“Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise” - Ben Franklin, famously

“Put no trust in the benefits to accrue from early rising, as set forth by the infatuated Franklin …” - Mark Twain

Recently, reader Rob asked me about my habit of waking at 4:30 a.m. each day, and asked me to write about the health benefits of rising early, which I thought was an excellent question. Unfortunately, there are none, that I know of.

However, there are a ton of other great benefits.

Now, let me first say that if you are a night owl, and that works for you, I think that’s great. There’s no reason to change, especially if you’re happy with it. But for me, switching from being a night owl to an early riser (and yes, it is possible) has been a godsend. It has helped me in so many ways that I’d never go back. Here are just a few:

1. Greet the day. I love being able to get up, and greet a wonderful new day. I suggest creating a morning ritual that includes saying thanks for your blessings. I’m inspired by the Dalai Lama, who said, ” Everyday, think as you wake up, ‘today I am fortunate to have woken up, I am alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it. I am going to use all my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to others, to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings, I am going to have kind thoughts towards others, I am not going to get angry or think badly about others, I am going to benefit others as much as I can.’ “
2. Amazing start. I used to start my day by jumping out of bed, late as usual, and rushing to get myself and the kids ready, and rushing to drop them to school and come in to work late. I would walk into work, looking rumpled and barely awake, grumpy and behind everyone else. Not a great start to your day. Now, I have a renewing morning ritual, I’ve gotten so much done before 8 a.m., my kids are early and so am I, and by the time everyone else gets in to work, I’ve already gotten a head start. There is no better way to start off your day than to wake early, in my experience.
3. Quietude. No kids yelling, no babies crying, no soccer balls, no cars, no television noise. The early morning hours are so peaceful, so quiet. It’s my favorite time of day. I truly enjoy that time of peace, that time to myself, when I can think, when I can read, when I can breathe.
4. Sunrise. People who wake late miss one of the greatest feats of nature, repeated in full stereovision each and every day — the rise of the sun. I love how the day slowly gets brighter, when the midnight blue turns to lighter blue, when the brilliant colors start to seep into the sky, when nature is painted in incredible colors. I like doing my early morning run during this time, and I look up at the sky as I run and say to the world, “What a glorious day!” Really. I really do that. Corny, I know.
5. Breakfast. Rise early and you actually have time for breakfast. I’m told it’s one of the most important meals of the day. Without breakfast, your body is running on fumes until you are so hungry at lunchtime that you eat whatever unhealthy thing you can find. The fattier and sugarier, the betterier. But eat breakfast, and you are sated until later. Plus, eating breakfast while reading my book and drinking my coffee in the quiet of the morning is eminently more enjoyable than scarfing something down on the way to work, or at your desk.
6. Exercise. There are other times to exercise besides the early morning, of course, but I’ve found that while exercising right after work is also very enjoyable, it’s also liable to be canceled because of other things that come up. Morning exercise is virtually never canceled.
7. Productivity. Mornings, for me at least, are the most productive time of day. I like to do some writing in the morning, when there are no distractions, before I check my email or blog stats. I get so much more done by starting on my work in the morning. Then, when evening rolls around, I have no work that I need to do, and I can spend it with family.
8. Goal time. Got goals? Well, you should. And there’s no better time to review them and plan for them and do your goal tasks than first thing. You should have one goal that you want to accomplish this week. And every morning, you should decide what one thing you can do today to move yourself further towards that goal. And then, if possible, do that first thing in the morning.
9. Commute. No one likes rush-hour traffic, except for Big Oil. Commute early, and the traffic is much lighter, and you get to work faster, and thus save yourself more time. Or better yet, commute by bike. (Or even better yet, work from home.)
10. Appointments. It’s much easier to make those early appointments on time if you get up early. Showing up late for those appointments is a bad signal to the person you’re meeting. Showing up early will impress them. Plus, you get time to prepare.

