Morning routine

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Morning routine

There are simple habits people can practice in the morning that will that have a profound influence on how they feel throughout the day. They’re easy tweaks that can help improve overall mental well-being.

Sleep time doesnt matter. Wake up time does. Few things in not a particular order.

  1. In the morning, think yourself like a machine and just follow the instructions, until you are done with your chores.

  2. Create a to-do thing / Rituals in the morning. Link those Rituals to Wellness habits. Link a habit to ritual.

    Worst thing is waking up and not knowing what to do. When that happens, you will just end up going back to bed.

    1. Find activities that you love and look forward to. e.g. morning reads.
    2. Pick a wellness habit, then link it to an a.m. ritual.
      1. This tip is pretty broad, and that’s on purpose.
      2. So maybe every morning you get up, go to the bathroom, then make your bed. Link a moment in that routine (say, the bed making) to the habit you want to cultivate (maybe it’s reading 10 pages in a book). By tacking it on to something you already do, you’re much more likely to actually stick with it. And consistency really is the key.
      3. The key is simply to start with one - whatever it is - then attach it to a routine that you already have.
      4. There really are so many different wellness habits that can help you.
      5. Some sample wellness habits:
        1. Take some time to cultivate awareness through meditation.
          1. One simple strategy: Close your eyes and focus on the act of taking 10 breaths.
        2. Or incorporate exercise into your daily routine.
        3. Awe.
          1. Stare at scenery that you find beautiful and awe inspiring - usually clouds.
          2. Spend a few seconds every morning simply focusing on whatever nature you see outside your window, whether it’s the grass in your yard or the sky over the city.
          3. There’s some research that suggests that awe has a number of benefits.
          4. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-athletes-way/202009/the-surprising-power-seeking-daily-dose-awe
        4. Optimism Game.
          1. Research out of McGill University suggests that some games can temporary boost optimism.
          2. You can use apps like Upbeat Mind.
      6. Start slow and build gradually. Just start with one new habit you want to link to your existing routine, then go from there.
    3. Incorporate gratitude.
      1. There are many different ways to work gratitude into your morning routines. It should be simple.
      2. Many religions do a morning prayer.
      3. Take that pause to appreciate that you’re alive, whatever that means to you. Say to yourself: “I’m so glad I’m alive, and I get to play with my kids”. Or that you get to go to work. Or you get to walk your dog. Or even that you get to hit the snooze button again — yes, even if experts generally say it’s not a great idea.
      4. Just find some way to express some gratitude in the morning, because it truly can be enough to put you in a better frame of mind all day.
      5. You can use gratitude apps to auto launches when you wake up.

  3. Get Light in the Morning

    1. Get outdoor sunlight in your eyes (not directly) within 30-60 mins of waking.
    2. Are you getting much natural sunlight during the day?
    3. Following light patterns and avoiding too much artificial light can help reset your circadian rhythm.
    4. try to get at least 30 minutes of natural sunlight.
    5. Natural sunlight in the morning has been shown to optimize sleep - and for me it noticeably makes it so sleep onset latency is significantly reduced.

  4. Forest bathing.

    1. You can combine cardio and light with ideally getting into a natural environment, which seems to also boost mood.
    2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6589172/

  5. Its a time to level your head, relax and do what you want before your time becomes consumed by others (due to work).

    1. Talk to yourself…
      1. People tend to spend a lot of time talking to themselves in their own heads, particularly in the morning. Notice self-talk and self-correcting and use a simple technique: say your name.
      2. If you use your own name in your self-talk, you’re more likely to follow cognitive advice.
      3. For example, if you have a big presentation at work and you notice that you’re spending the morning psyching yourself out, telling yourself that you’re going to flop, you really can make yourself pretty nervous.
      4. “But if I say: ‘Murray. You’ve done this before. You like doing this,’” you really can take some control over your own thoughts, which can set you up for greater chances of performing well.
      5. Just using your own name can be very helpful.

