My Journey with Early Mornings and Sleep Deprivation

For two long years, I set my alarm for 5 AM each day. It wasn’t a gradual transition. After reading about the habits of successful people, I decided to take the plunge. Living in Saigon, the mornings were already warm, filled with people exercising in the parks. It felt like I was part of something bigger, something disciplined.

Initially, it worked. I found myself writing while the world was still asleep. Those two quiet hours before my daughter woke up were golden. I was productive, but I had no idea that I was slowly wearing myself down.

By the eighth month, afternoon crashes became a routine for me. Come fourteen months in, I was irritable for no apparent reason. By twenty months, my output was at an all-time high, but I was hardly enjoying any of it. I didn’t link these issues to waking up early; instead, I blamed myself for not pushing hard enough.

The Effects of Chronic Sleep Deprivation

The science here isn’t vague at all. A meta-analysis by Lim and Dinges highlighted significant cognitive performance issues due to sleep deprivation. The largest declines were in sustained attention, with even moderate, chronic sleep restriction leading to cumulative impairments over time.

Another comprehensive review indicated that sleep deprivation greatly affects attention, decision-making, and memory. Particularly concerning is how the prefrontal cortex—the area responsible for impulse control—reacts to lack of sleep. The review stressed that consistent sleep deprivation does more harm than just one night without rest, as people become unaware of just how impaired they are.

The tricky part is that as you get worse, you mistake adaptation for normalcy. I was writing more but making poorer decisions about what to write. Sure, I was up early, but my clarity suffered.

Cortisol and Its Hidden Effects

There’s also the hormonal aspect that often doesn’t get mentioned. Research by Leproult and others showed that even minor sleep loss can disrupt our body’s stress-response system. After partial sleep deprivation, cortisol levels surged by 37%, and after total lack of sleep, they shot up by 45%. This isn’t just a statistic; it’s about how our bodies react to stress and the potential for future health issues.

Cortisol normally peaks after we wake and decreases throughout the day. But by cutting sleep, this cycle gets thrown off. A review in Sleep Science and Practice confirmed that restricted sleep boosts cortisol levels in the late afternoon and can lead to serious health issues like cardiovascular disease and impaired cognition.

I woke up at 5 AM, thinking I was ahead of the game, but my body was stuck in a low-stress response that never fully recovered.

Beliefs Around Early Rising

What fueled my early rising wasn’t the productivity anymore—it was a belief system that equated early mornings with moral superiority. I started to think that those who rose late were, somehow, less driven. This mindset is pervasive—from social media glorifying 4 AM routines to a culture that values exhaustion as a badge of honor.

But research doesn’t back this up. A review in Sleep Science stated that sleep deprivation leads to issues with glucose tolerance and can disrupt hormonal balances. Sleep is actually crucial for maintaining other bodily functions, not an enemy of productivity.

Indeed, sacrificing sleep for waking hours feels rewarding initially, but that’s just a temporary illusion—over time, the penalties catch up.

What Changed for Me

I eventually ditched the 5 AM wake-up call. I began to sleep when I felt tired and rise when my body was ready, which turned out to be around 6:30 or 7. Yes, I lost that peaceful morning time, but I regained the clarity I had lost. I stopped taking out my frustrations on my wife and daughter. No more staring blankly at poorly written paragraphs from that morning.

Interestingly, my output didn’t drop; it shifted. I wrote less overall, but the quality improved without the extensive revision time. What previously required hours now fit neatly into a more functional timeframe.

Looking back at those two years, it’s not regret I feel but a sort of clarity. I wasn’t lazy for giving up that routine; I was lazy for not questioning the idea that rising early was inherently virtuous. I had mixed up effort with suffering, discomfort with real progress. After so long, the lines blurred.

Productivity isn’t a moral high ground. Needing rest isn’t a weakness. The most disciplined choice I made wasn’t waking up at 5 AM; it was finally turning off that alarm.