Early Rising
Essay # 1
It is a famous saying ‘Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise’. The great advantage of rising early is the good start to the day. The early riser finishes a large amount of work earlier than other men who get out of bed late. In the early morning, the mind remains fresh and there are no disturbances. People can think in a much better way than others. An early riser also gets some time to do some exercises in the morning as it gives a person a lot of energy and keeps him healthy. If one has to succeed in life one must get up early in the morning. Inspite of the fact that there are great advantages of early rising, most of us fail to get up early in the morning. Life has become very hectic and people return from their work late. As they sleep late, they are not able to get up early. But in spite of this people should try to be early risers as early to bed and early to rise would help them to be successful in life.
(119 Words)
Early Rising
Essay # 2
- The old-fashioned view of early rising. It cannot be a universal rule.
- Early rising is necessary for agriculturalists.
- Not so necessary for town-dwellers.
Early rising used to be extolled by our grandfathers as if it were in itself a virtue. Young people were exhorted to get up with, or even before, the sun; and sleeping late was condemned as a vice. The old rhyme taught that,
“Early to bed and early to rise,
Makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.”
No doubt it is, in general, a good thing to get up early, though I do not think that early rising in itself will make a man either wealthy or wise, however much it may improve his health. But there is no moral virtue in getting up early, and no moral vice in sitting up late. And early rising cannot be laid down as a generally hard and fast rule for everyone. People’s circumstances and bodily and mental constitutions differ too much to make it possible to make a general rule for all.
No doubt the “early to bed and early to rise” rule is a sound one for people who live in the country, and whose occupation is farming. And the old proverb quoted, it must be remembered, was coined when the majority of the population of England was agricultural. The bulk of a farmer’s work must be done in daylight. He cannot plough, irrigate, dig, make ditches and fences, reap, and graze his flocks and herds, at night. If he would thrive, therefore, he must use all the daylight he can get and be up with the sun; for “the night cometh when no man can work.” Further, a farmer who is engaged in heavy physical work all day needs more sleep than a clerk, whose occupation is sedentary. Therefore, to get up early he must get to bed early, so as to have a long night’s sleep. The farmer who stays up late will probably get up late and lose the best hours of the day for work.
But the same rule does not apply to town-dwellers, whose occupations can be carried out with the help of artificial light as well by night as by day. Some of the most interesting and instructive parts of town-life (such as lectures, concerts, theatres, and social intercourse) are carried on at night; and a man who goes to bed at nine o’clock misses all this. Nor is it necessary for a man whose shop opens at 8 a.m., or his office at 10 a.m. to rise before dawn. The fact that in towns there are thousands of people who go to bed late and get up late and who are yet “healthy, wealthy, and wise”, proves that the proverb is not universally true. A student, too, generally finds that evening is a far better time for study than the early morning.
All the same, late risers miss much and, in most cases, late-rising is due to sheer idleness.
(500 Words)
Early Rising
Essay # 3
In England, from the days of the Saxons up to the present time, the tendency has been for successive generations to make their hours for rising, dining, and going to bed later. Country people still observe the early hours kept by their ancestors, but in the large towns, which now absorb the great mass of the English population, very late hours are kept. This is especially the case in the fashionable world in London, where the usual dinner hour is eight or nine o’clock at night, and the guests often rise from the table to spend two or three hours in the theatre or a still longer time in the ball-room.
Yet the wisdom of the proverb at the head of this essay is never seriously disputed, however much it is neglected in practice. Its truth is recognised by the proverbial wisdom not only of Europe but also of the East. The same idea is expressed in the Indian proverb which says, “Go to bed early, rise before the sun peeps into your window, and I am sure the goddess of wealth will marry you, and disease will have long to wait before he attacks you.” The practical opposition shown to this obvious truth gives strong evidence of the indolence of a large number of human beings, who, although they know that they have every reason to get up, nevertheless continue to lie in bed.
The great advantage of rising early is the good start it gives us in our day’s work. The early riser has done a large amount of hard work before other men have got out of bed. In the early morning, the mind is fresh, and there are few sounds or other distractions so the work done at that time is generally well done. In many cases, the early riser also finds time to take some exercise in the fresh morning air, and this exercise supplies him with a fund of energy that will last until the evening. By beginning so early, he knows that he has plenty of time to do thoroughly all the work he can be expected to do and is not tempted to hurry over any part of it. All his work being finished in good time, he has a long interval of rest in the evening before the timely hour when he goes to bed. He gets to sleep several hours before midnight, at the time when sleep is most refreshing, and after a sound night’s rest rises early the next morning in good health and spirits for the labours of a new day.
It is very plain that such a life as this is far more conducive to health than that of the man who shortens his waking hours by rising late, and so can afford in the course of the day little leisure for necessary rest. Anyone who lies in bed late, must, if he wishes to do a full day’s work, go on working to a correspondingly late hour, and deny himself the hour or two of evening exercise that he ought to take for the benefit of his health. But, in spite of all his efforts, he will probably not produce as good results as the early riser, because he misses the best working hours of the day.
It may be objected to this that some find the perfect quiet of midnight the best time for working. This is no doubt true in certain cases. Several great thinkers have found by experience that their intellect is clearest, and they can write best when they burn the midnight oil. But even in such cases, the practice of working late at night cannot be commended. Few men, if any, can exert the full power of their intellect at the time when nature prescribes sleep, without ruining their health thereby; and of course, the injury done to the health must in the long run have a bad effect on the quality of the work done.
Thus, we may say that in every case the early riser has an immense advantage over the late riser. He enjoys far better health, and by the quality and quantity of the work he can accomplish day by day, is more likely to succeed in life than the indolent man, who dozes away the best hours of the morning in unrefreshing slumber.
(700 Words)
Early Rising
Early rising used to be extolled by our grandfathers as if it were in itself a virtue. Young people were exhorted to get up with, or even before sunrise, and sleeping late was condemned as a vice. The old rhyme taught ‘Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” No doubt it is in general a good thing to get up early, though every young man today thinks that early rising in itself will not make a man either wealthy or wise, however much it may only improve his health. But there is no moral vice in getting up late. And early rising cannot be laid down as a generally hard and fast rule for everyone. People’s circumstances and bodily and mental constitutions differ too much to make it possible to make a general rule for all.
No doubt the early to bed and early to rise’ rule is a sound one for people who live in the country and whose occupation is farming. And the old proverb was coined when the majority of the population of England was agricultural. The bulk of farmers’ work must be done in daylight, they cannot plough, irrigate, dig or reap at night. If he would thrive, he must therefore use all the daylight he can get and be up with the sun; for the ‘night cometh when no man can work’. Further, a farmer who is engaged in heavy physical work all day needs more sleep than a clerk, whose occupation is sedentary. The farmer who stays up late will probably get up late and lose the best hours of the day for work.
But the same rule does not apply to town dwellers, whose occupation can be carried out with the help of artificial light as well as by night by day. Some of the most interesting and instructive parts of town life are carried on after the sunsets. The fact is that there in towns there are thousands of people who go to bed late, get up late but are yet ‘healthy, wealthy and wise’. The old proverb, hence, is not universally true.