  6. Workout

    1. Exercise (something to get your body warmed up) after waking up
    2. Working our early in the morning will set the tone for the day and give you a huge sense of accomplishment to jumpstart the day.
    3. Do your rituals. If new, do 10 pushups. If not 10, do what you can.
    4. In-bed exercises.
      1. In the early 1900s an old school self help guy named Sanford Bennett. advocated doing exercises in bed to reverse aging. I do a few of these as a bridging behavior to get myself more awake. Also, there is a more recent study that suggests you can technically spot train fat reduction by activating muscles. If you activate blood flow to parts of the body, then do cardio, the fat seems to come more from that part of the body. So I do a few in bed exercises to activate my problem area.
      2. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16985258/
    5. Cardio.
      1. I combine the previous point with cardio, which is a mood booster.

  7. Allocate time for puttering around

  8. Make your bed.

  9. Cold shower 1-3 mins after waking up.

  10. Water and Coffee

    1. As soon as you open your eyes in the morning, drink a full glass of water.
    2. And then take a shower.
    3. It’ll wake you up for sure and put you in a good mood before even coffee and the water will make you body starts the day.
    4. Drink a cup of coffee.
    5. You can offsetting starting coffee until after the morning cortisol spike passes - so, don’t have to drink coffee at least until 90 minutes after waking up.

  11. Have a good wake up alarm, iPhones aren’t good for that, it’s too soft and sweet, you need something to bother you.

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  1. Shower, shave, brush and floss.
  2. Plan my day.
  3. Sitting desk. A sitting desk seems to be even better than a standing one in some ways as it causes you to fidget between multiple resting postures while also allowing gravity to help stretch problem areas like external hip rotation. https://www.marksdailyapple.com/ancestral-resting-positions/

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References

  1. https://casper.com/blog/how-to-wake-up-early/

TODO

https://brainflow.co/2022/11/04/andrew-hubermans-optimal-morning-routine/

Reading material

Look at the article

  1. The German Act Of “Lüften” Will Work Wonders On Your Morning Routine

The cult of 5am: is rising at dawn the secret of health and happiness

Does it actually make you more productive and focused?

The extreme early start as a cultural phenomenon first exploded on social media, inspired by Robin Sharma’s book The 5am Club and other hashtag-friendly titles such as The Miracle Morning and Power Hour. Leadership guru Sharma’s catchphrase “Own your morning, elevate your life” has inspired legions of smug people – sorry, highly disciplined individuals – to share their impressive #5amClub routines (17.5m TikTok posts).

You need to know why you want to sign up for the 5am club in the first place. There’s nothing intrinsically important about getting up at 5am. It’s just the ghastly smugness of the early start. Benjamin Franklin was the one who started it all when he said, ‘Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise’ and it’s been going on ever since. It goes back to the Protestant work ethic – work is good and if you can’t or won’t work, that is, by definition, bad. Not sleeping is seen as worthy and productive.

There is plenty of research indicating that getting up early can make you happier, and even eat more healthily. However, there is a major pitfall. In order to get enough sleep, many people would need to go to bed at 9pm. Unfortunately, most of us aren’t able to do that becauseTo say he is scathing about the fetishisation of the early start would be an understatement. we have all this stuff we need to do, whether that be helping kids with homework or putting a load of washing on. So, the danger is, we don’t actually get to bed when we should, and another factor is that other people are likely to still be making a noise around you, so how are you going to get to sleep?

Also, the most enthusiastic exponents of these regimes are people who can afford to outsource life admin. These productivity gurus and entrepreneurs have money to pay people to do everything. Imposing this schedule on other people is punitive and it’s also boastful: ‘Oh, aren’t I a great person; why don’t you become more like me?’ Truth is, most of us can’t afford to.

We each have a chronotype that determines our body clock. Everyone knows there are people who are morning larks and others who are night owls. But actually, most people fall somewhere in between. So, there will be people who can go to bed at 10pm and wake naturally at 5am, and it’s a routine that fits with their chronotype. But many of us are not like that. And let’s not forget, there are lots of people who have a 5am wake-up imposed on them by their work shifts.

It’s not when you get up that matters – it’s how you choose to use the precious minutes you have that really counts.

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  1. Tips to become a morning person

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