Get up early and wake up quickly for more energy

Introduction

World-class performers such as Elon Musk show us how it’s done. You can learn to get up early and wake up quickly. In this article, you’ll find out why getting up early can bring you more energy, creativity and success in life. You’ll also find plenty of tips to help you work out when to go to bed so you can get up at 6 am every morning.

It’s important to have had a good night’s sleep, too. You can read more about this in our article, “10 tips for better sleep, better performance and a happier life”.

Contents

1. Getting up early and waking up quickly in the morning
2. Tips and tricks for getting up early in the morning
3. Hormones and getting up early
   1. The role of melatonin in sleep
   2. Getting up early with melanopsin
4. Daylight lamps can help you wake up quickly in the morning
5. Caffeinated pick-me-ups – wake up faster in the morning
6. When should you go to bed if you want to get up at 6 am?
7. Sleep for longer and go to bed later?
8. Avoiding the afternoon slump
9. Conclusion – getting up early and waking up quickly in the morning

1. Getting up early and waking up quickly in the morning

Discipline and routines are essential if you want to get up early. In winter, you may need to use a few extra tricks to make sure you actually leave your warm bed instead of falling asleep again.



One important step is to set one or more goals for the next day the evening before, so you really do get up on time – at 6 am, for example. This strengthens your willpower for the next day and helps you get up early in the morning.

Once you’re up, plan a set sequence of activities. We’ve put together a few tips and tricks below to help you make getting up early part of your daily routine. Feel free to adapt and add to the list to suit your needs.

2. Tips and tricks for getting up early in the morning

1. Wake up gradually:
   1. Put your alarm far enough from your bed that you have to get up to turn it off. Use your phone as an alarm, but choose a sound that gently wakes you rather than one that makes the neighbours jump when it goes off. Set it to ring for around 10 – 15 minutes. This gives you 10 – 15 minutes to wake up while you’re still in bed.
   2. A sunrise alarm clock can also help you wake up feeling refreshed. These clocks usually combine light with sound, so the waking process is prompted by both.
2. Wake up quickly:
   1. Put your alarm further away so you have to get up to switch it off. Choose a sound that gets you out of bed. Leave a glass of water beside the alarm, along with the clothes you laid out the night before.
   2. Turn on the light as soon as you’ve had your water. This is important for breaking down the sleep hormone melatonin quickly.
3. General tips:
   1. Leave a glass of water beside your alarm and drink it as soon as you get up. After waking up in bed first, you’ll already feel less groggy, and the water will bring your cells to life faster than you think!
   2. Make a pot of Guayusa tea. Skip the coffee – and, worse still, the energy drink! A cup of Guayusa in the morning gets your day off to a relaxed, alert start and keeps you clear-headed and focused for several hours.

3. Hormones and getting up early

3.1 The role of melatonin in sleep

Melatonin is also known as the sleep hormone. It is produced almost exclusively while you sleep or at night, when it is already dark. Melatonin is credited with a strong antioxidant effect, which is why the hormone is essential for your health. For example, various toxins are broken down during sleep; otherwise, they would remain in the body and accumulate.

This sleep detox is particularly important for our brains, helping us maintain the performance we need to be more productive.

You can find out more about antioxidants in our blog post “What are antioxidants?” and in our comparison of mate tea and Guayusa.

Melatonin also slows down the metabolism and lowers body temperature.

3.2 Getting up early with melanopsin



Melanopsin is, in a sense, the opposite of melatonin. It is not a hormone, but it has a similar function. This photopigment is activated by light and ensures that the sleep hormone melatonin is no longer produced and is broken down.



If you get up in the morning while it’s still dark outside, your body receives the signal that it is still time to sleep. Even if you went to bed early the night before, getting up at 6 am can be difficult when it is still dark. That is because the photopigment melanopsin is not activated, so melatonin continues to be released and its breakdown does not begin.

The result is a lingering feeling of sluggishness in the morning. Especially in winter, it’s therefore a good idea to have a well-lit room and a cup of Guayusa tea, as Guayusa may speed up the breakdown of melatonin. You’ll find out why later in this article.

4. Daylight lamps can help you wake up quickly in the morning

So-called daylight lamps with a particular colour of light can help stop further melatonin release and speed up its breakdown.



