Last updated: October 2026
To wake up early, move your alarm 15 minutes earlier every few days, keep the same wake time every day (weekends too), get daylight soon after you get up and go to bed early enough for 7 to 9 hours of sleep. Expect 15 to 30 minutes of grogginess at first: that’s normal sleep inertia, not failure.
Below: 10 tips that work, how to become more of a morning person, how much sleep you need for your alarm time, alarm tips, early starts for work or school, and when tiredness is worth a chat with your GP.
How to wake up early: 10 tips that work
- Go earlier in small steps. Set your alarm 15 minutes earlier every 3 or 4 days until you reach your target. Jumping 2 hours overnight usually just makes you tired.
- Fix your wake time, not just your bedtime. A steady wake time is what sets your body clock. Keep it within about an hour at weekends.
- Get light straight away. Open the curtains, then get outside for 10 to 20 minutes if you can. Morning daylight is one of the clearest signals to your body clock that the day has started.
- Work back from your alarm. Count back 7 to 9 hours and start winding down 30 to 60 minutes before that. Our sleep calculator does the maths.
- Dim the evening. The NHS suggests no screens in the hour before sleep. See our sleep hygiene habits.
- Put the alarm across the room, so you have to stand up to switch it off. Then don’t get back into bed.
- Have a reason to get up. A walk, a proper breakfast or quiet time before the house wakes. Our morning routine for energy has ideas.
- Prepare the night before. Lay out clothes, pack your bag and set up breakfast so the first 10 minutes need no decisions.
- Watch caffeine and alcohol. Keep coffee to the morning and early afternoon, and go easy on alcohol, which can disrupt your sleep.
- Give it 2 to 3 weeks. It feels hardest in the first week, while your body clock catches up.
How to become a morning person
Your chronotype, whether you lean towards early bird or night owl, is partly genetic and shifts with age. You can’t swap it completely, but you can move it earlier.
In a UK trial from the Universities of Birmingham and Surrey, night owls moved their sleep and wake times about 2 hours earlier in 3 weeks. They used practical changes only: earlier wake and sleep times, morning light, fixed meal times, limits on caffeine and planned exercise. They also reported lower depression and stress scores, and did better on reaction time tests in the morning.
The catch is the weekend. Big lie-ins on days off are known as social jetlag: your body clock drifts later, and Monday morning feels like a time-zone change. Researchers in Munich found late chronotypes have the biggest gap between workday and free-day sleep. If you need extra sleep, an earlier night works better than a long lie-in, or a short power nap in the early afternoon.
If you’re a true night owl, our night owl guide has a full 3-week plan. If the problem is staying up late on your phone even when you’re tired, that’s revenge bedtime procrastination.
How much sleep do you need?
Most adults need 7 to 9 hours, according to the US National Sleep Foundation’s expert panel, and 7 to 8 hours in older age. Teenagers need 8 to 10. The NHS suggests aiming for 6 to 9 hours and sticking to the same sleep times.
Waking early only works if bedtime moves too. Here’s when to be in bed, allowing about 15 minutes to fall asleep:
| Alarm time | In bed for 7.5 hours’ sleep | In bed for 8 hours’ sleep |
|---|---|---|
| 5am | 9.15pm | 8.45pm |
| 5.30am | 9.45pm | 9.15pm |
| 6am | 10.15pm | 9.45pm |
| 6.30am | 10.45pm | 10.15pm |
| 7am | 11.15pm | 10.45pm |
Struggling to drop off at the earlier time? Try our techniques to fall asleep fast. Cutting sleep to get up earlier backfires quickly; see sleep deprivation.
How to wake up early without feeling tired
The heavy, foggy feeling just after waking is called sleep inertia. A review of the research found it usually wears off within 30 minutes, sometimes in 15. It’s worse when you’re short of sleep and when you wake at a time your body clock still treats as night, which is why a sudden early start feels so rough.
- Sit up and get light as soon as the alarm goes.
- Move: a few minutes of stretching or a brisk walk.
- Drink a glass of water, then have breakfast.
- Try a cool finish to your shower if you like it.
- Have your coffee with or after breakfast if it upsets your stomach. See coffee on an empty stomach.
If you wake exhausted after a full night, that’s a different problem: see why do I wake up tired? And if you wake with a racing mind, see morning anxiety.
