(Rozalynn S. Frazer/ Shape) — For the last six years, Aine Rock has woken up at 5 a.m. every day. She sees it as a way to start her day with a quiet moment before the world bombards her with news updates and client demands and before she has to turn her attention to her 9- and 12-year-old children. “I choose me before anyone else,” the California-based high performance coach and breathwork facilitator says.
Though a hard switch at first—Rock admits she was a night owl, committed to late nights and late mornings for most of her life— finally figuring out how to become a morning person has been life-changing, impacting her energy, clarity, mood, and sense of agency over her life for the better.
Rock is proof that you can successfully pivot to become a morning person. But it’s not as simple as setting your alarm clock and starting your day earlier. That’s because your ability to pry yourself away from your bed sheets is not just about willpower; a larger role is played by your chronotype, or your body’s natural disposition to sleep and wake at certain times that is controlled by inherited genes, explains Chris Winter, MD, a neurologist, sleep specialist and author of The Rested Child and The Sleep Solution.
Like our parents, some of us are larks, early risers who are super active in the morning; some are night owls, or those who thrive after dark; and some sit somewhere in between the two and are known as hummingbirds. (…)