Healthy, Weathy and Wise by Kelsey

Healthy, Weathy and Wise by Kelsey - January 2019 Scholarship Essay

I can distinctly remember my mom using the wise saying of “Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise” as she walked into the kitchen to make her nightly cup of tea as I was doing my homework. It was her favorite way of telling me it was time to pack up the books and hit the sheets. Sometimes I needed to stay up late to finish a school project but usually going to bed was the right idea. I learned early into my teenage years that I need a full nine hours of sleep to be my best self, and when you need to wake up at 6, going to bed early is the only way to fit in a full nine hours of blissful sleep.
Our brains like rhythm, they like consistency. They would rather that we always go to bed at the same time, always wake up at the same time and always workout at the same time. With busy schedules of course this isn’t feasible but sticking to a sleeping routine seems to help me sleep. I fall asleep faster and I sleep deeper, in the 90 minute REM cycles that our routine loving brains love. Because I got into the habit of going to bed early and waking up early, I became a morning person. I love the crispness of a fresh day, the relighting of our earth. As much as I love the beauty of a new day, I have found that mornings are also when I am most productive. Maybe it’s just because I’ve listened to enough motivational speakers say, “Win the morning and you win the whole day.” The first time I heard that I remember thinking to myself that I was going to win the next morning. And so it began, I won that morning and then the next and the next. Just like that my routine loving brain was hooked, I could wake up at a decent hour, enjoying the beautiful new day, and accomplish a large amount of the items on my to-do list. I found that if I win the morning, I really do win the whole day. By early afternoon I’m finished with all the pressing matters on my to-do list. Being able to check items off the to-do list is energizing, it sends a rush of dopamine through the brain, making us feel happy. Once my pressing matters are taken care of I can take care of the less pressing matters because I still have a third of the day left. Having an empty to-do list on the weekends when I want to spend time with my family and friends is payment enough for waking up at a decent hour of the day.
Therefore, even though the old adage of “Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise” has not stood its ground under scientific research, I’ll keep being a morning person, but that doesn’t mean that I will come wake you up before dawn or that I’ll try and talk to you before you have had your morning cup of coffee.