Early to rise: how waking early helps with being healthy, if not wealthy and wise

Dawn workouts, high-protein breakfasts and goal setting? Not a hope, say two early-morning presenters who cherish every minute they get to spend in bed. But for the rest of us who follow regular office hours, mental health experts suggest small hacks to help get the day off to a strong start 

Is having a streamlined morning routine that includes pre-dawn workouts, mindful journalling and meticulously nutritionally balanced breakfasts the secret to success?

Is having a streamlined morning routine that includes pre-dawn workouts, mindful journalling and meticulously nutritionally balanced breakfasts the secret to success?

The likes of Barack and Michelle Obama would certainly have you think so. The power couple were famous for rising at 4.30am to fit in time for exercise and meditation before work.

Ireland AM presenter Muireann O’Connell

Ireland AM presenter Muireann O’Connell does not count herself among such early morning go-getters. “I have to get up before 4.40am if I want to be ready to go live at 7am,” she says. “But I’m not a morning person and have never understood why people think getting up early is better than getting more sleep. I’d sleep until lunchtime if I could.”

During the working week, her morning routine consists of “getting up, having a shower, getting dressed and drinking a pint of water before driving to the studio. Mornings for me are simply about making sure I’m on time for and prepared for work.”

Radio presenter Aisling Bonner also struggles to get up early. She sets three alarms to be sure of waking up in time to co-host the 2FM breakfast show with Carl Mullan and Roz Purcell.

“The first goes off at 5.10am, the second at 5.12am and the emergency one at 5.15am,” she says. “Then I sleepwalk to the bathroom, brush my hair and teeth, put on the clothes I’ve laid out the night before and hop in a taxi.”

Not a moment of Bonner’s morning is wasted, not even that 15-minute taxi ride, which she spends flicking through stories her show’s producers have posted in the group chat.

“I’ll start preparing responses, and when I get to the studio, I’ll do a vocal warm-up,” she says. “I had nodules on my vocal cords last year, and a speech and language therapist told me warm-ups would prevent them from coming back. I’ve done them every day since and find them a great way to wake myself up. When they’re done, we gather in the studio and at 6am, we’re live and kicking.”

Bonner is aware her morning routine may sound highly pressurised, but says she “won’t sacrifice a second that could be spent sleeping”.

Roz Purcell is the polar opposite. “She gets up earlier to have a shower, prepare breakfast and walk her dog. But Carl is like me. We grab and go.”

Behaviour psychologist and founder of ChangeAble Behaviour Solutions Pádraig Walsh

Routine matters

No matter what time you wake up, your morning routine is likely to have more in common with O’Connell’s or Bonner’s than with the Obamas’. However, you shouldn’t beat yourself up over this, says behaviour psychologist and founder of ChangeAble Behaviour Solutions Pádraig Walsh, who suspects that not even the Obamas always have what he calls “Instagram-worthy mornings”.

“Everyone has nights when they’re up worrying about something, which means they click the snooze button on the alarm clock in the morning before rushing to get ready and reaching for coffee to keep them going,” he says. “But those aren’t the mornings they share with the world. They share the mornings when everything goes exactly to plan. Be realistic. Take what they say with a pinch of salt.”

Organisational psychologist and founder of Directionality psychology and coaching services Niamh Gaffney describes herself as “a card-carrying night owl who will do anything to get five more minutes in bed in the mornings”.

Organisational psychologist and founder of Directionality psychology and coaching services Niamh Gaffney describes herself as “a card-carrying night owl who will do anything to get five more minutes in bed in the mornings”.

She finds it irritating when people boast about being early risers. “Remember when Leo Varadkar said Fine Gael was for those who got up early in the morning? That was so judgmental,” she says. “Not all of us are at our best in the morning. I’m certainly not.”

However, she acknowledges that how you spend your morning can set the tone for the rest of the day. “People can get sucked into a negative spiral where stubbing their toe as they jump out of bed pulls the good out of the rest of their day,” she says. “But it doesn’t have to be like that.”

Nor do mornings have to adhere to a perfect schedule. “These schedules can be yet another way of loading stress onto ourselves,” says Gaffney. “My advice is to try to avoid that by finding a simple morning routine that works.”

Doing so can have numerous benefits, according to a 2018 University of Houston study. It found that having a routine reduced indecisiveness, provided stability and induced a sense of calm.

Making our beds is a good first step in that morning routine. Gaffney says it can be “the first good habit on which you can stack more. Setting yourself the task of making your bed, making it and then giving yourself credit for doing so means you’re more likely to follow through on the rest of your day’s tasks.”

Aisling Bonner

Early easy wins

Walsh agrees that such “early easy wins can influence the rest of our day” and cites the Irish proverb ‘tús maith leath na hoibre’.

“It means a good start is half the work and it plays a big part in my own daily routine,” he says. “I try to get a few easy wins early in the day to set myself up for success.”

One is waking up having had a good night’s sleep. “That starts with going to bed at a reasonable hour the night before,” says Walsh.

Bonner admits she finds this difficult. “I should go to bed at 9pm to be asleep by 9.30pm but I’m often still awake at 10.30pm.”

A second easy win is drinking water before you reach for a morning cup of coffee. Studies show that even mild dehydration can affect cognitive function by impairing attention, working memory and mood.

Get outside in the early morning light, and you’ll achieve a third win. “Combine it with exercise for a double whammy,” says Walsh. “You could do this by walking to work.”

Walsh’s fourth suggestion is making time for human connection. “Hugging your family in the morning makes oxytocin levels rise, which makes you feel good,” he says. “Chatting to people on your way to work does, too. It all plays a part in getting your body and mind alert and ready for the day.”

The unpredictable nature of life means Walsh doesn’t always get time for all of these early, easy wins, but he maximises his chances of achieving them. “There’s a gap between setting goals and taking action, and I try to bridge that gap,” he says. “For example, if I want to go to the gym in the morning, I’ll pack my gym bag the night before.”

For him, it comes down to having “flexible structure”. “If we have a flexible structure and are prepared to make the most of our mornings, we can adapt to unforeseen changes in circumstances,” he says. “But if we have no plan, structure or schedule, we’ll never succeed in making our mornings work.”

Walsh suggests we all take micro moments for ourselves every morning. “Mornings are busy but most of us can take time to appreciate a good cup of coffee, which is something we try to do in our house,” he says. “We also listen to music and will often dance along. It only takes a few minutes, but it gets the heart rate going and lifts the spirits at the start of the day.”

Gaffney’s last words are to lean into what works for you, not what you think you should be doing: “I’m not at my best in the morning, but because I have kids, I have to get up, so I do all I can the night before to make the morning as stress-free as possible. I tidy the kitchen and make the lunches, That way, I can sleep in until the very last minute before getting everyone up and out the door. Life is demanding. It helps to figure out little tricks to make mornings easier and get our days off to a good start.”