Snap out of it? We can all rise and shine,some say.Credit:Justin Horrocks
“Mornings are a great time for getting things done,particularly the personal priorities that life has a way of crowding out,” she says. “There's some research finding that our supply of willpower is strongest in the morning (diets are broken at night,not at breakfast). Choosing to devote early morning hours to things that are important to us - exercise,strategic thinking,creative work,nurturing relationships - means you devote your most focused hours to these things,before other people's priorities invade.”
It's no coincidence that early risers have a reputation for being successful. “It is a common trait found in many CEOs,government officials,and other influential people,” says Jennifer Cohen inForbes. “Margaret Thatcher was up every day at 5am;Frank Lloyd Wright at 4am and Robert Iger,the CEO of Disney,wakes at 4.30am just to name a few."
But what if your natural state is to stay horizontal and hit the snooze button till the last possible moment?
Anyone can become a morning person says Zoë B,a Sydney-based life coach and author of the Simple Life Strategies blog. It's just a case of redefining yourself. “If we keep telling ourselves that we're not a morning person then guess what happens? We don't get up early. This is a habit that we just need to snap out of. Anyone can become a morning person,it's simply a matter of taking action.”
“People who get up early often report feelings of positivity and achievement that continue throughout the day” she says. “If we begin on a positive note,then this positive mood state is much more likely to continue as the day progresses.”
The evidence is not just anecdotal. Research at the University of Roehampton in Britain highlighted the benefits of getting up early. Dr Jürg Huber told the British Daily Telegraph:"There are morning people and evening people,and morning people tend to be healthier and happier as well as having lower body mass indices."
In 2010,Christoph Randler,a biology professor at the University of Education at Heidelberg,found that early risers were more proactive and more likely to spend time identifying long-term goals. “This research also found that this proactivity leads to a feeling of being more in control,which can aid feelings of confidence,” says Zoë B.