5am Club

I see lots of social media and celebrities promoting getting up at 5am daily on the basis your X times more productive through the day.  Now, on Wednesdays I’m up 5am and working (poolside ) for Jnrs swim training, and all that happens to me is I’m knackered by 8am and feel the affects for the next 48hrs.

Anyone tried 5am club properly, got any secrets or bro science and had any success or is it just media driven drivel to make us do “more”?

Considering my recent thread on undersleeping, a 5am club is my idea of hell.

I honestly don’t think I could do it, even if I was somehow able to migrate my time awake to different points on the clock. Something about 5am would just break my brain. I can do that sort of thing as a one-off, say, if I have to get to the airport or similar. But more than once or twice? Not at all.

The OP’s description of being knackered for 48 hours subsequent to doing it on Wednesdays, is deeply resonant.

If you’re getting up at five and need eight hours sleep, it means starting to get ready for bed at eight in the evening.

i am up a 5am most mornings. but as i am retired it dont matter much.

up at 5. out for a ride most mornings. afternoon nap at 2pm for a hour. bed for 10pm.

I was up at half 5 to go swimming before work , it’s not something I’d necessarily choose to do but with kids it’s the time available to me . I’ll be falling asleep on the sofa about half 9 though and tomorrow I’ll have to rewatch the last 20 minutes of whatever program I’m watching with the wife before putting the next episode on .

I’ve been up by 5am for the last ten days or so. Not from choice, child #2 is teething and seems to be up for the day by 5am. Today I got them back to sleep, so I took the dog for a walk rather than going back to bed.

5am starts are OK, but I have a slump around 5.30pm after dinner & before the children’s bedtime where I find it hard to stay awake.

Literally can’t think of anything worse.  I’m still recalibrating after two decade as a musician, so 5am was closer to bed time.  I’m struggling to get up at 8am everyday…..just about to drag myself out of bed now.

Given most people need 7-8 hours sleep, all you’re doing is shifting free evening time to free morning time. I suppose psychologically it might be easier for some people to get out of bed and get started, rather than get home from work and look lovingly at the sofa, but personally I’ve never had an issue with motivation when doing exercise or other activities in the evening. YMMV 🙂

(Of course for some activities (swimming, for example), an early start is probably preferable as the people at the pool will be serious swimmers, with lane discipline etc. – I would certainly factor that into any decision.)

I get up at 5am every Wednesday to travel from Liverpool to London. Absolutely despise it. I don’t get home until 9pm so pretty much shower and bed.

I need my sleep, naturally wake up about 7am most mornings. There’s no chance I’d be getting up at 5am on a regular basis.

GF does this because she has done it for years. At weekends this means that she has done a lot of random things by the time I drag myself down at 8am but, during the week, there is less of a differential (I usually get down about 6am when she leaves for work).

I’m more awake more late in the day, so it means I am chronically sleep deprived.

I have to be up at 6am and start work (from home) at 7am 7days a week. But I quite often get up before my alarm between 5&6 as it gives me a gentler get up time.

If your waking at 5am regularly, my only advice is to still try to get as much sleep as possible (8/9hours) and go to bed regularly around 9/10pm.

The best thing about waking at 5am ,is knowing I can go back to sleep* for another hour.

*unless the cat is being pita about getting let out

Often wake up at 4, try to go back to sleep, sometimes listen to the radio, but normally up at 5 for a coffee. Just retired so I don’t need to now, so trying to push that back a bit.

I don’t have a problem with it, I can do stuff earlier, either a run, or ride, or in the garage on the trainer. Gets things done early giving the rest of the day for other things. Normally bed at 10 to 10:30.

@willard

I’m more awake more late in the day, so it means I am chronically sleep deprived.

This is because you’re giving yourself jet lag every weekend when you have a two hour lie in.

5am every day for me in the week, maybe 6am at the weekends.

But then I only sleep for 6 hours or less – just checked my sleep score for June and it’s at an average of 5hrs 39mins – apart from the actual time pulling the score down, the rest of the metrics combine to give me an overall score of excellent. I’m rarely tired – apart from yesterday when I was dead on my feet, but I think I have a bit of a bug

As its light very early in the morning my dogs have discovered the 5am club

I’ve been fully signed up to “5am* club” for a few years ago now without knowing it was a ‘thing’… Out for an hours ride before work, watch the sun rise or night ride in winter, morning spring time smells, quiet productive time etc…  I’m not much good in the evenings these days, breakfast out is the new friday night out.

*more like 4.45am

@Kramer Eh? What???? A two hour session of slapping the snooze button every 10 minutes is giving me jet-lag?

Did my GF tell you to say that? Is this the visible result of lobbying from the “Early Wakers” and their plan to convert the people who like to be doing stuff a little later in the day?

One of my ex-GFs did this, possibly because she’d seen it on social media.

She was very productive, but also tired a lot of the time – and struggled to make the connection as to why.

Personally I’m lucky to be in the position where I rarely need to set my alarm for the mornings – I generally just wake up in time for work. I feel sleeping well is one of the most productive things I can do.

My dog is a member of the club. I’m unwillingly co-opted. I have a start time of 05:12 for the ECCA100 on Sunday. I race well in early starts but would not say I’m more productive! In bed by midnight most nights, and need 7 hours of sleep.

@willard

Eh? What???? A two hour session of slapping the snooze button every 10 minutes is giving me jet-lag?

Yes it really is. And if you’re using the snooze button then you’re not even getting the benefits of the extra two hours in bed.

Getting up at the same time every day is the foundation of a healthy sleep pattern.

DOI I’m a GP with an interest in sleep.

To answer the original question, if you’re getting up at five having woken naturally around that time because you’re getting enough sleep then it can be a good time to be productive because there are less distractions.

