Rise and Shine! It’s time to take on the Early Bird Challenge!
I am not a morning person. I never have been and I doubt I ever will be. My husband on the other hand is definitely a morning person. Once he’s awake, he’s awake! It doesn’t matter what time it is. Before our twins were born he would regularly wake at 6am and just sit watching TV or play one of his games.
I’d be quite happy staying in bed until 10am, sometimes 11am. When I was in my teens you’d be lucky to see me before midday.
Since having children you’d think all that would have changed and that I’d be up the same time as them. Well, you’d be wrong!
Our twins wake on average around 7am. Not too early some would say. My husband gets up with them every morning whilst I stay in bed. Unless, of course it’s a work day in which case I would be up the same time as them.
On a day when I’m not working though I like to stay in bed and luckily for me my husband obliges and lets me. I do feel guilty on occasion about doing this. I mean after all I’m a mum and I should be up at the same time as my children so that I can give them breakfast and watch Tikka Billa with them, shouldn’t I?
You may be wondering I’m talking about sleep a lot, well I’ve teamed up with Free Office Finder to take on the early bird challenge.
The challenge is all about teaching people about the benefits of waking up earlier and regaining some of their valuable free time. Can you call it ‘free time’ when you’re a parent?!
Anyway, apparently there are actually some enormous physical and mental benefits to waking up earlier, which will lead to a healthier, happier and more productive you.
I’ve challenged myself to get up at the same time as the rest of the family for one week. Who knows I may even continue to do so! Although, having said that it is a proven fact that women need more sleep than men!
I wondered what I would do with the extra hour or two in the mornings and I also wondered how I feel by the mentally and physically by the end of the day after being up earlier than normal.
It turns out that waking up at the same time as your husband and children is actually very good! Who knew?!
It means I can sit on the sofa rubbing the sleep from my eyes whilst cuddled up to my girls as we sing along to Baby Jake on the TV!
It means I can help give our girls breakfast and take the load off my husband for a change meaning he can actually eat his breakfast in peace for once!
It also means that I can eat my breakfast at the same time as our girls and even better than that it means we can all be showered, dressed and fed by 9am leaving the rest of the day ours for the taking.
Did you know that we face 25,000 mornings in our adult lives! Can you believe it! Now I’m not saying that I’ll be up early for every single one of those, but I intend to be for the majority!
By waking up earlier, at the same time as the rest of my family I actually felt more productive, more alert and more aware. I had more energy than usual – much to the annoyance of my husband as I think he thinks I already have way too much energy!
A recent study by The Daily Mail and The Telegraph showed that 34% of people constantly feel rushed and a whopping 61% claim to have no free time at all. A third of adults claim to have less than an hour to themselves after work, and many mothers have a meagre 17 minutes a day to call their own.
I will openly admit that on the occasions when I haven’t got up at the same time as my children I have always felt rushed. This means that I rush the girls into having a shower and then I rush a shower, my makeup and usually end up having no breakfast myself.
I actually think it’s quite important to get up at the same time as your children. Although when they turn into teenagers and start waking at midday I like to think that I’ll have been awake for a good few hours prior to them waking!
The benefits of getting up in the early hours of the morning enormous. You can make a huge difference to your health and mindset, simply by adjusting your sleeping pattern. Healthier sleeping patterns have been proven to reduce obesity and waking earlier provides you with the opportunity to eat a proper breakfast, fueling our bodies with the right stuff to make the most of the day ahead.
Waking early can also help with stress reduction and management, as we remove the rush of the morning and replace it with time for ourselves, loved ones, and surroundings.
Did you know that morning exercise energises the rest of our day as fresh oxygen encourages cell renewal and purifies blood, curing old aches and pains.
So that’s it! I’ve taken the early bird challenge and have actually enjoyed it and learnt a lot from it. Will you take the early bird challenge too?
1 Comments
AliceMegan
November 17, 2014 at 10:21 pm
Hell no aha! I'm determined to stay in that lazy teenage phase despite now being 21!
AliceMegan