Last Spring, I experimented with waking up at 7 a.m. every day for a week. Although I succeeded and enjoyed the extra time in the morning, I did not stick with it because I am not an early riser by nature. Since it’s been a year, I wanted to challenge myself again; this time by waking up at 6 a.m. and going to bed at 9 p.m. every day for a week. I also found this difficult, but the pros definitely outweighed the cons.
Sunday
Having the alarm go off on a serene Sunday morning was difficult. I admit that I hit snooze until 7 a.m. and then finally woke up. I stayed in bed on my phone for a good half an hour before I got up and ate breakfast. Waking up this early on a Sunday, rather than sleeping in like I normally would, gave me the opportunity to take advantage of the quiet and get some work done – freeing up the rest of my day for me to plan my week, go to the gym, and relax.
Going to sleep at 9 p.m. was not too difficult, but I was not able to fall asleep until around 10:30. I laid in bed for an hour and a half watching Netflix, which eventually lulled me to sleep.
Monday
Once again, since 6 a.m. is early for me, I hit snooze a few times before getting out of bed. I was able to eat breakfast, do homework, and take my time getting ready for my 9:30 class. I felt slightly sleepy, but coffee definitely helped.
Going to sleep at 9 p.m. was easy, as I was tired from a full day of class, homework, and other commitments. I put myself in bed and was sound asleep about 45 minutes later.
Tuesday
My 6 a.m. alarm went off and I was immediately awake and alert. I stayed in bed scrolling through my phone for a while before I got up to go to the gym. I did not find myself to be overwhelmingly tired, so I was able to have a full workout, eat breakfast and do homework at my leisure before my class at 11.
Around 5 p.m. I felt myself getting super tired and succumbed to the need for a small nap. This, of course, made going to sleep at 9 much more difficult, and I was not able to sleep until around 11.
Wednesday
Waking up at 6 a.m. was harder this day because I went to sleep later the night before. I was able to groggily pull myself out of bed at 6:20 and go about my morning. Luckily, I was able to fully wake up before noon and did not feel too tired throughout the day with the help of caffeine.
Successfully avoiding the nap I so desperately wanted to take at 3 p.m., I fell into bed at 9 and was asleep shortly after.
Thursday
6 a.m. was an easy wakeup on this day, and I was able to productively go about my morning before class. I was not tired until around 4 p.m., which at this point I was getting used to.
Since I had a night class and was unable to nap, I did homework and cleaned before 9. Even though I felt tired, I was unable to fall asleep until 10:30 p.m.
Friday
At this point my body and internal clock were used to waking up at 6 a.m. I went to the gym, ate breakfast, and did homework before class. I needed coffee around 2, but other than that I was able to have a productive Friday.
I think going to sleep at 9 was harder on this day, because my body is programmed to stay up later if I know it’s the weekend. I stayed up until around 1 a.m.
Saturday
There was no waking up at 6am this day. Although I didn’t really “sleep in,” since I woke up naturally at 8, I immediately turned my alarm off at 6 a.m. I was a little groggy when I woke up, but coffee fixed that.
And since it was Saturday, I spent time with my friends and did not leave them to go back to my room just to fall asleep at 9 p.m., although I did find myself getting more tired than I normally would around this time.
All in all, I feel as though my experiment was pretty successful. It is not a realistic schedule for me to keep, but I would not be opposed to doing it again.