How does it feel to rise exactly at the same (subjectively early) time every day, get morning bright light every day and only then think of anything else? I wanted to know, so that’s what I’ve been doing for the last 40 days.

In theory, consistent early wake times make sense to allow consistent morning bright light exposure and, thus stabilize circadian rhythm and mood.

Why?

• Earlier bright light schedules advance circadian rhythm most effectively. [Khalsa et al. 2003]
• There is some indication that early morning light therapy combats winter blues / S.A.D. most effectively [Terman et al 2005]
• Night owls who got up earlier consistently reported they felt, slept and performed better. [Facer-Childs et al. 2019].

Disclaimer: My team and I run this website and even created the “Love Mornings” framework that’s all about healthy, self-determined mornings. Hence, my starting point has been pretty solid (wake time between 7:00 and 8:00 am). However, there have been cheat days when I did sleep in. Also, my morning routine included daylight, so due to late sunrises in winter, I had not really had a morning bright light routine before December 2023. Therefore, there was further room for improvement!

My Protocol

• rise at 7:10 am every day (this is my personal sweet spot between a healthy social life, including occasional late bedtimes, and my desired working schedules. Being self-employed, I have the privilege of choosing my wake times freely.)
• get bright light for 20min+ (using a mix of daylight lamps, a Luminette light visor and wall-mounted LED panels. Sun was not out yet)
• stick to “Love Mornings” framework as well as possible (read our book for more info :))
• If I got way too little sleep that night, I can go back to sleep after my morning light session. Otherwise, a 25-minute nap is allowed after lunch, too.

My Experience

I got up at 7:10 am on Christmas Day, I got up at 7:10 am on New Year’s day. I got up at 7:10 on the weekends… what did it feel like overall?

• Adjusting to the schedule + using the “Love Mornings” framework, getting up at 7:10 am soon became easy.
• I’ve experienced my best winter mood in years. When people asked me, I often answered “surprisingly good” because I couldn’t help but be surprised at times. I am very lucky to not be prone to clinical forms of (winter) depression, but January is the worst time of the year when it comes to mood – it can drag you down. This year, it didn’t.
• I started getting very tired before my desired bedtime. However, deadlines & evening events made going to bed early enough really difficult at times.
• That said, my energy levels became surprisingly forgiving of a lack of sleep. Not that I would endorse this, but on some days, I expected to want to go back to sleep but then did not feel like it throughout the day (at least before noon).
• Going to bed early became a reward. Since my wake time was fixed, self-care meant giving in to my readiness for bed at night. I probably missed a lot of “could-have-watched” Netflix series, but I actually don’t miss them. Anything that I really wanted to do, I could do on my free weekend mornings instead.

What’s next?

Now that I’m 40 days in and don’t feel like I have to prove anything to anyone, how would I want to adjust my protocol? Actually, I do not want to adjust it. It feels like it really serves me and my current situation in life.

My accountability buddy reports the same. However, this is all anecdotal. This is nowhere near a thorough, blinded study and I have a pretty strong bias towards healthy morning routines 🙂
Other times or routines may work for you. What I wanna invite you to, though, is to get familiar with the science (e.g. read our book), experiment with different things, and dare to question culturally normative behaviors for the sake of finding something that is healthy and fulfilling for you.