Make Magic in the Mornings
A lot of successful people attribute their success and fame to their waking up very very early, 5am or sooner and to having a disciplined morning routine in place. We're morning people ourselves, hence the moniker – The Morning Club. We prefer to wake up early and slow, and use the early hours of the day to spend time with ourselves.
Now we are by no means recommending that you wake up along with the sun too (we think that there's really no one-size-fit-all sleep window). We're very aware of the fact that every person has his or her own chronotype, the natural tendency of a person to sleep at a certain time and disrupting that is not going to be productive or healthy. But having said that, we also belive that there are clear benefits to waking up early in the morning. The extra hours in the morning have a lot to offer, particularly if you're looking to improve your lifestyle.
Photo by Thomas Koukas from Unsplash
So, in this week’s chapter of the Birdsong Morning Club, we’re sharing tips and tricks on how you can own your mornings. But first, we asked Nithya, our Chief Moderator and Functional Medicine & Wellness Coach, to share the benefits of having an early morning routine. Keep reading!
Benefits of waking up early
- Tranquillity – There are fewer distractions at this time of the day. There’s an absence of noise, most people are asleep, no text messages or calls. The morning peace can help one focus better, is calming to the senses, brings freedom from stress and anxiety. The few quiet hours help still your mind and you carry this calm into the rest of the day. The tranquillity in the morning hours is known to improve dopamine (the pleasure hormones) and serotonin (mood and happiness hormone) levels. So, even your brain loves those moments!
- More Sunlight - Waking up early means you get to experience the sun right from its early stages of the day. And we know that exposure to sunlight has an impact on our moods. So, you can only imagine the positive effect it will have when you’ve seen the sunlight creep in and spread around your world first hand.
- Clarity of thought - The brain’s prefrontal cortex, or that part of you that makes you worry or analyse things over and over, is temporarily shut down in the peaceful early hours. This allows you to slow down, and focus on what’s really important - you!
- Better use of cognitive bandwidth – We've got limited mental bandwidth and waking up early before the world rises allows you to allocate that precious bandwidth towards activities that truly matter and are important for personal development. This could be exercise, meditation, journaling, yoga and oil pulling and so on. It allows you to bring an extra sense of focus and prioritise your bandwidth on areas you deem important.
- More time – One quiet hour in the morning is worth a lot more than a distracted hour later in the day. It is time in its most unadulterated form and you can accomplish a lot at this hour of the day. And my main tip for this - avoid your phone! The quickest way to wreck a productive morning is to get drawn into your phone.
You’ve read about the benefits of waking up early. Now, if you want to know how to actually implement a healthy and productive routine, sign up for our Morning Club newsletter here. This week, we’ll be sharing insightful and actionable tips on how to own your mornings!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The Birdsong Morning Club is our virtual community space where we share exclusive content, discuss important issues of wellness and hold space for our members to explore and experience the benefits of a holistic lifestyle. Hosted by experts and created with love for our community, sign up to be a part of the Birdsong Morning Club to receive our bi-monthly newsletter, access to a private-group and lots of exciting updates about product releases, sales and more!