How to Become an Early Riser

• Don’t make drastic changes. Start slowly, by waking just 15-30 minutes earlier than usual. Get used to this for a few days. Then cut back another 15 minutes. Do this gradually until you get to your goal time.
• Allow yourself to sleep earlier. You might be used to staying up late, perhaps watching TV or surfing the Internet. But if you continue this habit, while trying to get up earlier, sooner or later one is going to give. And if it is the early rising that gives, then you will crash and sleep late and have to start over. I suggest going to bed earlier, even if you don’t think you’ll sleep, and read while in bed. If you’re really tired, you just might fall asleep much sooner than you think.
• Put your alarm clock far from you bed. If it’s right next to your bed, you’ll shut it off or hit snooze. Never hit snooze. If it’s far from your bed, you have to get up out of bed to shut it off. By then, you’re up. Now you just have to stay up.
• Go out of the bedroom as soon as you shut off the alarm. Don’t allow yourself to rationalize going back to bed. Just force yourself to go out of the room. My habit is to stumble into the bathroom and go pee. By the time I’ve done that, and flushed the toilet and washed my hands and looked at my ugly mug in the mirror, I’m awake enough to face the day.
• Do not rationalize. If you allow your brain to talk you out of getting up early, you’ll never do it. Don’t make getting back in bed an option.
• Have a good reason. Set something to do early in the morning that’s important. This reason will motivate you to get up. I like to write in the morning, so that’s my reason. Also, when I’m done with that, I like to read all of your comments!
• Make waking up early a reward. Yes, it might seem at first that you’re forcing yourself to do something hard, but if you make it pleasurable, soon you will look forward to waking up early. A good reward is to make a hot cup of coffee or tea and read a book. Other rewards might be a tasty treat for breakfast (smoothies! yum!) or watching the sunrise, or meditating. Find something that’s pleasurable for you, and allow yourself to do it as part of your morning routine.
• Take advantage of all that extra time. Don’t wake up an hour or two early just to read your blogs, unless that’s a major goal of yours. Don’t wake up early and waste that extra time. Get a jump start on your day! I like to use that time to get a head start on preparing my kids’ lunches, on planning for the rest of the day (when I set my MITs), on exercising or meditating, and on reading. By the time 6:30 rolls around, I’ve done more than many people do the entire day.

中文翻译：

10个早起的好处以及如何早起

早睡早起给你带来健康，财富和智慧。 - Ben Franklin名言

不要相信Franklin说的那些早起好处的鬼话。 - Mark Twain

最近Rob提到我早上习惯4点半起床时让我写一些早起给健康带来的好处。我觉得这是个非常好的想法，虽然早起对健康并没有什么好处。

但其他的益处数不胜数

首先我想申明，如果你做个夜猫子会更适合你的话，特别是你乐意这样的话，那就没必要去改变。但对于我来说，从夜猫子变成早起者(很有可能)简直就是天赐的礼物,我受益良多,也不想再做夜猫子.以下是众多好处中一小部分：

1. 迎接新的一天 我喜欢早起去迎接崭新的一天。我建议在早上形成一个固定的习惯,比如对自己现有的幸福说声谢谢。这个做法是受Dalai Lama的影响，他曾说:”每天我醒来时，我对自己说，我很幸运我今天能醒来,我还活着,还拥有宝贵的生命,我将好好珍惜,努力去完善自我,开阔自己的心 胸,感悟生灵,关爱别人,心平气和,尽力去帮助他人。”

2.新的开始 以前经常因为晚起而急忙起床，先飞快地把孩子打理好，然后匆匆忙忙地送孩子上学，以上班迟到告终。工作时总是一副狼狈不堪,睡眼惺松的模样，而且脾气粗 暴，工作效率常不如别人，要是每天都这么开始的话可不是件好事哦。现在，我已经换掉这样的起床方式了，要知道8点之前我可以做很多事情的，比如孩子也和我 一样可以早起，我可以及时地送他们上学，而且我可以比其他同事先到公司。在我看来没有比早起更好的方式来迎接新的一天了。

3.可以安静地待会 早起后你听不到孩子的叫喊声，也听不到婴儿的哭泣声，也看不到汽车，电视的声音也没有。早晨的时间非常平和，感觉那段时间就是属于你自己，你可以思考问题，可以读书，当然也可以呼吸。

