Cult of 5am: the pros and cons of early rising

Some swear by it as a morning miracle while others dismiss it as a smug wellness trend, but it's hard to ignore the soaring popularity of the "5am club".

Whether it's to meditate, exercise, journal, learn a new skill or just get going early, a growing number of people are up with the birds. But does this practice really mean you "win the day", or will it just leave you tired later on?

Pro: productivity

In his book "The 5am Club", leadership expert Robin Sharma wrote that the practice lets you achieve "productivity, prosperity, performance and impact" on the scale of "superstars, virtuosos and geniuses".

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Journalists who have put the wellness trend to the test have indeed reported increased productivity. "My day-to-day motivation around work has gone up," said Anya Meyerowitz in Glamour, and she found herself "bursting" with ideas. "I was definitely more productive," said Shannon Talbot on Today's Parent.

Con: impracticality

One drawback is that an early start requires an early bedtime. "In order to get enough sleep, many people would need to go to bed at 9pm," Russell Foster, head of the Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute at Oxford University, told The Guardian.

"Unfortunately, most of us aren’t able to do that," because we have "all this stuff we need to do, whether that be helping kids with homework or putting a load of washing on". 

Another problem with a 9pm bedtime is that other people – be they fellow household members, neighbours or just passers-by on the street – are still likely to be up and about, so getting peaceful sleep at such an early hour may not be as simple as it sounds.

Pro: self-control

By consistently getting up at 5am, you create a strong and positive routine. Springing out of bed so early – whether you feel like it or not – is a way to practise discipline, the foundation of all good habits and lasting change.

So while the 5am practice can have many tangible benefits, "above all", wrote Jon Stalker on Bedstar, "this routine is an exercise in self-control. If you exercise self-control in one area of your life, the newfound discipline spreads to other sites, too."

Con: burnout

People who rush into the 5am club "won't last", wrote coach and author Craig Ballantyne, because "they'll suffer from self-imposed jet lag" and so "come to despise waking up early". Then "they'll return to sleeping as late as humanly possible each morning before they have to get up in order to make it to work".

Pro: happiness

An early start can promote feelings of positivity. A University of Toronto study found that those who prefer to wake earlier lead happier and healthier lives than their counterparts who choose to sleep and wake later. 

Writing on CNBC after she tried out the 5am wake-up call, Renée Onque said she felt happier, particularly "having more time in solitude" in those early hours.

Con: body clock

If you plan to follow the 5am rise time only on weekdays, your body might still wake you up early at weekends. "Because my body was used to my new wake time, I still got up at about 7am or 8am" on Saturday and Sunday, said Onque, who admitted she normally "sleeps till noon most weekends".

Colin Espie, professor of sleep medicine at Oxford University, told The Guardian that each us have a "chronotype" – meaning we are a morning person or a night owl. It would be "foolishness" to say to an owl type: "You should get up early and be productive then. It goes against their natural sleep-wake rhythms."