I was listening to Cats in the Cradle the other day, a song about a father who never had enough time for his son.

When he finally retires and calls his now-working-man son for a visit, he is told: “I’d love to Dad if I could find the time.” Time.

It has the power to dictate relationships and shape our lives for better or for worse. It has the power to destroy our health too.

If you never find the time to go and check out that niggling pain in your stomach or chest, or to eat healthier or be more active, your clock could very well be ticking faster than you might have thought.

Not enough time persistently remains the number one barrier to exercise. More people quote this more than any other reason. A method we often use to contend with this is helping our clients draw up a weekly timetable of their day-to-day activities.

Gaps start to appear in the schedule, or more efficient ways of organising the day, and only then can we squeeze in one or two sessions a week. I have to admit, however, this doesn’t always work, or last.

Sometimes it’s not about finding the time, but more about making the time. Someone once said that for a more productive routine, we need to sleep faster. This isn’t actually as crazy as it sounds.

By going to bed a little later or waking up a littler earlier to train, you will find the quality of the sleep you do get will be improved, so you can actually compensate for the lost shut-eye.

You might be thinking it’s easy for me to ask you to wake up an hour early and train, and you are right. What reason do you have to take my advice? None. So what I will try to do instead is give you the reason.

Whether you work regular hours or shifts, two great slots to create in your schedule are first thing when you wake up or last thing before you sleep.

Let’s examine the first slot. Why would anybody of sound mind voluntarily choose to wake up at some godforsaken hour before sunrise and hit the streets to become a sweaty mess? Well, it’s not all that bad. Actually, it’s one of the most invigorating experiences you might ever encounter.

Getting up before everyone else can be very relaxing. There’s something very peaceful about a town or city before everyone else invades it. It feels like the calm before the storm, which could be a useful meditation for you first thing in the morning before having to contend with work or domestic stress. Don’t wake up on the back foot and rush. Wake up early, command your routine and tackle your day on the attack, not on the defensive.

Something all early-bird fitness enthusiasts will vouch for is that exercising first thing in the morning tends to energise and invigorate you

Seeing the sunrise and breathing the fresh morning air is reward enough for me. But all these things are not the only benefits of early morning exercise. Something all early-bird fitness enthusiasts will vouch for is that exercising first thing tends to energise and invigorate you.

You will find your energy levels boosted, particularly throughout the first part of your day. It gets you in the swing of things. You have shaken off the sleep and are now completely alert. You will also find your mood is elevated for the first half of the day and your productivity boosted.

You might be thinking how awful it must feel to wake up so early, feel so tired and in that state, go out and train. It might seem like the last thing you would feel like doing. But in reality, this is not the case. Getting up and hitting the streets while half asleep is actually much easier than you might think.

You are half asleep, so your fuzzy mind will not challenge you much. Just get going. You will find the first part of your walk or run will actually seem like a dream in your sleepy state.

You will actually start to wake up while you are exercising. You will notice the transition between being half asleep and fully alert throughout your session, and as soon as the alertness kicks in, you will feel positively invigorated and very proud of yourself. Sometimes you will feel almost superhuman, ready to take on anything or anybody with a positive all-conquering, can-do attitude.

Now what about slotting in your session last thing before you sleep? If you’re anything like me, night time is when all the thoughts and worries seem to collect and do battle in the mind as you lay awake in bed, wondering if you’ll ever get enough sleep to wake up refreshed and ready for the morrow.

Late-night training is a little harder to motivate yourself to get down to. For the super-busy, however, sometimes there simply isn’t any other choice. Yes, it will be hard to get up and go when the rest of your family is getting ready for bed, but remember that you will only be going to bed half an hour to 45 minutes later than them.

If you manage to do it, you will find another unique experience just as wonderful as early-morning training. Running under the stars and veering towards picturesque surroundings like promenades or sea fronts with few other people around is the perfect way to collect and organise your thoughts in beautiful surroundings. Contrary to the morning workout, you will actually feel yourself getting sleepy.

By the time you get home, you won’t be invigorated, you will be refreshed, of clear mind, without worries and physically and mentally tired enough to sleep deeply.

matthew.muscat.inglott@mcast.edu.org