YouTuber and Myprotein ambassador Stan Browney has always been baffled by the attraction of waking up early. Some of the world’s most successful people — Michelle Obama, Tim Cook, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson — are famous early risers. But why? Surely it’s just moving the time you go to sleep?

Sensing a challenge opportunity too good to sleep on, Stan decided he was going to wake up at 5am every day for a month, to see if there were really any benefits to starting the day early. Would he have his eyes opened to a new way of life, or will he soon return to a life of hitting snooze? Let’s find out.

The plan

In order to get seven hours of proper sleep, Stan would need to be in bed for about eight hours, to account for the time taken to nod off and waking intermittently throughout the night. So this called for a 9pm bedtime, a good three hours earlier than he’s used to.

This was the first problem. Twice a week Stan has football training that ends at 9.30pm. Realistically on these days he wouldn’t get to bed until gone 10.30pm.

Maintaining his social life would be another issue. Finding the time to hang out with his friends and girlfriend while getting to bed at 9pm. Sounds like Stan might struggle.

There were many obvious cons to the challenge. But what about the pros? Stan was sceptical of many of the claimed benefits of an early start, but he was intrigued by these ones:

• Increased productivity
• Fat loss
• More structured routine
• Showing up more powerfully in relationships

Oh, and he loves a challenge.

So it begins

The night before the first early morning, Stan lost track of time. (This becomes a common occurrence, as you’ll see.) He was wide awake at 9:20pm, already missing his 9pm bedtime. As the clock ticked on, he decided to spend the night at his studio. But he still managed to get out of bed on time the next morning. Start as you mean to go on.