5 Reasons You Shouldn’t Wake Up at 5 AM Every Day
And why it’s perfectly reasonable to consider a later start to your work and life
There’s been quite a bit of talk on the internet both for and against waking up at 5 AM in the morning, for years now. As someone who has religiously woken up early and also outright avoided the practice, I have arguments on both sides of the divide. What I’ve come to the conclusion, though, is that while waking up at 5 AM certainly can be beneficial — it certainly isn’t necessary for being productive.
“Love the life you have while you create the life of your dreams. Don’t think you have to choose one over the other.”
― Hal Elrod, Taking Life Head On!
While the likes of former Navy SEAL turned business leader Jocko Willink and writer and podcaster Jeff Sanders (host of The 5 AM Miracle Podcast) make compelling arguments for such an early wakeup time, what they present is often a romanticized rhythm of their life that isn’t as perfect as it seems, and certainly isn’t for everyone. It works great for them, but might not be the best thing for you, or your lifestyle.
I would recommend staying clear of any podcast, book, or article telling you that you have to wake up at 5 AM every day to be doing anything meaningful in this world — and believe me, those people are out there.
Business Insider, Inc. Magazine and Fast Company have all 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 to solving all of your problems or helping you live your dream life.
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 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.
Choose habits and rhythms for your life that you enjoy, and understand the reasoning behind them. If you blindly follow thought leaders and writers’ recommendations without believing in their reasoning or understanding what the point is, you’ll resent the people you’re copying, and certainly not enjoy or benefit from the habit the way you’re supposed to.
#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 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.
While this isn’t an issue for everyone, being awake before sunrise could be harmful to you and damaging to your morning productivity and rhythm.
#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.
“Set your alarm clock and get out of bed when it goes off.” — Jocko Willink
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 — that “you can sleep when you’re dead”. My article from a couple of years ago, 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. This is especially relevant to me in college, where a lot of evening activities don’t start until 8 pm and last until 11 or so. That means I don’t get home until a little before midnight.
I can’t tell you how many friendships I would struggle to maintain, organizations I wouldn’t be able to really be apart of, and life I would lose if I was forcing myself to go to bed at 9 or 10 pm every night. My life simply doesn’t operate on that schedule, and I’m perfectly okay with that.
In this hypothetical world where you’re religiously sticking to your 5 AM wake-up time, 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 of your schedule. Committing to waking 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, in my opinion, prioritizing your favorite people over your morning routine is the better decision. Pick the sleep and wake-up schedule that works best with your life and priorities.
#5: You can experience more 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 during different seasons of 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.
My writing is always better at night. It’s not necessarily clearer, it’s not necessarily better, but it is always more vulnerable and more creative. Maybe you’re the same way — and your productivity would actually be boosted if you stayed up later and worked into the night. Not everyone is the same — and it would be in your best interests to find what works best for you, not for someone on the internet trying to get you to copy them.
I have loved waking up at 5 AM when it was right for me — but I have also hated it. While people like Jocko Willink, Tim Cook, Dwayne Johnson, and Arianna Huffington can make it work, copying their routines blindly isn’t going to automatically give you the same levels of success.
I leave you with three ideas — (1) Find what’s right for you. (2) Wake up when it’s best for you. (3) Don’t follow the crowd, but lead the crowd.
5 AM is a great, yet sometimes romanticized concept. There is so much more that goes into being successful than what time your alarm goes off. Aspire for those things, and you’ll go much farther than simply getting an extra hour or so every morning.
