10 Benefits of Rising Early

College life was so easy as we could wake up late and get to the classes whenever we wanted, and we never really found any harm in missing one or two of those early lessons. But as soon as we graduated and got pulled into a ‘job’, everything turned around. Waking up early everyday in order to make it to work on time is a task in itself. Pressing snooze, is no longer an option. Little do we realise that getting up early in the morning is not just good for keeping the job or impressing the boss, it’s good for our lives, our body, and our being in so many ways!

Doctors and nutritionists have been screaming the benefits of rising early since time immemorial, but we lazy creatures shut that out and refuse to leave the comforts of our cosy beds. In fact, rising early can prove to be an excellent first step in order to mend our messy lives

Here are some of the benefits of getting into the routine of waking up early:

1. Fresh Start

Get up early and greet a wonderful new day. You must create a morning ritual that includes thanking the Almighty for blessing you with a beautiful life, success, friends and family. Also, the early morning hours are so peaceful, so quiet, when birds are chirping, the air is fresh, cool and fragrant, and the sun hasn’t turned into a roasting agent yet!

2. Sunrise

The rising of the sun is one of the most beautiful sights that Nature blesses us with. Rise with the sun and appreciate its wonder- the transition of the midnight blue into lighter blue, when the sky is painted in incredible colours, blending in from one hue to another slowly. Start your day by witnessing something so beautiful and you yourself will have a beautiful day!

3. Breakfast

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but it’s also one of the most skipped meals. Eating a healthy breakfast in the morning gives you a more nutritionally complete die, improved concentration, more strength and stamina to engage in physical activity lower cholesterol levels and so on.

4. Exercise

Working out in the morning is one of the best ways to get the day going. It doesn’t just give you the required energy boost, but also helps you have a more peaceful and refreshing sleep at night. Once you make it a part of your morning routine, you’ll be less sluggish and more awake the whole day. It’ll be difficult to get into this routine in the beginning, but once you start pulling yourself out of bed for it every day, it’ll soon become a habit that you’ll enjoy engaging into.

5. Relaxation

We’re so busy in our lives that we forget to relax and spend time with ourselves. Introspecting on one’s own thoughts, feelings, emotions is an important task for each day. This is the best time to give to ourselves every day, when you’re all fresh and the day’s just begun. But that hardly happens. You wake up after hitting the snooze button a few times, and then realize you’re going to be late. You rush to get ready as fast as possible. Then, you’re stuck facing the morning traffic and maybe even battling for a parking spot. You get to work, sit at your desk and start working like a machine. When you wake up, give yourself time. Read the newspaper, catch the morning news, eat breakfast, work out and sit in silence for some time, reflecting on your life.

6. Quality Sleep

Getting the proper amount of sleep not only gets you more energized for the day, it improves your mental health, creativity and helps in weight control. However, there’s a thin line between getting enough sleep and getting too much sleep. Sleeping for 10 hours is going to make you even more tired throughout the day. Go to sleep early.

7. Productivity

Mornings are the most productive time of day. It is when your brain is most alert and focused and when there are no distractions. So get your most important tasks done right away and leave the less important things for the rest of the day. This way, you’ll end up completing your daily chores early and will have more time to spend with your family. All those famous people we know who made a change in the world have one thing in common- they wake up early!

8. Punctuality

Rising early would mean you get to places on time. Be that work, appointments, meetings, lectures, or even a date! Nobody respects a person who cannot even be on time.

9. Anti-Stress Agent

Studies in medical science suggest that much of the stress and anxiety we suffer from in our day to day lives is due to our lifestyle and unhealthy habits, waking up late being one of them. To revitalise your body and mind, and to give your system a kick-start, you need to start your day early. Getting up early and carrying out the above mentioned tasks help in getting rid of major amount of that stress, lower anxiety levels and keep you happy throughout the day.

10. Health and Well being

Our body works in accordance with the duration of the day. Our system is accustomed to being put to rest at a certain time (for 7-8 hours), and being ‘rebooted’ at another. The body needs to maintain this balance in order to function properly. Keeping up till late at night and waking up late, and/or sleeping for longer hours than normal results in disruption of this balance and leads to unnatural changes in the body. Problems like abnormal weight loss, loss of appetite, rise in temper levels, rise in anxiety levels, depression, acidity, constipation, and various others start to occur. And ladies, sleeping till late is the foremost reason for the outbreak of those annoying pimples and dark circles we all despise!

The snooze button on the alarm clock is your biggest enemy, and while you’re addicted to hitting it numerous times at the start of each day, it’s never going to let you get ahead in life. You’re not being asked to make these changes immediately. Take baby steps. Start with waking up 20 minutes earlier to make breakfast, and eventually add in the exercise. Once you get into this fruitful habit, you’ll eventually stop needing an alarm clock altogether. Switching from being a night owl to an early riser will help solve a lot of problems in your life, so that you’d never want to go back to that lousy routine!