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Happy New Year, friends!! This post has been on my to do list for quite some time per your request, so I’m happy to finally deliver! I’ve been regularly attending Orangetheory Fitness for over a year now, which means over a year of being a regular member of the 5am class. I’ve had to change my sleeping habits quite a bit to account for early morning wake ups, so I’m sharing my Tips for Waking Up Early with you!
There are several reasons why waking up early is pretty great. (I realize “early” is relative, but for me it’s about 4am…before sunrise.) First, I can fit a morning workout in and be DONE before my kids are awake. It also allows me extra quiet time all for myself, which therefore leaves more time devoted to my family! I really love having those few extra hours to my day, and I’ve found I can be pretty productive during them if I so choose. I mainly use my early morning wake ups so I can head to Orangetheory for the 5am class. Here’s what I make sure I do so I can actually be successful at this 😉
GET TO BED EARLY. This was super hard for me at first because I used to go to bed VERY late. Now I make it a point to get to bed by 10pm. Sometimes that’s doesn’t happen, but I am much more rested if I can make that work. iPhone has a Do Not Disturb feature which silences your phone for a designated time period. I like it because it doesn’t vibrate or light up when you get a message. I also sometimes sleep with white noise, which helps me stay asleep!
SET A NIGHTTIME ROUTINE. Just like kids, we need routine too! I have a set routine every night and try to shut down technology to help my brain be less stimulated before bed time. I feel it helps! We have a TV in our bedroom, but it’s barely used…and I prefer it that way. I never sleep well when I fall asleep with the TV on.
SET MULTIPLE ALARMS. I especially had to do this at first when I was adjusting to early wake ups, but I still do it now because I’m afraid I’ll sleep through it! I literally set 3 alarms, all within a few minutes of each other. That way if I miss one, there will be another. If you have to, keep your alarm across the room so you have to get out of bed to turn it off!
PREPARE THE NIGHT BEFORE. Set up everything you need the next morning in it’s exact place so your process can go quicker. For instance, I set up my gym clothes right outside the bathroom door, my gym bag is ready and waiting for me, and my coffee pot is set to have my morning brew ready for when I leave. The less I’m fumbling about in the morning, the quicker I’m out the door.
GIVE YOURSELF SOME TIME. This won’t be an overnight adjustment – it takes a bit to get used to it! I felt like a zombie at first, but now my body automatically wakes up early even without my alarm (although I still set it!). Allow yourself some time to transition.
These are just a few simple tips, but they really do work in helping yourself wake up at an earlier hour! If you have something that works for you that I might not have listed, please share it below 🙂
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Great ideas! I’m going to start implementing these! What are your favorite compression leggings?
Have your heat click on before you get up. So much easier getting out of your warm bed if your home is warm too!
I always put my phone which is my alarm across the room so I have to get out of bed to shut it off and I try to immediately turn my lights on and start moving around.
I’m with you Shannon! My husband is a REALLY light sleeper and can’t go back to sleep once he’s awake. But unfortunately I’m the total opposite. I could sleep through a hurricane. So I get one shot at an alarm before he starts getting annoyed. So I set my alarm to blare a horn sound across the room. ha ha. It’s a really rude way to wake up but it prevents me from hitting snooze.
I have to be at the hospital really early in the morning to and totally agree with everything your saying. Instead of doing the 10 min alarms, the app Sleep Cycle works really well and wakes me up when I’m closest to the lightest sleep! That’s been a huge help. Then you just have to train yourself to get up with 1 alarm. So I do one as a back up as well. Also using the “bedtime” setting on the clock of the iPhone is helpful. It reminds me when I should start thinking about going to bed!
I go to 4:45am OTF classes and have found the $12 late cancel fee to be a highly motivating reason to get out of bed. Going to bed by around 10pm is a big factor though in making through the rest of the day.
I have a hue light that I set to turn on slowly in the morning so that my room is light when my alarm goes off. It’s so much harder to go back to bed when the lights are on!
Lauren.. love your early morning workout post! Years ago a friend convinced me to meet her for running at 5:45am and I thought omg what the what! But 2 decades later and I’m still getting up early to workout! Now I meet my daughter, whose a new mama, at 5:30am a couple days a week! I also do hot yoga 2 mornings and cycling 2 mornings! Getting up early is game changer for me and starts my day on the best positive vibe! Thanks for always sharing and being such a great resource to moms and even grand moms like me!!
I used to regularly get up for 5am workouts. My best tip…I just slept in my workout clothes. It made it that much easier to get out of bed as late as possible, brush my teeth and head out. Maybe not for everyone, but was a game changer for me.
I used to regularly get up for a 5am workout. The best tip I have, is to just sleep on your workout clothes. That was the best way for me to sleep as late as possible, get up, all I had to do was brush my teeth and walk out the door. It may not be for everyone but it was a game changer for me!
For those people who struggle with sleeping through alarms/pressing snooze/driving their spouse insane—there’s an app called “Kiwake” that has changed my life and helped me get up early to exercise! It has three steps to forcing you to wake up without pressing snooze. You first have to get up and moving and take a picture of something specific in your house (preset by you), then it gives you some simple/quick games to play to wake up your mind, and finally you read through your goals. If you stop doing any of these steps (bc you fell back asleep), the alarm will buzz until you do it—so no snoozing! By the time I do all these things, I’m awake enough to NOT talk myself out of going to the gym or whatever I need to do. GAME. CHANGER. Great tips—thought I would share one more! 🙃
Find a hairstyle that you like with your hair wet and is easy. I found taking a shower after a 6am class and having the ability to put my hair in a sock bun after getting out of the shower sped up getting ready for work and was one less excuse/stressor.
Wait so you only need 6 hours of sleep max every night with all that you do?! Officially feel like the laziest person ever😂🙈
Thanks for the tips, total morning struggler here!
For me, finding an easy, cute hair style I can do with wet hair was a game changer. Since I had to shower after 6am class and get ready for work, being able to put my hair in a sock bun and look put together without more than a couple minutes of effort was perfect. No blow drying, just out the door to take on the day! I literally had no excuses not to work out before work
I’m with you Shannon! My husband is a REALLY light sleeper and can’t go back to sleep once he’s awake. But unfortunately I’m the total opposite. I could sleep through a hurricane. So I get one shot at an alarm before he starts getting annoyed. So I set my alarm to blare a horn sound across the room. ha ha. It’s a really rude way to wake up but it prevents me from hitting snooze.
Great tips – thank you for sharing! I definitely think shutting off social media/technology helps a lot before going to bed.