We can see light in the spectrum from around 380 nm to 720 nm. White and blue light with a colour temperature of 5,300 K to 6,500 K play a particularly important role in waking us up.



So, if you want to get up early and wake up faster, it may be a good idea to use white light as well as the usual warmer, yellowish lighting in your home. LEDs are particularly good at reproducing colour temperatures. For example, you could fit your workspace with daylight lamps only, keeping your melatonin level low throughout the day.

5. Caffeinated pick-me-ups – wake up faster in the morning

Guayusa tea, traditionally used as a pick-me-up by Indigenous peoples of the Amazon, is the world’s most caffeinated drink and a wonderful way to start the morning.

The Kichwa people of Ecuador don’t use a daylight lamp to shake off their morning sluggishness, yet they still manage to get up early. Their day usually starts between 3 am and 6 am. 

To be active before sunrise, the Kichwa drink a strong infusion of Guayusa.

Along with many other active compounds, Guayusa contains a special antioxidant called Lution. It helps the retina absorb more blue light.

So, a cup of Guayusa in the morning sets several wake-promoting processes in motion in our bodies. You can find out more in our blog post on the effects of Guayusa.

Caffeine counteracts tiredness, while Lution allows your eyes to absorb more blue light before sunrise. This can speed up your waking process even before the sun comes up. 

6. When should you go to bed if you want to get up at 6 am?

Why get up early in the morning at all? There are, of course, many personal reasons. But the fact is that getting up early is one factor in being more productive and successful. This is not about sleeping less: you should allow your body 6 to 8 hours of sleep. Instead, use the generally quieter morning hours to focus on yourself and your goals.

Unlike usual, you won’t go straight into reactive mode after getting up; instead, you can start creating and getting things done.



Suppose you get up so late that you only have enough time to get ready for work. You start the day doing things reactively, and lose the chance to begin it by choosing what you want to do in the moment.



If you get up at 5 or 6 am, for example, you have time to do productive things that are independent of how the rest of the day unfolds. It’s up to you how you use that time: you could work on a personal project, meditate or read a book. This is the time that gives your body and mind more energy for the day.



If you don’t have one or two hours in the morning, or simply don’t like getting up so early, you can still set aside some time for yourself. Ten to 15 minutes may be enough to focus your mind for the day. A short meditation can work wonders, bringing positive vibes and more energy for the day.


Getting up early usually calls for routines both at bedtime and after you wake up. If you want to get up at 6 am every day, you should go to bed between 10 pm and midnight. According to studies, most people need 6 to 8 hours of sleep to perform well both mentally and physically.

7. Sleep for longer and go to bed later?

The key is to use the fresh energy you have just after waking up for yourself. 

You’ll feel the time and energy you invest in yourself in the morning throughout the day. At first, the change may not feel that way as you adjust, but after a while you’ll notice the difference.



Taking time to focus on yourself and deal with personal matters can bring more energy and creativity into your life. You can then put this extra drive and creative thinking to use. It creates a cycle in which you can experience more and more happiness and success.



By contrast, getting up later and staying up later means you’ll have less and less energy left in the evening. After 6 to 8 hours of work, most people usually have just enough energy to slump on the sofa.

By then, there’s hardly any energy left to focus on yourself.

8. Avoiding the afternoon slump

The afternoon slump, which most people know, is completely normal. You can use it as an opportunity to get your energy back quickly, or fight it and possibly lose steam for the rest of the day.



Try a power nap.

It should last no longer than 30 minutes; 20–25 minutes is better. During this time, your whole body slows down. Your heart rate and breathing slow, and your brain briefly enters a resting state and can clear its mental backlog. The 20 minutes are up before your body starts producing the sleep hormone melatonin. You can then get back to your tasks much more effectively. 

With your new early-rising routine, the afternoon slump will gradually become a thing of the past. You can also find more methods that may help in our posts about intermittent fasting and biohacking.

9. Conclusion – getting up early and waking up quickly in the morning

Along with aids such as daylight lamps, Guayusa tea and where you put your alarm clock, creating routines for before bed and after waking up is just as important as setting clear goals. Your goals should be strong enough to motivate you in the morning not to dive back under the covers.

If you want to get up regularly at 6 am, you should go to bed at least 6 to 8 hours beforehand. This is a general rule, because our brains and bodies need that time to break down toxins and replenish energy stores. Over time, getting too little sleep leads to a drop in performance.