Alarm tips: snooze, light alarms and more
Snoozing. It’s very common: 57% of people snoozed in one US study. In a Swedish lab study of habitual snoozers, 30 minutes of snoozing cost about 6 minutes of sleep and didn’t harm thinking or mood. So it isn’t a disaster, but one alarm at your real get-up time gives more unbroken sleep.
Light alarms. Sunrise or dawn-simulation alarms brighten your room over the last 30 minutes. In a small UK study of 8 people who struggled with mornings, they felt more alert and did slightly better on tests. A Stanford study in older adults found no effect on alertness. The evidence is modest, but they can make dark winter mornings feel less brutal.
Waking without an alarm. This tends to come once your wake time is steady and you’re getting enough sleep. Keep an alarm as backup until then.
Waking up early for work, school or a flight
- New early shift or job: start shifting your wake time a week or two before.
- School: teenagers need 8 to 10 hours’ sleep, so an early start means an early night. Steady weekday and weekend wake times, morning light and phones out of the bedroom all help.
- A one-off early flight: don’t try to shift your clock for one day. Go to bed a little earlier, set two alarms and accept a shorter night.
- Clocks changing: the 25 October change gives you an extra hour, then darker evenings. See clocks go back: protect your sleep.
An evening routine that makes mornings easier
Early mornings are won the night before. A simple, repeatable wind-down tells your body it’s time to switch off: lights down, screens away, a warm shower and a warm drink.
Our Magnesium Glycinate Sleep Complex is a berry-flavoured bedtime drink many people use as that cue. It combines magnesium bisglycinate and citrate with glycine, L-theanine and botanicals, and magnesium contributes to the reduction of tiredness and fatigue.
Why can’t I wake up? When to see a GP
Finding mornings hard is normal. Being exhausted all the time is not. See a GP if you’re very tired most days despite enough sleep, or if you notice:
- Loud snoring, gasping or choking at night and feeling very tired by day: possible sleep apnoea.
- Extreme tiredness with feeling cold and weight gain: possible underactive thyroid.
- Low mood, lack of energy and disturbed sleep, including waking very early: possible depression. See low mood vs depression.
- Lack of energy with pale skin, palpitations or breathlessness: possible iron deficiency anaemia.
Your GP may suggest a simple blood test.
FAQs
How can I wake up early without feeling tired?
Get 7 to 9 hours of sleep by moving your bedtime earlier too, keep the same wake time every day and get daylight straight after waking. Some grogginess for 15 to 30 minutes is normal.
How long does it take to become a morning person?
Usually 2 to 3 weeks. In a UK trial, night owls shifted their sleep about 2 hours earlier in 3 weeks with morning light and fixed sleep and meal times.
How do I wake up early if I sleep late?
Don’t cut your sleep short for long. Move your wake time 15 minutes earlier every few days and go to bed earlier in step, so you still get enough sleep.
Is it bad to hit snooze?
Not necessarily. One lab study found 30 minutes of snoozing cost about 6 minutes of sleep without harming thinking or mood. One alarm at your real get-up time still gives more unbroken sleep.
Is 5am too early to wake up?
Not if you’re in bed by about 9pm and get enough sleep. Waking at 5am on 5 or 6 hours’ sleep will leave most people tired.
Sources
- Facer-Childs ER et al (2019). Resetting the late timing of ‘night owls’ has a positive impact on mental health and performance. Sleep Medicine.
- Hilditch CJ, McHill AW (2019). Sleep inertia: current insights. Nature and Science of Sleep.
- Hirshkowitz M et al (2015). National Sleep Foundation’s sleep time duration recommendations. Sleep Health.
- Wittmann M et al (2006). Social jetlag: misalignment of biological and social time. Chronobiology International.
- Sundelin T et al (2024). Is snoozing losing? Journal of Sleep Research. Mattingly SM et al (2022). Snoozing: an examination of a common method of waking. Sleep.
- Thompson A et al (2014). Effects of dawn simulation on markers of sleep inertia. European Journal of Applied Physiology. Gabel V et al (2020). Effect of artificial dawn light in middle-aged and older adults. Sleep.
- NHS. Tiredness and fatigue, Sleep apnoea, Underactive thyroid and Symptoms of depression.
This guide is general information, not medical advice. Evopure makes the Magnesium Glycinate Sleep Complex, which is for adults only. We don’t recommend our products during pregnancy or breastfeeding.
