6 Amazing Benefits of Waking Up at 6 AM

Even if you’re a self-proclaimed night owl who never hits the sack before midnight, and the thought of waking up early sends shivers down your spine, it’s still worth trying to cultivate the habit of rising earlier. 6 AM is the perfect wake-up time for the Russian daylight throughout the year. It takes only a month to get used to waking up earlier, and the results are truly worth it. Plus, not all night owls are slaves to their circadian rhythms; their significance is often overstated. As they used to say in the TV series Twin Peaks, “Owls are not what they seem.”

1. Increased Productivity and Personal Time

Waking up earlier can significantly boost your productivity. Even though you’ll have the same number of hours in the day, you’ll find that you can accomplish more. This is because routine tasks often get postponed to the evening when motivation is typically low. After a long day at work and the commute home, we’re usually tired, and our families require attention. Most of the time, we just want to quickly finish our chores, crash on the couch, and watch a good movie, trying not to doze off in the process. This affects both the quality of our work and our well-being.

By moving some of your routine tasks to the morning, you’ll experience a different dynamic. Your brain will have time to fully wake up while performing simple tasks, and you won’t feel like slacking off. You’ll quickly and efficiently tackle all the accumulated household and personal chores. Plus, no one will be talking over you, distracting you, demanding attention, or grumbling. At most, your cat might wake up with you and decide to offer invaluable help, but even then, it’s unlikely they’ll grumble under their breath that you’re in their way.

2. Quality Time with Yourself

If you live with someone, you likely need personal space and time to spend solely on yourself. This is a completely normal need for everyone, especially those who engage in self-improvement, meditation, and aim to quickly and effectively eliminate stress at its root. We are the best healers of our own souls, so we need time to understand ourselves, think in silence or with our favorite music, without any distractions. We also need time for reading, self-education, and relaxation. Morning hours are ideal for spending on your own personality and peace of mind. The first week or two, die-hard night owls might feel sleepy during this time, but trust me, it passes quickly.

3. One Good Habit Leads to Another

You know the saying, “Good things come to those who wait”? The same applies to habits. First, you start waking up early—that’s one good habit. Once you truly get used to it, your eating schedule will change. Your body will wake up earlier and demand breakfast, which you likely simplified or skipped altogether when you were a night owl. This is the second good habit because an early breakfast will charge you with energy for the whole day, and you won’t have to count down the minutes until your long-awaited lunch at work, constantly snacking on cookies. Finally, you’ll be able to do all your morning tasks without rushing, never being late for work, and arriving in a well-ironed suit with perfect hair and makeup because you have time for everything. This isn’t just a third good habit, but several!

4. The Power of Choice

Early in the morning, you are the master of your own time. All the free time ahead of you can be spent on whatever is most relevant at the moment. Do you have time to be lazy, pursue a hobby, or clean the apartment? Great. Is it time to read a couple of books you’ve been putting off, go for a run, or try cooking a real Italian risotto? That’s good too. Is work pressing and you need to put in some extra effort? Morning hours are best for this, and you’ll have a tough time in the evening.

Strangely enough, free time truly becomes “free,” and you can use it as you see fit. At the same time, you’re full of energy and not in a hurry, so you can do everything at your own pace.

5. Sets the Tone for the Entire Day

Imagine a nightmarish “owl morning,” which every lover of sleeping in has experienced, albeit with slight variations. The alarm is set as close as possible to the time you need to leave for work. Instead of breakfast, you have a sandwich or a cup of coffee, apply makeup on the go, rush out, get angry at the transport, just to avoid being late. At the office, the first hour or so is spent warming up because you’re not fully awake yet, and it’s hard to get work done. After lunch, you manage to work normally, but by the end of the workday, you’re still tired. And you still need to get home, prepare food and clothes for tomorrow, clean up, spend time with your loved one, or finally finish that project… You’re low on energy.

Now imagine how early waking changes this entire scenario. You wake up and do household chores, exercise, or engage in self-improvement, have time to eat properly and get ready. You don’t worry about getting to work and enter the office fresh and full of energy because you’re already awake. You tackle complex tasks immediately, at the peak of your strength, and then “finish off” simpler tasks throughout the day. By the end of the day, you’re still tired, of course, but you know that food and time with your household await you at home, which you’ll spend only on them. There’s less of it, of course, since you’ll go to bed earlier, but nothing will distract you.

6. Improved Health

Waking up early has a beneficial effect on the nervous system and aligns well with our physiological parameters. As a rule, those who wake up earlier are much more balanced individuals who are less susceptible to stress and bad moods.

An additional bonus: if you exercise or play sports in the morning. In fact, it’s much easier to do this in the morning than in the evening. I think there’s no need to explain: in the morning, you have a lot of energy! At the same time, opponents of early morning sports believe that it will be difficult to work after the gym. Probably, this is due to memories of school physical education classes, after which you had to run to write an essay or solve problems. The gym is a completely different matter. By working out there or doing a quality workout, you mobilize your body’s capabilities, and it starts producing endorphins and a number of other hormones that will give you vigor, calmness, and a sense of satisfaction throughout the day. So, a “workout” can indeed become an “energy recharge” and, in addition to health benefits, will also bring an increase in work productivity.