Most students cringe at the idea of waking up early. Getting up in time to rush to school is supposedly already an arduous chore, and getting up even earlier would be a crime to many. But it is actually not nearly as terrible as it seems. In fact, waking up early has many advantages in getting homework done.

First of all, this method can be much more effective than staying up at all hours. Late into the night may not be the best time to get work done; the body and mind are not functioning at full capacity after a long and stressful day of school. After factoring in all the time that could be wasted zoning out or feeling tired, this time is extremely unproductive.

A student’s brain may not be able to absorb more information; every task could take twice as long. This inefficiency produces less than stellar results.

“My brain’s tired; I’m not comprehending anything, so it’s a waste of time,” junior Celine Schwarz said.

Celine is not the only student who prefers not to stay up late.

“After a certain point, I just shut down,” junior Beth Kay said.

A few good hours of sleep will solve these problems, cleansing the mind and leaving one reenergized and ready to finish up those last assignment. It may not be an entire night’s worth, but when one is absolutely exhausted, a few hours can do wonders.

The natural sleep rhythm is about three hours, so 180 uninterrupted minutes of rest will mean one has gone through an entire sleep cycle. That is the kind of power nap needed to restore full brainpower and thinking abilities.

“I get a fresh start after having a long day of school and extracurriculars,” Celine said.

And since functioning effectively won’t be a big trouble anymore, that pesky problem so confusing before will suddenly have a solution. Writing papers will also work much better after a nap — with a mind unclouded by exhaustion, catching errors will pose no difficulty.

“I wake up at six to finish homework,” Beth said. “It’s just easier because you’re refreshed and you can think clearly.”

Another advantage to waking up early to finish early is that in the hours just before dawn, there are fewer distractions. No one’s going to be on AIM to chat with and no family members will interrupt. One can cruise through work with no interruptions or trivial and useless conversations bemoaning how hard everything is, which, ironically, makes work even harder.

Admittedly, it can be difficult to wake up again. It is always tempting to just continue snoozing and then never finish homework, but there are simple methods to making sure one does wake up.

Since often times one is in deep sleep when it’s time to get up, an alarm clock (or two) set a half hour before will give warnings before the actual alarm. And make sure it’s far away from the bed so one can’t just slam down the snooze button!

To help the memory, figure out what still has to be done, make a definite timeline and run over the information studied just before bed. It will stay in one’s head and upon waking up, one can go right back to homework-mode with no problems.

Many students favor this method, especially those with zero periods, like Celine and Beth. For them, it gets easier to do and is more beneficial.

“I’ve gotten used to it,” Celine said.

So next time the to-do list seems endless, take a couple hours to rejuvenate and do the homework later, but better.