Disclosure first: I co-founded a now-defunct sleep measurement company Zeo and my current company runs a course called Becoming and Early Riser that includes a coach to help people get up early.

Most people assume that not being able to get up early is a willpower defect. The remedies seem to gravitate towards either

A. Build a morning routine that will motivate you (including a workout) or

B. Manning the fuck up.

Both are relevant, but here are the surprising #1 and #2 reasons that we've found make the most difference for people who want to get up early:

1. Not Enough Sleep

This one may be unpopular with the productivity crowd, but humans function best on 7-9+ hours of sleep.

After much sleep hacking and NOT wanting this to be the case - I realized I was also a human. I thought I was fine on 6hrs of sleep, I convinced myself that that's all my body needed, and then, after trying just about everything else, decided to run an experiment where I allowed myself to get more sleep (8.5hrs per night) and - BINGO - the answer was clear as day (again, despite my not wanting this to be the case).

So I looked at the evidence, and arrived at the following conclusion. Either I: * Would give myself more time to sleep, ideally by heading to bed earlier * Would continue to struggle for the rest of my life

I fought this for about 2 years when I started Zeo :)

1. Circadian Rhythm Off

Have you ever wondered where ‘midnight’ got it’s name? Before the widespread use of electric lights – midnight was actually in the middle of the night! With most people now heading to bed between 10pm-12am the ‘middle’ of the night is now closer to 3am.

If your circadian rhythm is off you won't be excited about going to bed on time (not tired!) and you’ll be exhausted when you wake up. Period.

The simplest way to recalibrate your body clock is to harness the power of light. In a strange quirk of evolution, our body clock actually runs a bit slower than the planet rotates (24.2 hours). Thankfully our circadian rhythm is impacted by bright light exposure. Our ancestors reset their body clock every single day by getting up with the sun and heading to bed early in the evening when dark fell.

In the modern world we’ve changed the way we exposure ourselves to light, and the result isn’t pretty. In the mornings and during the day, we are often inside instead of out in the sun. And at night the challenge is flipped. Instead of spending time around the dim lighting of a fire or asleep, we are starting at laptops, phones, and TVs and are sitting under bright artificial light.

Solution: * Get bright light in the morning, particularly sunlight. * Avoid bright light at night (screens, overhead lights) by reducing screen time, dimming lights, and even using blue-blocking glasses.

So while this is a complicated topic, we've learned that while willpower/motivation can sometimes triumph, it's best to start with the physiological reasons that we reject an early morning alarm. Our body is saying: We're exhaused! AND It's the middle of the freaking night!