In Maseches Avos, Chazal say (10:3) “Sleeping in the morning...removes a person from the world.” On the other hand, we find that one who rises early to tefillah lives a long life, as the Gemara says (Brachos 8a) that when Rabi Yochanan was told that there were elders in Bavel, he wondered about this, because didn’t the Torah promise (Devarim 11:21): “Lema’an yirbu yemeichem” only applied “al ha’adamah asher nishba Hashem l’avoseichem” – in Eretz Yisrael? But when he was told that these elders are strict to go to shul morning and evening, he calmed down, as they had merited arichus yamim because of this practice.
When a young man came to the Kehillos Yaakov and told him that because he had reached the age when his father had passed away, he was afraid for his life [as the Midrash says (Bereishes Rabbah Toldos 65:12): ‘When a person reaches the years of his father...he should worry about death”], the Steipler advised him based on the Gemara that he should make sure to go to shul early in the morning and in the evening. (Kuntress Mispeid Gadol, p. 54)
