Most people love to stay in bed. This is especially true when we see ourselves faced with bad sleep. We want to gather more energy for the day by staying in bed no matter if we can sleep or not. The next thing we notice is that we try to pressure ourselves into sleep. And lastly, we recognize that everything we did ended up making things even worse.

Today I am going to walk you through an effective way to find back to superb sleep by getting up at 5 am! Yes, by getting up with the birds!

Can getting up early (5 am) help me to sleep?

Well, getting up at 5 am will do two majorly important things for our sleep.

It will

#1 interrupt our usual daytime patterns and make implementing healthy sleep changes easier (pattern interrupt)

#2 give us more time to align ourselves with our day and implement sleep-promoting activities (a good night of sleep is the result of a well-lived day)

#1 The pattern interrupt

Firsty, most of our daily actions are performed unconsciously. Experts assume that the number could be as high as over 95% of our daily actions. This is great when the things we are doing are working in our favor.

But what if we have been suffering from bad sleep over long periods of time?

Odds are that things are not working in our favor!

To break through this vicious cycle of automated unconscious actions a pattern interrupt is a helpful tool. There are many ways we can interrupt our daily patterns. When it comes to bad sleep, getting up early is one that we can implement easily and effectively.

For many reasons we simply feel different when we get up early. We will now (probably) be getting up alone. Our need to hurry is gone. The body chemistry is different and so on…

Our morning pattern is interrupted.
Automatic triggers for our actions are weekends and we have the chance to implement a consciously chosen morning ritual.

#2 More time to align our day

Secondly, we have got more time to get our days started. Often we stumble into the day and get caught in outside demands before we had the time to get and feel settled. To align the new day with our personal interests and needs.

Now we are going to make a morning plan!

We are going to start the day with things that are good for us and our sleep. Preparing good sleep in the morning instead of solely hoping for good sleep at night.

Here are a couple of great things you can do with your extra time:

• drink a big glass of water
• have a walk
• do yoga
• write a personal journal
• plan your day (include relationships, fun and well being)
• listen to music
• have a bath
• celebrate your breakfast
• meditate
• (fill-in-the-blank…)

If you have a hard time believing that you will ever be able to sleep again you should also create a sleep goal card. This is something I discussed in last week’s episode. It will help you to create the belief that you are able to sleep and could be an important part of your new morning ritual.

What’s next?

Starting this can boost your sleep in only a matter of days even if you have been experiencing sleeping problems for longer periods of time.

Here are two things you should keep in mind when you start doing this:

1. avoid naps (instead do e.g. a breathing technique to re-energize at daytime)
2. go to bed when you are tired (instead of having a specific time)

This method is particularly great for people that have been experiencing bad sleep for longer periods of time. I can’t wait to get your feedback on this one.

Give it a couple of days to work out!

Wakey wakey and sleep well,

Michael Hildebrandt