By: Jessica-May Cox
Waking up early is definitely not something I am known for. In fact, I tend to go to sleep closer to 5am, a result of staying up all night binge-watching television. It’s hence no surprise that I often feel like the winter days are incredibly short, and my productivity and health takes a noticeable hit the later I wake up, or with the less sleep I get. Desperate to address this habit, I decided to start waking up at 5am, every day, for a week.
Admittedly, my main influence was the trend on TikTok: “5 to 9 before the 9 to 5.” The idea is to have “me-time” before starting work, including time for self-reflection, exercise, and errands. Now, I don’t have a 9 to 5 job, but for the sake of the experiment I replaced this job with academic work for five days from 9am to 5pm.
What better time to set a new challenge for yourself than the New Year? So, perhaps a little recklessly, I set my first 5am alarm for Monday, January 1st.
My New Year’s celebrations meant I only had about two hours of sleep, which I personally do not recommend. I started my day with a light breakfast and a walk. Barely anyone was out around at that time, bringing me a sense of peace and tranquillity. I also managed to tidy my flat and do some laundry, meaning I wouldn’t have to worry about it late at night. Despite it not being 9am yet, I was already pleased with how productive I had been.
In the following days, I (almost) consistently kept up with this routine, and found that my productivity was much better than it would have normally been. I slipped up on Thursday, waking up at 7am instead, probably because my body wanted to catch up on some sleep. Still, it was a considerable improvement on my usual schedule, so I didn’t mind.
Whilst I benefited from the solitude of early mornings and making the most of the rare few hours of sunlight the winter has to offer, I noticed a major flaw with this routine. My new bedtime was 9pm, in order to get the optimal 8 hours of sleep, which meant that my social life ceased to exist. Usually, I end my day by talking with my flatmates or watching television with them, but I missed out on this valuable social and wind-down time because of my self-imposed bedtime.
After this experiment, I’ve come to admire those who make this their daily routine. Ticking off all my menial chores before starting work massively helped me focus during the day, and although I usually finished before the deadline of 5pm, I also missed not having to worry about going to bed early. However, it’s worth noting that the experience has improved my sleep schedule, and has certainly motivated me to at least try and wake up before noon.
Illustration by Francesca Corno
