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Ever found yourself asking how to wake up early without feeling tired or how to train yourself to wake up at 5 a.m.? Waking up early (and actually enjoying it) is more than just setting an alarm and dragging yourself out of bed. It’s about understanding how your body’s internal clock works, aligning your schedule with it, and building habits that support alertness and wellbeing.
To help answer this question, we turned to two of our AG1 Sleep Experts: Dr. Wendy Troxel, Senior Behavioral Scientist at RAND and author of Sharing the Covers: Every Couple’s Guide to Better Sleep, and Dr. Aric Prather, PhD, Director of the Behavioral Sleep Medicine Research Program at the University of California, San Francisco.
Between when you go to bed and when you wake up, your sleep cycle comprises numerous cycles of NREM (Non-Rapid Eye Movement) and REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. A healthy night of sleep consists of 4 to 6 cycles of each, and each serves a specific purpose. Sleep scientists recommend that you achieve 7 hours of sleep in order to have enough time for NREM and REM cycles to do their work. To get in complete cycles of REM and NREM sleep, you do need to go to bed earlier. Let’s talk about how to do that.
Becoming a morning person is about building a sleep routine that accommodates an earlier bedtime and wake-up time—and making it a habit.
Here are some nighttime and morning routine tips that will help:
Transitioning to waking early and enjoying it is more than just setting an alarm and trudging into the cold, dark morning. It’s about aligning your sleep schedule with your biology, using light and activity cues smartly, building pre-bed and post-wake routines, and shifting gradually.
Crucially: respect your chronotype. Your chronotype is your body’s natural rhythm that determines when you feel most awake or sleepy. If you’re naturally a night owl, the goal may not be 5 a.m. but rather a wake-time that lets you enjoy more of the morning while still protecting the amount and quality of sleep your body needs.
With consistency, thoughtful habits, and the right cues, you can wake up earlier, feel more alert, and even come to look forward to the quiet, productive morning hours.
Again, chronotypes have to do with when you naturally feel sleepy and alert, rather than your overnight sleep stages. The three main types are:
Morning type (early bird):
Intermediate type:
Evening type (night owl):
If you want to wake up earlier, your bedtime may need to shift, too. Dr. Troxel and Dr. Prather explain how to make that adjustment and why a little morning grogginess doesn’t necessarily mean you slept poorly.
Dr. Troxel: “To wake up early without feeling tired, make sure you consistently get good quality sleep of adequate duration—generally 7 to 9 hours for most adults—and stick to a regular sleep schedule, even on weekends. Feeling groggy right after waking up (called ‘sleep inertia’) is completely normal and doesn’t mean your sleep was poor. The best way to clear sleep inertia is to get out of bed and start moving, as physical activity and exposure to light help you feel more alert.”
Dr. Prather: “The first strategy is to make sure you are getting enough sleep. What often works best is to slowly move your wake-up time and bedtime earlier, maybe 15 minutes per day. In the evening, be sure to protect your wind down routine and limit light exposure. In the morning, try to get 30 minutes of sunlight exposure upon awakening. And most important, be consistent.”
Research shows that sleep inertia—the groggy, fuzzy-headed period right after waking—can impair cognitive performance, especially if you wake during your biological cycle or after sleep deprivation.3,4 So if you feel tired while adjusting your sleep schedule, you’re not failing; you’re simply navigating normal physiological processes. By addressing the root causes—sleep duration, consistency, and light exposure—you can improve your chances of waking up early and feeling alert.
Some people settle into an earlier schedule fairly easily; others struggle even with consistent effort. As Dr. Troxel and Dr. Prather explain, your natural sleep rhythm helps determine how much room you have to adjust.
Dr. Troxel: “While we can all make some adjustments to our sleep-wake patterns, it’s important to recognize that not everyone can or should completely flip their natural rhythm. The truth—an individual’s chronotype is about 50% genetically determined. Forcing yourself onto a schedule that runs counter to your natural rhythm often leads to chronic sleep deprivation and social jetlag.”
Dr. Prather: “If you are a biological night owl, the answer may be no. However, for those of us not at the extremes, there is flexibility, and while you may never ‘like’ waking up early, hopefully you can build in aspects of the morning that feel worth the struggle and consistency needed to maintain a ‘morning’ schedule.”
Scientific genetics research confirms that chronotype (morningness vs eveningness) is heritable and associated with specific clock-genes.5 Thus, yes, you can shift earlier to some degree, but expecting a complete personality flip may be unrealistic and counterproductive. Instead, aim for an alignment that fits your biology.
A 5 a.m. wake-up time needs to leave room for a full night’s sleep—and feel worth the early alarm. The doctors explain how to reset your sleep schedule gradually and why having a clear reason for the change can help you stick with it.
Dr. Troxel: “If your life or work demands call for earlier rising, the key to this transition is gradual adjustment and consistency. Move your bedtime and wake time roughly 15 minutes earlier each day, until you arrive at your desired earlier wake-up time, without sacrificing your sleep duration or quality. Expose yourself to bright morning light upon waking, and begin dimming lights at least a couple hours before your new target bedtime. Importantly, stick to this schedule all week, including weekends. Even one morning of sleeping in can revert your progress.”
Dr. Prather: “Most importantly, identify your “why” for getting up at 5AM. You will need that on those cold, dark mornings, to motivate you to keep up the consistency, because that is the key.”
Dr. Troxel cautions that the “5 a.m. club” isn’t for everyone. Pushing yourself too hard can lead to sleep deprivation and social jetlag rather than increased productivity. If earlier rising is necessary, both Dr. Troxel and Dr. Prather recommend a gradual, consistent approach: shift your bedtime and wake time earlier by about 15 minutes every few days, while still getting 7–9 hours of sleep. Expose yourself to morning light soon after waking and dim lights in the evening to help reset your internal clock. Stick to your schedule every day, including weekends, and build a simple morning routine to shake off grogginess. Be patient—your body may take weeks to fully adjust, so avoid rushing the process.
What you do in the first few minutes after your alarm goes off can help you feel more awake. Dr. Troxel has some crucial morning routine tips to help you get going, even when you’re tempted to stay under the covers.
Dr. Troxel: “We hear a lot about the importance of having a wind-down routine before bedtime, but for many people, having a "wind-up routine" is equally, if not more, important. I recommend the RISE technique, developed by my colleague Dr. Allison Harvey at UC Berkeley. The acronym stands for:
R: Refrain from hitting the snooze button
I: Increase physical activity soon after waking
S: Splash your face with cold water (or even take a brisk cold shower)
E: Expose yourself to sunlight as soon as possible
Having a consistent and automatic set of behaviors to get you going in the morning is a great way to boost energy and alertness, and shake off ‘sleep inertia’.”
Waking up early and actually enjoying it isn’t about sheer willpower or “toughing it out.” It’s about working with your biology, leveraging evidence-based cues like light, movement, and consistent routines, and cultivating habits that make mornings energizing rather than stressful. With patience and the right strategy, you can shift toward earlier rising and feel refreshed doing so.
Here’s a summarized list of the tips from Dr. Troxel & Dr. Prather so that you can start waking up earlier:
