There’s been a lot of talk about morning routines and how to be more productive. We need to be careful not to see our morning, which should be a natural process of waking up, as entering the workplace where everything needs optimising. Instead, we can make a few small changes to improve our mental wellbeing and physical health.
Waking up isn’t quite as simple as it sounds. If you enjoy hitting the snooze button, just know that that is a sure-fire way to fragment your sleep and prolong grogginess. You’re teaching your body bad habits, and there’s nothing natural about dipping in and out of sleep every morning. Instead, set your alarm at your actual wake-up time and give yourself no excuses for prolonging it (open the curtains immediately). You will soon teach your inner body clock, and you’ll likely be waking up before your alarm naturally after a week or two.
You may well want some caffeine as soon as you wake – we will get to that. First, it’s a great idea to expose yourself to some cold, which will release norepinephrine, a neurotransmitter that helps boost alertness and focus. Cold exposure also increases circulation, but most of all, it’s a psychological trick to get your raring to go in the morning.
There’s a trend of buying expensive ice baths and putting your body through a lot of distress as soon as you wake. We’re not confident you need to go to this extreme, as a full ice bath spikes your cortisol. A much cheaper and likely healthier option is to simply upgrade to a powerful shower pump, which can provide a strong pressure of cold (but not literally freezing) water. Not only can this provide the same set of benefits, but you can switch back to warm water as you please.
Before reaching for coffee, try to drink a glass of water. Nothing revolutionary here, but your body is dehydrated after hours without fluids overnight. Water will kickstart your metabolism and flush metabolic waste. But most of all, a good coffee is typically less fluid than a big glass of water, so a coffee as your first drink can often get in the way of fully hydrating.
Finally, you want to incorporate some movement into your routine, especially those who are about to stare in front of a screen for 9 hours. The great thing about aerobic exercise is that you can get straight into it, and even 5 minutes of a raised heartbeat can provide benefits and accumulate to 35 minutes of exercise per week. You don’t need to commit to a full workout, simply perform a set of jumping jacks, a set of push-ups, and a set of bodyweight squats. A little goes a long way, nor is it healthy to try and achieve your barbell deadlift personal best each morning – it puts a lot of stress on the body!
Morning routines don’t need to be unique or radical. In fact, they shouldn’t feel unnatural at all. By simply never snoozing, rehydrating, having a cold (but not frozen) shower, and performing some basic movement exercises, you’re perfectly set up for the day, and all it took was 20 minutes or so (around the same time you’ve just gained from no longer snoozing)