How being an early bird can benefit you!

To many people, waking up earlier than you "need" to can be a daunting task. The thought of dragging yourself out of bed in the wee hours, when everyone else is still asleep and the sun isn't quite on the horizon yet might appear to be an unnecessary and difficult experience. Maybe you've tried it before and you woke up bleary eyed an exhausted and went straight back to sleep. I get it!

Sleep it one of my favourite things in the world; it's really important to me and if anything gets in the way of me and my bed time I get super irritated and very, very grumpy. But I'm not suggesting anyone gets any less sleep, the opposite in fact. I am suggesting, however, that shifting your sleep pattern might benefit you immeasurably.

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My sleeping pattern has changed a lot over the past couple of years. I've gone from working in a bar until 3am and sleeping in 'til the afternoon, to going to bed just a little after dinner, feeling pretty exhausted and waking up at 5:30am to bound off to the gym!

Now I always try and make sure I get a good 7-8 hours sleep, but waking up at 7:30am to get ready for uni and rush off to my first lecture always leaves me feeling lethargic and disconnected during a time when my mind should be most active.

This past week I have been getting up early to go to my first ever personal training sessions, which I insisted start at 6am so I would have the rest of my day free.

My first day was terrible. I have never been late for anything in my life and my internal body-clock always takes that into account. So I was awake at 5am, feeling as though I had not had a decent sleep at all. I rolled - literally rolled - out of my comfortable bed, put on my clothes and shoved half a banana in my mouth before heading out, figuring I could at least walk on the treadmill to wake myself up before personal training. It worked. My training session went really well, and when I got home at 7:30 I felt energetic and prepared for the rest of my day!

It was a busy day too. My parents had come to visit for the week and I spent the next couple of days running errands, shopping and catching up with family members (quite different to my usually relaxed, yet structured, daily routine).

But somehow, waking up that little bit earlier, and having time to myself in the gym in the morning, a long hot shower, and a fresh smoothie before anyone else was even awake prepared me for anything. I felt more awake more energetic and most importantly I felt really positive about what I was doing. I even had time to do myself up in the morning and dress in my finest clothes. Something that I admittedly had started to neglect since becoming serious about running.

I love fashion, but knowing that I was just going to dress in daggy gym clothes during the day to go for a run just made me less inclined to make an effort with my clothes, hair, or makeup beforehand. Getting that out of the way early made me really motivated to look my best the rest of the day. I even made the effort to go out for coffee in the city, something I would never usually treat myself to.

So, I encourage you - I urge you - even if it's just a half hour earlier, try to get up and go to bed a little earlier and do something you usually wouldn't have time for. It could be going for a brisk walk, run, or even just sitting quietly and taking more time to drink your morning tea or coffee. See what a difference it can make to your day!