How early risers seize the day

Michelle Obama and Gwyneth Paltrow, pictured, who all rise before sunrise to allow time for everything from tennis lessons and gym workouts to drawing up business plans.

Michelle Obama and Gwyneth Paltrow, pictured, who all rise before sunrise to allow time for everything from tennis lessons and gym workouts to drawing up business plans.

Published Apr 29, 2016

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London - Mother-of-two Kelly Ravenscroft juggles four jobs along with childcare.

The usual demands of a busy household and yet she still manages to fit in at least 20 minutes of exercise three mornings a week.

All without appearing in the least bit ruffled or, incredibly, tired.

How does she do it? She puts it down to what she calls “the magic hour”: in other words, she rises at an eye-watering 4.30am six days a week.

In fact, she has been a dedicated early riser for the past 18 months and says that her career has taken off as a result.

“A business consultant told me once that if I could get up an hour earlier I’d see a big increase in my business - and she was right,” the 37-year-old fitness company boss says. “Since having my second child in May 2014, I’ve gone from setting my alarm for 6.30am to getting up two hours earlier to get ahead.

“I am clear-headed and more productive first thing - before I have to contend with getting the children up, making beds and packed lunches and doing the school run.”

Kelly’s regime may sound extreme, but she is not alone in squeezing every last minute from her day. It’s a habit shared by female power houses Anna Wintour, editor in chief of US Vogue, Michelle Obama and Gwyneth Paltrow, who all rise before sunrise to allow time for everything from tennis lessons and gym workouts to drawing up business plans.

Various studies have revealed that “morning people” are more likely to exhibit optimism and satisfaction, while being adept at anticipating problems. The obvious downside is that you risk depriving yourself of sleep.

Professor Kevin Morgan, who heads up the sleep research centre at Loughborough University, says most people need between seven and nine hours a night.

“As a simple test, ask yourself: am I likely to fall asleep during the day?” he says. “If so, you are not getting enough sleep which is dangerous if you are driving, standing on a train platform, handling machinery, dealing with people or need to concentrate.”

What’s more, Scandinavian data looking at lifelong shift workers concluded that decades of imperfect sleep can increase your risk of early death, heart disease, obesity and certain cancers.

Not that these warnings worry 37-year-old Kelly, who lives in Sutton Coldfield with husband Jamie, 35, a pre-production manager, and their children Jessica, ten, and Jude, almost two. She compensates by going to bed at 9.30pm: so no social life then. She says the sacrifices are all worth it because her database of fitness clients has doubled: she also teaches 14 fitness classes per week, is a franchisee of a weight-loss company, and runs residential health retreats as well as an online nutritional coaching business.

Kelly admits that if she didn’t get up at the crack of dawn, she would be feeling overwhelmed by an endless to-do list.

“I wouldn’t be able to fit everything in, especially as I teach classes till 9 pm four nights per week,” she adds.

Fortunately, the sound of Kelly’s alarm clock doesn’t bother her husband, who rises only an hour later to leave for work at 7am. And they are both happy to turn in at 9.30pm.

She adds: “I can see that it might cause problems if he was a night owl, but it works for us. We both need our sleep.

“On Sunday mornings, Jamie looks after the children so I can lie-in although often I’m awake by 6.30am. Still, those few hours give me the little boost I need to return to early starts come Monday.”

So what does she do during the precious extra hours? Kelly explains: “I write my client newsletter and business plans, plough through paperwork, answer emails, and update my various social media threads.

“Three mornings a week I also fit in a HIIT - high-intensity interval training - workout. There’s something lovely about being up at that time of the day. I never tire of seeing the sunrise.”

Psychologist Dr Tracey Marks, who is author of Master Your Sleep, says it is possible to train ourselves to wake earlier.

“If you go to bed at 9.30pm, your body is only going to be able to sleep for a certain amount of time before it naturally wakes,” she explains. “Getting up early is beneficial as it will put you more in sync with your body’s circadian rhythm - we are designed to be awake when it’s light outside and asleep when it’s dark. So, naturally, we should wake at sunrise and go to bed a few hours after sunset.”

Like Kelly, parenting consultant and youth coach Sarah Newton, 47, attributes her fitness, wellbeing and business success to getting up at 4.30am.

“Five years ago, I read somewhere that if you want to get more things done, do them when nobody else is awake,” she says. “So I started setting my alarm for 4.30am instead of 7am to see if it was true.”

She lives in Northampton with husband Edmund, 53, a financial analyst, and their daughters Bronte, 19, and Freya, 15.

“That first week was hell and all I wanted to do when the alarm sounded was go back to sleep. It was a month before I’d got into the habit. But now getting up at 6 am constitutes a huge lie-in.”

Fifteen years ago Sarah became one of the UK’s first youth coaches - helping with teenage development and managing stress. She now lectures and does private consultancy work worldwide.

So, why the need to start adding extra hours to her already busy days? “As my business grew, there weren’t enough hours in the day for other things that are important to me such as reading, exercising and coming up with ideas for the business.

“Those few hours in a morning have transformed my wellbeing and, therefore, my business because I feel more energised.

“When my husband wakes at 6am, we go for a two-and-a-half mile walk. I love the exercise, the time alone with him and being outdoors, particularly as we both have sedentary jobs.”

But Sarah admits that sometimes the early starts catch up with her and she has to turn in earlier in the evening - about 9pm - to redress the balance.

Last year, entrepreneur and author Shaa Wasmund’s company was more profitable than ever. But far from being at the expense of precious hours with her ten-year-old-son, Jett, she managed to spend more time with him at evenings and weekends.

Shaa, 43, who received an MBE from the Queen last year for services to entrepreneurship, is also strikingly slim and glamorous, working out three times a week. Again, she puts her success down to rising early - 5am.

“I can get the equivalent of five hours of work done in those two uninterrupted hours before my son wakes at 7am,” she says.

Time is all the more precious for Shaa since her partner and Jett’s father died suddenly six years ago, leaving her as sole carer.

“My early rising is about getting ahead of the game - not about doing extra hours. It means I can take my son to school or go to his school sports day.”

Shaa says it’s all about discipline: “There’s no point getting up at 5am to check Facebook, that’s a crazy waste of time. You can lose hours of your life to the internet.

“And if you don’t exercise first thing in the morning, statistically your chances of doing so later in the day drop by 80 percent.”

Shaa says she’s in bed no later than 11pm. For her, getting up at 6.30am on a Sunday now constitutes a lie-in. It’s a time that perhaps only the early risers would consider a “treat”.

Daily Mail

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