However if you’re only waking up at that time because you’ve set an alarm and are sleep depriving yourself because an influencer recommends it, then you’re bonkers.

^ the same-time-every-day approach helped tremendously with my insomnia last year. So much so I would wake just before my alarm every day.

This 5am thing sounds fine if you’re getting enough sleep, but for those with active evenings I can’t imagine it would work for long..

I have to get up at 5am for work 2 days out of my 6 day cycle, I’m not built for mornings and often have an afternoon nap after a morning shift. If I have to do 3 earlies I’m broken by the 3rd day.

I have a terrible sleep pattern though, often can’t get to sleep until 2am and up at 5. Choosing to get up that early sounds like madness!

If you’re getting up at five and need eight hours sleep, it means starting to get ready for bed at eight in the evening.

I’m so stressed and depressed at the mo, 8pm b drive is my idea of heaven….

DrP

I get up between 4.30-5am for morning rides or home gym (shed) depending on the season just because it’s the only time I have to ride mostly. I love it. Normally asleep by 10pm.

I have done the 0530 get up for the gym or to ride when the kids were small.

The issues for me was falling asleep on the sofa at 2000 and not waking the rest of the house up when i went down stairs and turned the house alarm off.

The Americans (and other countries) defo seem to get up earlier, most schools start at 0730 in the US and some kids have sports practice BEFORE school. 6am practices for Football are not uncommon, especially in the South when it’s by far the most pleasant/safe time to be active outside.

I’m up at 4.45am every workday for my public transport commute into Glasgow. I’m ready for bed around 9pm in the evening though!

If it means getting any less than 7 hours’ sleep, minimum, it’s almost certainly harmful to your physical and mental health. Some people’s genetics allow them to get by on less, but they’re vanishingly rare. If your routine allows you to start at that time and still get the necessary amount of kip, it’s probably fine. Otherwise, it’s a load of bravado, grind-set bollocks.

Would recommend reading Matthew Walker’s book Why We Sleep (although maybe avoid it during a period of poor sleep, as it’ll scare you shitless and stop you sleeping).

Would recommend reading Matthew Walker’s book Why We Sleep (although maybe avoid it during a period of poor sleep, as it’ll scare you shitless and stop you sleeping).

I haven’t read his book, but there are tons of useful videos of him talking about sleep on YT. I’ve watched many of them for work – and they all boil down to the same core points about routine, sleep hygiene, alcohol etc.

F that, the only time I see 5am is when I’m go mountain biking a decent drive away 😉

“Eh? What???? A two hour session of slapping the snooze button every 10 minutes is giving me jet-lag?”

What’s the point of that?  Just turn the alarm off and get some proper sleep.  That is my idea of hell.

5am is my usual wake up time but I do go to bed at 9pm.  I’d much rather go to bed early then get up and go for a ride or a walk before the world wakes up.  This morning I rode 28 miles to work then had a relaxed coffee whilst watching people dashing for their trains at MK station.

I’m up at 4:35 when I’m on day shift, 2 days, then 2 nights. I swapped the nights for days once. 4 X 4:35am starts and I felt shattered. At least with the normal shift pattern I have rest after the earlys.

One of my mates does this to go to a 5:30 crossfit class – I went with him once and I’ll never do it again. The only reason for getting up that early is to go on holiday!

It feels like all you’re doing is moving around the part of your day that’s ‘active’ – I can understand it in the summer when it’s warmer and the sun’s actually up, but in the depths of winter that just feels miserable.

Hmmm. My alarm goes off Monday to Friday at 5:45, so not quite 5am.

Monday & Fri I work from home, but do a 6:30 turbo session & it takes me a while to get going.

Tues – Thursday I drive into the office & used to lift-share which meant leaving the house at 6:30. I could leave later now, but getting in early, means I can leave a little earlier & finish a bit early on a Friday.

Main issue for me is the Tues-Thurs commute is about an hour each way. Which sucks.

In the evenings I feel like I need some time to myself once my daughter is asleep and all the ‘jobs’ are done, so this means it is rare that I am in bed before 11. Garmin reckons I get an average of <7hrs sleep a night, which I suppose isn’t good for me.

I feel like I really need to work on my time management, ditch social media completely & stop watching crap on TV. Then I might have more time to do the things I want/need to do & still get a reasonable nights’ sleep.

I have been getting up at between 4 and 5 for the last few months as my dog wakes up when it is light.

I could ignore him but I have now got into the cycle of going to sleep around 10 and waking up between 4 and 5.  I am out on my bike at 6am for around 4 days a week and love it.  Nobody else about and have the forest pretty much to myself.

I used to do it a fair bit when I lived in Lancaster. Up at 5, in the Lake District and on the MTB by 6.30. Ride finished before the tourist hordes descended on the fells.

Also often went waterskiing on Windermere (back in the days when it was allowed) at 8am. Super quiet, flat water, it was lovely.

And then breakfast at Wilfs Cafe and home.

I’d have an afternoon nap though!

A friend in Sydney does 5am mornings quite routinely. Not uncommon to see a 50 mile ride on his Strava starting at 5.30am. Get out before the heat and the bad traffic. I did it when I was over there too!

Not getting enough sleep means you die younger… it’s a well established fact.

5:30 3-4 days a week for me. 6am CrossFit 2 days in the week. 7am on Saturday.

Generally in bed for 10-10:30, so I seem to manage to tick over OK, but often feel like I’m on the edge of deep fatigue if something throws the routine out.

Not getting enough sleep means you die younger… it’s a well established fact.

But you have wasted less time sleeping when younger and then can die a few years earlier rather that sit in a rest home staring at the walls.