Is Being a Night Owl a Myth (And Why Become an Early Riser)

There are two kinds of people in the world according to the time they get up: an early riser and a not so early one.

Thоse from the first group have tried hard to make it a habit and a lifestyle. While the second group of people is either struggling with that, or people simply think they are more productive in the evening/night and can’t make themselves wake up at dawn.

This, like most of the things we do, is just a strong habit that we tend to avoid giving up because of many previous failures.

The inability to rise up early is a result of staying up late the night before.

A few reasons we go to bed late and can’t fall asleep easily are:

• We watch TV/stay in front of the computer right before going to bed.

That makes our mind think we are still in the active part of the day and doesn’t let it rest.

• We eat/drink before falling asleep.

That is an inexcusable behavior towards our body because it overloads the digestive system. A dinner before bed also wastes a lot of the organism’s energy which it needs for other functions while we sleep.

The body is detoxicating and resting during the night and although our digestion is still working pretty fine, we shouldn’t put so much pressure on it.

A light dinner 1-2 hours before bed and a reasonable amount of water would be perfect.

• Stress is ruining our sleep.

Engaging the mind at that time is not a good idea as this way we won’t be able to fall asleep and our heads will be full of thoughts (mostly negative), problems, plans and so on.

What you need in the evening is a relaxed mind and body.

Saying that we are most productive in the evening is just an excuse.

Many people stay up late at night, and I mean really late. As a result, on the next day it’s not only great agony for them to get up, but their work is at a low level. They just can’t concentrate on anything.

Then as the day goes by, they become more energetic and active, but at what price?

In the beginning I also thought I was doing everything better in the second part of the day – in the evening and mostly by night.

I’ve been living like that for years, always postponing waking up early (although the desire to develop this habit never got out of my head).

I even had a period of 2-3 months in which I had turned nights into days. Actually, I did my best writing at that time, but I gave up on everything else. It was just me and the night. Every next day I was full of regrets, I soon started getting depressed.

Luckily, it was just a phase, and it went away.

After that I continued the fight with my sleeping routine. It was hard, but I just knew it was the right thing to do.

I was seeing all these energetic people jogging at the park, drinking their coffee on the way to work, starting the day with a smile and gratitude. And all this was happening in the early morning.

After I did some reading and researching, I saw a tendency – successful and positive people tend to get up early and do most of their work then.

Eventually, I achieved that. Soon I found the power of the morning routine and my days became meaningful.

After including breakfast some time after I rise up, I managed to change my whole eating plan and got over the late-night visits to the fridge, which was one of my biggest problems.

I simply moved every meal of mine to an earlier hour. Now I am doing all the work and writing (that I thought I was able to produce only late in the evening) early in the morning. And it is even better.

So as you see there is no such thing as being a night owl.

Don’t waste your precious days and don’t forget that the body needs just around six hours to rest, not more. Develop this habit and you will be a new person in a couple of weeks.

Another plus is what John Steinbeck says:

“It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it”.

There is no recipe for success here and a lot of persistence, patience and will is needed. But I assure you that if I can do it, you can too!

Change your sleeping routine for good and soon you will be surprised by your own results and accomplishments.

There will be no more disappointments, wasted days and bad mood. This is an important step to success and without it you can go no further.
I believe in you but I think nothing will ever happen unless you believe in yourself! So come out of the dark and embrace the daylight.

What is your sleeping routine? Are you an early riser? And if not, do you want to become one?