Initiatives to let schoolchildren sleep more have multiplied in recent years in different countries.

Steve Amado, president of the Colombian Association of Sleep Medicine (ACMES).įor adults, he explains, this may not have consequences if a schedule is established and enough hours of sleep are achieved, which is not always possible, but it can cause problems for children. 'Colombians suffer from an advanced sleep phase, they go to bed with the chickens and wake up with the rooster,' says Dr. Throughout the year it rises around six in the morning and sets at around six in the afternoon (at night, they would say in the country). Street vendor, serving coffee for passersby.Ĭolombia is a country crossed by the equator line. In the coffee plantations, the scene of the country's economic engine for decades, it began at the time in which the color of the coffee beans could be distinguished, between ripe and green. Work in the fields began as soon as the sun came up. That is why he made his children get up early and work like a boar”. Includes an interview with a small producer who says the following: 'With the five children we used to get 300 arrobas a week, they were 30,000 pesos. 'Customs and mentalities don't change so quickly, people moved the schedules,' he adds.Īnd in the fields you work from sunrise to sunset.Īn article by Camilo Andrés Salcedo, from 2016, onįamily strategies, work and origins of small coffee producers in Huila, Colombia, Historian Pablo Rodríguez explains that the transition from the countryside to the city was extraordinarily fast.

If in 1900 75% of Colombians lived in the countryside, in 1980 the situation had been reversed and that 75% of the population was already in the cities.įaculties, factories and companies were opened, but the schedules were maintained as if everyone continued working in the coffee plantations. In Medellín, for example, classes start at the university at six in the morning.Ĭolombia industrialized with the beginning of the 20th century. No one gets up early more than the paisas. These two people from Antioquia -Uribe and Restrepo- serve as an example of how this culture of getting up early, more typical of the countryside and the center of the country, ended up marking the rest. Stories about proud early risers are numerous.Ĭollaborators of Álvaro Uribe count calls from the former president at 4:30 in the morning and the presentation of Juan Camilo Restrepo, appointed Peace Commissioner in 2021, is still remembered on the official government website: 'disciplined and early riser paisa.'

The Government of Gustavo Petro seeks to reduce it to 42 hours with the labor reform presented this week, but this is another matter. On average, Colombians open their eyes at 6:31 in the morning.įor comparison, in the United States it would be at 7.20, in China at 7.42 and in Spain at 8.05.įor many Colombians, getting up early is synonymous with discipline, commitment, effort and work.Ĭolombia is also the least productive country in the world despite these awakenings and having the longest working day (48 hours a week, the same as Mexico). There is not one reason, but several, and none is definitive.Ĭustom, religion and geographical location would be some of the keys to why the alarm goes off every day at five in the morning at Yurlenis Moya's house.Ībout why she and her five-year-old son get on the bike and pedal in a still dark city to arrive at school at 6:15.Ībout why they won't see each other again until 13 hours later, when she gets off work and can go pick him up at grandma's house.Ī routine that will not surprise any reader in Colombia, but that in most countries is inconceivable.Ī mother transports her son by bicycle at dawn in Bogotá.Ī report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) ensures that Colombia is the country that rises up the earliest in the world. This article is not going to give you a single answer to the question that all Colombians ask themselves: “why do we get up so early?”.

Average wake up time by country