The 5am Club: Is Waking Up at 5am Actually Better for You?

The 5am club is the idea that getting up at 5am, before everyone else, gives you quiet time for exercise, planning or focused work and sets you up for a better day. The phrase comes from Robin Sharma's book The 5AM Club, and the habit has a big following online. This guide covers what the 5am club involves, what the science says about early rising, who it suits and who it doesn't, and how to try it without cutting your sleep short.

The short answer: there's nothing special about 5am itself. What helps is a regular wake time, enough sleep and some protected time in the morning. If you're naturally a morning person and can get to bed by about 9 or 10pm, a 5am start can work well. If you're a night owl, or getting up at 5 means sleeping 6 hours, the trade is probably not worth it. Your body clock is partly genetic, so start with your sleep, not the clock time.

What the 5am club involves

The basic version is simple: wake at 5am every day and use the first part of the morning for yourself, often some mix of exercise, reflection and learning or planning, before work, family and messages take over.

The appeal is real. Early mornings are quiet, there are fewer interruptions, and finishing a workout before 7am can feel like a head start. But the habit is often shared by people who are naturally early risers, and it doesn't come with a guide to the part that matters most: what time you go to bed.

The sleep maths

The Sleep Health Foundation says most adults need between 7 and 9 hours of sleep a night to feel properly refreshed and function at their best (source). Work backwards from 5am, and allow time to fall asleep:

Sleep you need	Lights out for a 5am alarm
7 hours	About 9:45pm
8 hours	About 8:45pm
9 hours	About 7:45pm

For many Australians with work, kids, sport or a social life, being asleep by 9:45pm every night is the hard part. If your bedtime stays at 11pm and only your alarm moves, you end up on about 6 hours, and you'll feel it. See is 6 hours of sleep enough and what time should I go to bed.

Morning people, night owls and genetics

Whether 5am feels natural depends a lot on your chronotype, your body clock's preferred timing.

• Chronotype is partly inherited. A genetic study of nearly 700,000 people found 351 gene regions linked to being a morning person. People carrying the most "morningness" variants slept about 25 minutes earlier on average than those carrying the fewest (source).
• Work changes your wake time more than your body clock. A Dutch study of more than 20,000 people found working people woke earlier than retirees on workdays (around 6:48am vs 7:27am), but their underlying chronotype was much the same (source). In other words, an alarm can get you up early, but it doesn't necessarily make you a morning person.

If you're unsure which you are, see night owl or early bird chronotypes.

Is getting up early better for you?

There is some interesting evidence, but it's easy to overstate.

A large genetic study found that people genetically inclined to sleep one hour earlier had a 23% lower risk of major depression (source). The authors were careful about the limits: the result reflects a lifelong tendency rather than changing your alarm, it looks at people around the average rather than at extreme early or late sleepers, and they called for proper trials of shifting sleep timing.

So the fair verdict:

• Regular timing matters. The Sleep Health Foundation recommends keeping regular times for going to bed and getting up (source).
• Morning light helps your body clock. The same page notes that morning daylight is most beneficial for your internal clock. See morning sunlight and sleep.
• 5am is not magic. A 6:30am start with a regular routine and 8 hours of sleep is likely to do more for you than 5am on 6 hours.

Who the 5am club suits, and who it doesn't

Likely to suit	Likely to struggle
Natural early risers who already wake around 5:30 or 6	Night owls who rarely feel sleepy before 11pm
People who can be in bed by 9 to 10pm	Parents of young children up overnight
Tradies, bakers or gym-goers whose day already starts early	Shift workers on rotating rosters
People who want quiet time before a busy household wakes	Teenagers, whose body clocks naturally run later

If your work already starts early, see wake up at 4am for work and tradie early start sleep tips.

How to try it without wrecking your sleep

1. Move gradually. Shift your wake time 15 minutes earlier every few days rather than jumping straight to 5am.
2. Move your bedtime too. Every 15 minutes off the morning needs 15 minutes added to the night.
3. Keep it seven days a week, or close to it. A 5am weekday and 9am weekend gives you social jet lag.
4. Get light early. Open the curtains or step outside soon after waking.
5. Decide what the time is for. A walk, a stretch, reading or planning. An early alarm with nothing planned often ends with your phone.
6. Give it two to three weeks, then check in. If you're dragging by mid-afternoon or relying on extra coffee, your sleep is short. Move the alarm back.

For more on making the shift, see how to become a morning person.

When to see your GP

If you can't fall asleep at a reasonable hour no matter what you try, or you wake far earlier than you want and can't get back to sleep, talk to your GP. These can be signs of a body-clock or sleep problem. This guide is general information, not medical advice.

Where the Sovune Nudge fits

We make the Sovune Nudge, a silent vibrating wristband alarm, so we're not neutral. A 5am alarm is often the first sound in the house, and the Nudge keeps it that way for you only.

• Silent. It wakes you with vibration on your wrist, so a partner, kids or housemates can sleep on.
• Starts as a gentle tap and builds through three intensity levels over a full minute. You can switch it off sooner.
• Set on the band itself, with no app and no phone, so your phone doesn't need to be the first thing you touch in the morning.
• Three separate alarms, so you can set a weekday time and a slightly later weekend time.

It comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Quick answers

Is waking up at 5am healthy? It can be, if you get 7 to 9 hours of sleep and keep it regular. Waking at 5am on short sleep is not healthier than waking later.

What time should I go to bed to wake at 5am? For 8 hours of sleep, aim to be asleep by about 9pm, so lights out around 8:45pm.

Can a night owl join the 5am club? You can shift your wake time somewhat, but your chronotype is partly genetic. A later, regular wake time may suit you better.

How long does it take to adjust to waking at 5am? If you shift by 15 minutes every few days, expect a few weeks. Keep weekends close to weekdays to make it stick.

For every type of silent alarm compared, see our complete guide to vibrating alarms in Australia.

See the Sovune Nudge →