I tried getting up at 6am for a week and asked a sleep psychologist for help

Wakey wakey.

I’ve never been a morning person. Even when I was young, on a Saturday morning you’d find me buried under the sheets, unwilling to drag myself out of bed before 11am. “You’ve missed half the day,” my mum would say to me as I trudged down the hallway after midday, still in my pyjamas. School mornings were the worst.

Even though I lived a five-minute bike ride away, I’d always be in a rush to get to my first class on time, having slept in until the last possible minute. At 25, you’d think I would’ve grown out of this habit. I think I expected myself to, but I haven’t. If I don’t have to be up, I won’t be.

For more content like this, browse through our Life section.

Truthfully, it’s been making me feel a bit gross lately. I always seem to be grasping for more time, rushing because I’m late or wishing I’d done more with my day. I’m on uni break at the moment, which means I’ve had fewer places to be and more time on my hands. But ironically, I feel as though I’ve had less time than ever before. I’ve been wasting it away, staying up late and then ‘rotting’ away my mornings (as they say on TikTok).

Last week, I decided it was time for a fresh start. I needed to kick myself into gear. I resolved to try getting up at 6am for five days, to see if it made any difference to how I was feeling. Having always been a night owl, I anticipated the hardest part was going to be getting to sleep early enough to ensure more than eight hours of shut-eye.

I also had some other worries and questions, so I sought the counsel of psychologist Dr Amanda Ferguson, host of the Psych for Life podcast. “Research shows sleep is as important to us as diet and exercise,” she explained to me. “We might eat well and exercise regularly, but if we don’t get at least seven hours of sleep every night, we can undermine these other good habits.” This rang true for me, as I’ve been really on top of my exercise and food recently but my sleep has absolutely been falling by the wayside.

Dr Ferguson noted that sleep habit problems and melatonin regulation can be helped by going to bed and getting up at the same time [each night], which made me optimistic about my scheme for the week ahead. When I asked Dr Ferguson how much sleep I should aim for, she said that the amount of sleep we need to function properly varies from person to person. “Some people need only five hours sleep and others need ten.”

I know that for me, anything less than eight hours has me waking up groggy and tired. Noting Dr Ferguson’s previous advice on building a concrete routine, I resolved to try turning my lights out by 10pm each night – that way I’d ensure eight hours of sleep by the time my alarm woke me up at 6am.

The night before day one of my new routine, I failed (some would say miserably) to be in bed by 10pm. It wasn’t until after midnight that my light was switched off and I was off to sleep. In the morning, my alarm went off and I hardly registered it before closing my eyes again, not to open them again until 10am. I was disappointed and frustrated with myself, but resolved to do better the next morning.

On night two I successfully made it to bed by 9pm, but was unfortunately a little too engrossed in my book and my lights stayed on until 11pm. I woke at 6am, genuinely intending to snooze my alarm for five minutes, but accidentally pressed the ‘stop’ button. I woke at 7.45am, very annoyed with myself. Dr Ferguson noted that pressing snooze, although satisfying in the moment, “can lead to bad sleep habits.” Focusing on the quality of the sleep and on sleep hygiene is a much more productive strategy, she said.

When I asked Dr Ferguson if getting up early would improve my mental health, she said that yes, it has the potential to “improve your quality of life and sleep,” but that some people just aren’t suited to it. “We all have to know ourselves and what works best for ourselves,” she said. After two days of (in my eyes) failure, I was beginning to think that maybe early mornings just weren’t for me.

But on morning three, things started to turn around. I rose with my alarm and made my way out onto the couch, where I sat in front of my heater with a coffee and my breakfast. It felt nice to be awake before the sun was up; the day was mine for the taking. I’ll admit that I had a short snooze on the couch before the caffeine kicked in (the heater lulled me back to sleep), but I didn’t let that dampen the morning.

That night, I was in bed by 9.30pm, read my book for half an hour and turned my lights out at 10pm. It was starting to feel really nice having a bedtime routine. Having a shower, putting my pyjamas on and reading my book – it all felt more intentional than it had before. I felt in control, which to be honest, I didn’t expect.

The next morning, I resolved to use my newfound enthusiasm at the gym with an early session. Unfortunately, my car had other plans, as its battery had died overnight. I trudged back inside and realised that because I didn’t start work until 12pm, and it was only 7.30am, I now had hours to myself. It was a far cry from my usual chaotic work mornings!

I decided to take my routine a little further that night, heeding Dr Ferguson’s advice about screen time. “Screens in the bed or bedroom are bad for sleep,” she told me. “[Try sticking to a] wind-down time [of] 30 to 60 minutes before bed.” And so that’s what I did. I suppose I cheated a little as I was reading on my Kindle (which is technically a screen), but I put my phone away before I started reading. The next morning was the easiest yet. I woke at 6am mostly fresh and ready to start my day, read my book in bed, had a slow breakfast and then made my way to the gym.

With the five days over, I can say with confidence that the 6am wake-up absolutely improved my quality of life. Once I got used to it and adjusted my body clock and sleep schedule, it made my days feel longer and more productive, and I felt in control of my own schedule.

For me, the key was knowing that an early morning doesn’t necessarily have to be productive. It can be simply reading in bed, spending longer on your morning coffee, or going to the gym and still having time to relax before work. As Dr Ferguson says, “A good night’s sleep means different things to many people.”

I learnt over the week that for me, it means an intentional routine that allows me to feel like I have more control over my schedule. Instead of being dictated by a ‘lack’ of time, I was in charge of how I wanted to ‘use’ time. It’s a small distinction, but it made all the difference for me.

For help with your sleep hygiene, head here.