The early morning wake-up has already become a TikTok trend, coined the “five-to-nine before the nine-to-five,” where video montages illustrate a slow morning aesthetic of self-affirmations , workouts, and maybe even a head start into planning for the workday. It can make the rest of the world feel lazy. “The pressure to be a morning person is pretty intense,” says Samantha Snowden, a mindfulness teacher at Headspace , the popular meditation app .
So, will waking up at 5 a.m. make all the difference to your day? Some experts say yes.
For starters, getting up earlier can improve confidence, Snowden says, because it can feel like an accomplishment. And there’s something to be said for not constantly feeling like you’re in a rush, which only elevates stress levels and negatively impacts mental health . “It’s like always feeling like you are behind in a race you can’t possibly win, which isn’t useful for motivation or positivity,” says Dr.
Nikole Benders-Hadi—a psychiatrist based in New York and the medical director of behavioral health at Included Health—of the typical workday morning. Slowing down helps our nervous system ease off the gas and regulate our thoughts, Snowden says. And if you can use those extra morning hours to make time for yourself in a way that calms you down, it can bolster productivity and make you feel less depleted by the end of the day.
If you’re contemplating rising before the sun, experts say you need to keep in mind th.