How to make that morning workout routine a reality – it’s easier than you think
Many people would like to exercise at the crack of dawn, but lose motivation when it comes to getting out of bed. Here are some easy tips to help turn yourself into an early riser
You’d probably love to be one of those people who consistently exercise after work. But life gets in the way – kids, work, social commitments – and before you know it, your daily fitness routine goes out the window. A morning workout routine seems like the obvious answer, but how do you actually do it?
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You can turn yourself into an early riser. But not overnight. “You have to adjust gradually,” says Dianne Augelli, a fellow of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
You probably won’t be able to make yourself go to sleep that early anyway, Augelli says. “You can’t force yourself to fall asleep. Sleep doesn’t work that way. But you can begrudgingly force yourself to wake up,” she says.
The American Sleep Association recommends seven to nine hours of sleep per night for adults. You might fall asleep at midnight and get up at 5am, and that’s no good. In fact, Augelli says mortality increases when adults habitually get fewer than six hours’ sleep a night.
Instead, Augelli says you should change your sleep schedule by 30 minutes at a time. Start going to sleep at 11.30pm and getting up at 7.30am. Do that for about a week and then roll back another 30 minutes. Do that for about a week and then roll back yet another 30 minutes. Repeat until you land at your desired wake-up time without needing an afternoon nap that day.
Weekend cycles should stay fairly close – within an hour or two – to the weekday cycle. “Our bodies don’t know what a weekend is. It’s a social construct, not a biological one,” Augelli says.