Axios Finish Line

February 05, 2026
Welcome back! Tonight's Finish Line comes from our maestro, Erica Pandey, who recently welcomed her first child.
- We're especially grateful for this edition, which she pre-wrote before parental leave β on what to consider if you're aiming for a 5 a.m. wake-up time, a topic she almost certainly knows even more about now.
Smart Brevityβ’ count: 471 words β¦ 2 mins. Copy edited by Amy Stern.
1 big thing: How to listen to your body's clock
5 a.m. is often heralded as the prized wake-up time for success.
- But that only works for a small minority of people, The Wall Street Journal's Julie Jargon writes (gift link).
Why it matters: For many of us, forcing early mornings means fighting our natural body clocks. That leaves us more sluggish and less productive.
- The money quote: "The trend of waking up at 5 a.m. is the second-stupidest thing I've heard in a long time," Michael Breus, a sleep doctor in Hermosa Beach, Calif., tells the Journal. (The first is the trend of overnight mouth-taping.)
π Zoom in: We're born with pre-set internal clocks. We each have 351 genes β expressed in our brains, retinas and beyond β that control when we feel sleepy and when we're alert, a study published in Nature Communications found.
- Most of us β around 60% β feel the most energetic and productive between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., Jargon notes.
Around 20% are night owls, whose energy builds as it gets later, and another 20% or so are early birds, who naturally rise between 6 and 6:30 a.m.
- An even smaller slice of those early birds are 5 a.m. risers.
π The intrigue: If you aspire to get up at 5 a.m., here are a few questions to ask yourself to gauge if that's really the best lifestyle for you.
- Does it take you a while to get out of bed?
- Do you typically sleep in later when you can, like on the weekends?
- Do you need coffee to get the morning going?
π‘ What to try: If you answered "yes" to any of those questions, chances are you'd help yourself by catching some more z's in the morning. But there are still some research-backed habits to try to make an earlier wake-up more comfortable and achievable, Jargon reports:
- Get some sun (or some artificial light if it's wintertime) right when you wake up to signal to your body that it's time to start the day.
- Work out early β not late. Exercise heats up your body, which helps wake you up and keeps you from getting sleepy.
- Watch your drinks. Sleep doctors recommend having your last cup of coffee by 2 p.m. and cutting off alcohol at least three hours before bedtime.
π· Parting shot: Ancient city

A foggy January morning begins to clear at Tikal National Park in northern Guatemala, revealing the 3,000-year-old Mayan city of Tikal beneath the dense rainforest canopy.
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