People wake up at different times. Some people are early risers, while some are nocturnal. No set time is universally considered early. Four am is early for some people, but others might consider 8 am to be an early wake-up time. Some in Bharat consider Brahm Muhurat as an early wake-up time.
Let's figure out if it is better to wake up early.
Reasons in favor of early rising:
- It is quiet.
- No distractions
- More time at our hand before starting routine activities
- Can devote more time to ourselves
- Clear thinking
- Get more vitamin D and Melatonin
- Our energies are aligned with nature. The natural time cycle or universal time cycle gets aligned with our body time cycle.
- In the early morning, people usually are more peaceful, loving, and forgiving. These energies make the vibrations around us more positive and pure. Anything done during these hours, ( meditation, prayers, yoga, exercise, etc.) is impacted by these positive vibrations. As the day progresses and more people wake up and start their daily chores the energies become more and more negative or Rajsik and then Tamsik. By the evening the balance is more towards negative energies.
- No rush, so less stress
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Early rising is an indirect sign of a motivated life.
Debunking
- We can get quiet time anytime during the day.
- Distractions can be minimized anytime. We do not need a particular time for this.
- We can devote time to ourselves whenever we want.
- Clear thinking can happen just before sleep also.
- Vit D and melatonin can be taken as a supplement.
- Stress is in our control.
The important thing to remember is that to wake up early, we need to sleep early. We need to calculate the number of hours our body needs to sleep and then sleep accordingly. All benefits of rising early are lost if we wake up tired and sleep-deprived. Majority of growth hormone release occurs during sleep.
In India people used to wake up early in Brahm Muhurat. India is a tropical country where the sun rises early. In ancient times there was no electricity and people had to align their routines with the natural cycle of sunrise and sunset. There were also no food supplements, so all vitamin D and melatonin were coming from the sunlight. Not many activities were happening at night, therefore there was no need to sleep late.
There is no need to blindly follow the ancient traditions without correcting those for present situations. Will early rising give us the same benefit if we wake up inside an apartment where the windows are always closed? Early rising is also irrelevant in countries where there is limited sunlight.
People who are spending their day inside a building where there is always artificial light, inadequate ventilation, and no people around- does the time they wake up really matter?
Tips to wake up early:
- Do not drink or eat caffeinated products in late afternoon or evening
- Sleep early
- Before going to sleep, remind yourself that you need to wake up early next morning
- Make yourself stressfree before going to bed
- Have a reason to wake up early
- Keep alarm clock far away
- Keep an alarm which does not turn off until a mental or physical activity is done
- Plan a group activity in morning
- Ask someone to give you a call and talk to you early morning
Bharti Raizada