4. 看日出 那些晚起的人会错过了大自然最壮观的场面之一，而且这一美景天天都在上演，那就是日出。我喜欢看着天空慢慢地变亮,从深夜时的深蓝色到变成淡蓝，再到天空 充溢着灿烂的颜色,这时大自然也变得绚丽起来。我喜欢在这个时候跑步,边跑边仰望着天空,并对这个世界说：”多愉快的一天呀!”我确实这么做了。虽然我知 道这有点俗气。

5.享受早餐 早起后你肯定有时间享受早餐。有人曾告诉我说早餐是三餐中最重要的一餐。不吃的话,你在饥饿中工作,直到中午你已顾不得健康与否了,把能找到的东西都拿来 吃,越油越甜的食物越好。但如果吃早餐的话,你就可以持续更久。而且，在宁静的早晨边读书边喝着咖啡享受早餐要比在上班路上或者办公桌上随便吃些要舒服得 多吧。

6.锻炼身体 其实锻炼身体除了早晨也可以选择别的时间，比如下班后的那段时间。不过下班后的那段时间也很容易被其他事情占用而无法去锻炼身体，而早晨的时候却不会。

7.高效 至少对于我来说，上午是一天中效率最高的时候。早晨的时候我可以在不受干扰的情况下写作，然后在查看自己的邮箱和博客。早晨就开始工作能让我做完许多事情，到晚上的时候，我已经做完了一天所有该做的事情，那时就可以和家人一起共渡晚上的时间了。

8.制定计划 需要这么做吗？是的。没有比早晨更好的时间来制定和修改计划了。你先制定一个周计划，然后每天早上告诉自己今天该完成哪些，慢慢地完成自己的周计划。最好把这事作为每天的首要任务。

9.出行方便 我想没人会喜欢道路拥挤除了石油公司的老板们。早点出门，路况要顺畅得多，而且你可以更早到公司，这样你为自己节省了很多时间。骑自行车上班会更好。（再好一些的话，就在家工作。）

10.轻松赴约 如果你早起的话，预约再早你也能轻松搞定。约会迟到的话会给对方一个很不好的印象，而早到的话就能留下好印象。而且,你也能有时间做准备。

如何早起

* 循序渐进 慢慢来 刚开始的时候你比平时早起15分钟到30分钟，习惯了一段时间后，再提前15分钟起来，直到实现你的预定目标时间。

* 早些入睡 如果你晚上因看电视或者上网而睡得很晚的话，一旦你坚持早起那么你迟早会放弃晚睡的习惯。我的建议是，早些上床入睡，睡不着的话就在床上看书。你看累了，自然就要睡了。

* 把闹钟放得离你远些 闹钟要是放在你床边的话，当它响起的时候，你随手就可以把它关掉然后接着睡。要是你放得远些的话，你必须起来去关闹铃，关闹铃的时候你就起来了。

* 关掉闹铃后立即离开卧室 不要给自己回到床上的机会，强迫自己起来后离开卧室。我一般起来后就去上个厕所，冲马桶，洗手，对着镜子看看自己脏兮兮的样子，然后自己面对新的一天。

* 不要问早起是否合理 如果你脑袋里想着不早起的理由，那么你永远不会早起。不要给自己睡懒觉找理由。

* 找个早起的好理由 早上给自己安排些事情去做。这是你早起的动力。我的理由是我喜欢在早上写点东西。习惯这么做之后，我又喜欢上看读者的评论。

* 奖励自己 刚开始你当然把早起看成是件困难的事，因为你强迫自己去做，但如果你让这件事变得使自己愉快的话，不久就会期待早起了。你可以在早起时奖励自己一杯热咖啡 或热茶,或者是读书。还可以奖励自己一顿美味可口的早餐(香滑！可口！)或看日出，或者冥想。找一些你喜欢的事做,并使之成为你早晨的必修课。

* 好好利用多出来的时间 不要把早起一两个小时仅仅用来读读博客，除非那是你的主要目标。不要浪费早起的时间，赶紧开始你的一天吧！我喜欢利用这段时间给孩子们准备午餐，计划这一天要做的事，要么晨练，要么冥想，要么读书。6:30的时候，我已做的事要比大多数人一整天做的事还要多。