Getting enough sleep is crucial to many aspects of your mental and physical health. With this in mind, it is also important that you set yourself to a healthy sleep schedule rather than just fixating on the hours. In fact, there are many benefits of a schedule that includes going to bed relatively early but also waking up early. Here are some reasons that waking up early is helpful, even on days where you have the option to sleep in.
Build Up Momentum
There is a good chance that whenever you first wake up, you will feel a bit groggy and lacking in energy. Waking up early can benefit you by allowing your body time to slowly gain energy and focus. This way, once it is time to complete tasks for the day, your body is already at 100% rather than dragging since you just woke up.
Improve Quality Of Sleep
Although by sleeping in, you may be sacrificing time that you could be spending getting more sleep, research has found in many cases that the quality of sleep on a day-to-day basis can improve by waking early. This is likely because when it is time to go to sleep the next day, you will feel tired and not have any issues falling asleep, leading to deeper sleep. Quality should always be chosen over quantity!
Stay Positive
A study from 2014 found that people who wake up early on average tend to not dwell in as many negative thoughts as people who sleep in. This does make sense as well, as if you ever have stayed up awake in bed, you will find that anxiety and negative thoughts often cross your mind when you cannot fall asleep. These kinds of thoughts can be carried into the next day as well.
Gain An Upper Hand
When you are waking up early in comparison to most people, you have extra hours to be productive with yourself. Whether it be going to the gym or working on your online business, this extra time allows you more freedom away from your daily tasks to accomplish your larger personal goals.