is that while it certainly can be beneficial — it certainly isn’t necessary for being productive.

Business Insider, Inc. Magazine and Fast Company have all recently published articles about how waking up early can actually be harmful to your productivity. While it has been helpful and can be proof of someone’s self-discipline and aspirations, it isn’t necessary and isn’t necessarily the key.

Here are some reminders as to why you shouldn’t force yourself to wake up early if it isn’t helpful for you:

1 || You find that you resent yourself for following the 5 am crowd

Most people start waking up early, not because of their desire to get a head start on things, but because they heard that one successful person did it and wanted to follow suit.

The problem is, when you so aggressively follow the proverbial crowd, you’ll start to resent yourself and the activity of waking up early every day, rain or shine. Waking up early on a consistent basis is not easy and it doesn’t come naturally to most people. If you don’t get in touch with a solid why for waking up early, you’ll wake up lost, tired, confused, and resentful of this obscure habit you’re trying to establish for no apparent reason.

2 || You deprive yourself of sunlight

I didn’t realize this until weeks into my 5 AM habit — that waking up early when the sun didn’t rise until 6:30 AM, like now, meant that I was awake, in the dark, alone, for an hour and a half. As a social person and a human being who requires sunlight to maintain a high quality of life, this was pretty harmful to my psyche.

According to the Telegraph, women who don’t sunbathe are twice as more likely to die than those who do sunbathe every summer. While this isn’t exactly an argument for not waking up at 5 AM, it does provide an interesting point. Being around sunlight is healthy, and improves both our physical and emotional health. This is especially important in the mornings.

3 || You negate the importance of high-quality sleep

Waking up in the morning isn’t inherently bad. The problems begin to arise when you value waking up early over getting high-quality sleep. While some people are able to wake up and operate with under 4 hours of sleep, most people need somewhere between 7–9 hours of sleep.

Setting your alarm for 5 AM every day isn’t helpful to you if you’re never getting enough sleep. And not only would you be depriving yourself of sleep, but you would also be reinforcing the false idea in your mind that sleep isn’t important. My story, 10 Ways To Guarantee Better Sleep, can give you some ideas on how to sleep better and how to develop a mindset that knows the importance of sleep.

4 || You’re losing your social life

Okay, okay. I know this one is a little bit extreme, but it’s true. If you are trying to value sleep, have a solid routine, and also want to be around people and be active late at night with said party people, you’re not going to be able to have that much of social life.

When people want to hang out with you or invite you out for a night on the town, you’re not able to do so because you have to stick to your schedule. Committing to wake up at 5 AM every morning takes away your flexibility in a way that can make you say no to things you don’t want to — just so you can have an extra hour or two in the morning. You have to ask, is this worth it? Most of the time, prioritizing your favorite people over your morning routine is the better decision.

5 || You know you can experience a different kind of productivity at night

There are actual genes in your body associated with whether you’re a morning person or a night owl. If you happen to be someone who’s more naturally a night owl in accordance with your circadian rhythm, rejecting the trend of waking up at 5 AM in the morning could actually be the best choice you make in terms of being more productive in the long run.

I, personally, have never felt more inclined towards waking up early in the morning or staying up late at night. I enjoy both and try and enjoy different parts at during different seasons in my life. But what I have noticed about the evening is that, when the sun is going down and my brain’s slowing down, processing the day, and slowly falling asleep, I’m less inhibited and am more willing to be creative.