If you’re a night owl, you probably enjoy staying up late, then going to bed and sleeping late. However, it’s more beneficial for you to rise earlier to prepare for the day. You need at least seven full hours to be at your best and going to bed later messes with your body’s internal sleep clock. Here are four reasons why you should wake up early, according to scientific studies.
More positivity
You may think people who wake up early tend to be grumpier until they adjust to the day and maybe have their morning coffee. However, on the contrary, early risers tend to be more positive and have lower negativity.
According to a study published in the journal Emotion, “Our results show that older adults report higher levels of positive affect and lower levels of negative affect compared to younger adults, replicating previous evidence of differences in emotional state across the lifespan.” This is because early risers get more sleep than night owls, thus helping their brains recuperate and prepare for the next day. As a result, their stress levels are lower, and they don’t feel rushed in the morning.
Better mental health
When you get enough sleep and wake up early, you can boost your mental health, ward off negativity, and lighten your mood. Night owls, on the other hand, may suffer from emotional instabilities and increased depressive moods. According to a study published in the journal Psychiatry Research, “An evening preference predicted poorer emotional adjustment (i.e., greater anxiety and depressed mood) even after accounting for the variation associated with demographics (i.e., age, sex, socioeconomic status, and pubertal development), sleep variables (i.e., sleep length, sleep debt, and sleep/wake problems), and substance abuse.”
Better habits
Waking up early may help you avoid substance abuse habits like smoking and taking drugs to help you sleep. Not only that, but being an early riser helps you feel better, giving you no reason to smoke or use substances to enhance mood. According to a study published in the journal Psychiatry Research about adolescents who prefer to stay up late and substance abuse, “Sleep habits resulting in insufficient sleep were associated with more risk taking behaviors including alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use.”
Better sleep quality
When you go to sleep early and wake up early, you can stabilize your internal biological clock, which gives you better sleep quality. According to a study published in the journal Nature and Science of Sleep about early rising students and sleep quality, “Students with consistent habits of self-awakening at a predetermined time went to sleep earlier, got up earlier in the morning, slept for a longer time, and had higher ME (Morning-Evening) scores than did students who did not habitually self-awaken.” Night owls, however, will suffer more abrupt awakenings, poorer sleep quality, and shorter sleep duration due to their internal clocks being disrupted.
Sources:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3399900/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2844473/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3032034/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3630977/
