Is viral ‘5-to-9 routine’ the ultimate productivity hack?
The early bird gets the worm – but does it also get more productive?
TikTokers seem to think so. The early risers have adopted a 5-to-9 routine before their 9-to-5 jobs, touting the strict regimen as the key to productivity.
The platform’s hashtag #5to9routine has racked up over 12 million views on the app. Clips show a slew of women, mostly, waking up at the crack of dawn – 5 a.m. – and beginning their day with a bang.
They’re making their beds, drinking their morning cup of Joe, cooking up a nutritious breakfast, hitting the gym — all in time before work at 9 a.m.
The aesthetically pleasing videos prompt baffled viewers to question how people can even open their eyes that early. In a recent video from popular TikToker Arielle Stewart, who regularly touts her early bird routine, fellow app users are shocked at her 4:45 a.m. alarm.
“Sleep?” simply asked one person underneath the clip with nearly 450,000 views.
“Amazed on how u can wake up so early cuz I physically cannot no matter how many alarms I put [in],” admitted another.
“YALL WAKE UP AT 4 a.m.??” a shocked viewer wrote.
“Idk why no matter how hard I try I cannot get up this early,” someone else added.
TikToker Cameron Kira also partakes in the meticulously planned 5-to-9 before her 9-to-5, as shown in a clip of her making her bed, dressing in a matching workout set and making breakfast to eat in bed.
While some brave souls even rise as early as 3 or 4 in the morning, experts aren’t convinced the rigid routine is necessarily beneficial.
Suzy Reading, a psychologist and author, told The Independent that adopting the TikTok trend might not respect everyone’s sleep needs.
“Some people naturally feel greater mental clarity in the morning, while others will feel more switched on later in the day,” she said. “Go with what works best for you as an individual.”
“What’s most important is respecting and meeting your sleep needs — for adults, this is seven to nine hours of sleep daily, and sacrificing our sleep needs will not serve us in the long-term,” she added.
Past research has suggested that early risers tend to be happier and healthier, with one study noting that throwing off the covers before 7 a.m. and squeezing in some exercise like these TikTokers is the secret to life longevity.
Dr. Stephen Smagula, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center which conducted the study, said keeping up that pattern is just as important.
“Most people are aware of the importance of good sleep and exercise, but I think what’s missing from this picture is the daily, or circadian, pattern of activity,” previously said Dr. Smagula. “Having something to wake up for each morning and having a full day that you find purposeful and rewarding might be what’s important for us sleeping well at night and aging well.”
But some TikTokers aren’t so convinced that the picture-perfect morning routine is the key to a successful day.
“The 5 to 9 a.m. morning routine is one trend that just won’t die – and let’s be honest, it makes me a bit angry,” said sleep researcher Vanessa Hill in a TikTok clip.
“It’s morphed into a 3 a.m. morning routine … and the 4 a.m. gym routine,” she added. “I can’t emphasize enough you should not be sacrificing your sleep and your overall health for some ultra-productive morning routing.
Other users poke fun at the trend, showing their more realistic 5-to-9 routine: laying in bed.
“I start work at 9 a.m. so I sleep until 8:59,” one person said in a clip. “I don’t wear cute pajamas and I don’t have an aesthetic room, but I do get a lot of sleep.”
Reading told The Independent that there is “so much pressure” on people to “perform” daily and be virtually “perfect.” But instead of this TikTok trend being helpful, it can actually leave users feeling like they aren’t doing enough.
“We absorb so much unhelpful messaging; ‘You snooze, you lose,’ ‘No pain, no gain,’ consumerism tells us we must buy more to be more, and this grind culture conflates our self-worth with productivity,” she continued.
“In times of economic uncertainty and job insecurity, the pressure to be productive is enormous, and social media fuels our ‘comparisonitis’ — the pressure to keep up with the Joneses can be overwhelming.”
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