Why go to bed early?
By Stew
A long time ago, Benjamin Franklin or somebody said: “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” When I was young, I had the habit of sleeping in on Saturday mornings, I remember stumbling up the stairs around 10 am and my dad said, “the day is half over!” When I started college, I quickly learned the benefits of getting up early in the morning. First period at my college was 7:20 am and I was assigned first period for my entire first year at school. The early class time was not my choice, but by the end of the fall semester, I learned to enjoy getting up early and continued the habit for most of my college career. I even started getting up early on Saturday mornings to spend time in the nearly empty library. I got so much more accomplished when there were no distractions (girls) in that venue.
The benefits of rising early are numerous and well-known. Even Scripture exhorts us to get out of bed: “O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You” (Psalm 63:1). The wife who “rises also while it is still night and gives food to her household” is praised in Proverbs 31:15 while the one who sleeps late is called sluggard: “As a door turns on its hinges, so a sluggard turns on his bed” Proverbs 26:14. I am well aware that almost every area of my life improves with an habit of getting up early.
The difficult part is getting to bed early enough in order to enable me to rise early. It is just that when the kids are in bed, it is so nice to relax and watch a little tube or surf the net. Here are some motivations for the “early to bed” part:
- Save electricity: think about how much less electricity you might save if you headed for bed at 10:30 pm rather than 11:30 pm? You could turn off all lights, the television, the computer and everything else.
- Save heat: We always turn our heat down two or three degrees at night. Get under those covers and give your furnace a rest.
- Quality time: Mrs. Stew and I interact more when the television and computers are off and we are just lying in the dark. Lot’s of good conversation and sometimes a little “conversation”.
- Eat less: When I stay up late, I always end up snacking on something that I do not need. When I am in the “stay up late” cycle, I pretty much eat a fourth meal every night.
Get to be early tonight and hit the ground running tomorrow morning!
Article by Stew
Photo by rkramer62
March 3rd, 2010 at 8:28 am
Going to bed early is one of my biggest priorities for my weight loss – no snacking while sleeping, and makes it much easier to get up and work out in the morning!!!
Thanks for the reminder about the Proverbs 31 woman … nice to be reminded that I’m doing *something* right! :P
March 3rd, 2010 at 11:30 am
Eating during the evening while being in front of the TV is definitely a killer for me.
I usually go to bed between 10h30-11pm but I wake up at 5am each morning. After having 2 kids, it seems that I don’t need much sleep anymore!
March 3rd, 2010 at 11:58 am
Mike, that was really the point at which I started really losing sleep – two kids. The third didn’t make much difference, but two was a killer. Seemed like I never got enough sleep.
March 3rd, 2010 at 3:23 pm
the good side is that I don’t take more than 2 minutes to fall asleep when I lay down in my bed.
this doesn’t leave much time for discussion ;-) hahaha!
March 3rd, 2010 at 3:47 pm
You’ve missed out one vital element, which I admit is somewhat subjective – the beauty of the morning.
It really is the greatest part of the day, and genuinely full of hope. Sunsets can do it, too, but they’re and ending.
Mornings are a point of action. Miss them at your peril!
March 3rd, 2010 at 7:21 pm
I’ve found rising early is one of the keys to productivity. Of course, this entails going to bed early, which is not always easy.
But the key is definitely to make waking up early a habit, which takes 2-3 weeks.
March 3rd, 2010 at 9:18 pm
10:30? I’m usually in bed before that If I can help it. 5AM comes really fast.
March 5th, 2010 at 5:22 pm
i HAVE TO SAY THIS WAS SUCH A GREAT TOPIC oops sorry caps not needed.The remark of conversation AND “conversation was absolutely darling!!!
March 6th, 2010 at 2:18 am
I think this blog post was actually a solid kick off to a potential series of posts about this topic. Most bloggers act like they understand what they are preaching about when it comes to this topic and in reality, nearly no one actually get it. You seem to know about it however, so I think you should start writing more. Thanks!
March 31st, 2010 at 2:45 pm
The heaviest I have ever been is now. This is also the earliest I have woken up ever in my life, wake up at 5:00AM monday through Friday and go to bed at 8:00PM. I have found that waking early makes me eat more than when I sleep in and get adequate rest. I also have no desire to excersice due to fatigue. I was always a fit night owl and after having forced myself to become an early riser I am now a fatty. The transisiton from night owl to early bird was about 5 years and the results are making me miserable, but working forces this schedule on me
October 18th, 2010 at 12:01 am
have already been following your blog for three days. really like what you posted. btw i will be doing a report regarding this subject. do you happen to know any other great sites or maybe online forums in which I might get more info? many thanks.
August 2nd, 2012 at 11:03 pm
I found this while looking for scripture and other inspiration for getting up early. Love it! Thanks!
December 14th, 2013 at 4:09 pm
Great Article. I found waking up early was hard, but did it by making it a challenge. Here’s what I did
http://keystooptimalliving.com/6-am-challenge-the-benefits-of-waking-up-early/