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The way your day starts out ultimately sets the tone for how the rest of your day will go. That’s why it’s important to have a solid morning routine that starts your day out on the right foot every day. Though I’m not talking about your standard “wake up at 5:00am, go to the gym, drink a smoothie, perform a 12 step skin care routine, and clean your whole house before 8am” routine. I mean, if you do this everyday and love it, more power to you! But if you’re like me and can’t engage your brain into such structured activities at 5am, and need something little more flexible and custom-built then this blog post is for you.
I’m going to talk about different factors that can influence what the best morning routine is for you, and different options you have for tailoring a routine to how you personally operate. I will also talk about chronotypes and sleep hygiene. Both of which may be new terms to you, just like they were to me when I first began doing some research for this blog post.
Understanding the Importance of Sleep Hygiene
Sleep hygiene is the term used to describe your sleep quality/behavior, and the environment that you sleep in. Good sleep hygiene means that you’ve optimized all of these factors in a way that gives you the best, most restful night’s sleep every night.
Some signs of poor sleep hygiene include:
- Having a hard time falling asleep each night
- Frequent sleep disturbances, such as waking up multiple times each night
- Day time sleepiness due to poor sleep quality
You can improve your sleep hygiene by focusing on the different habits that make up your daily routine. Yes, that includes your morning routine.
By having a solid sleep schedule that you follow every day, that allows for a bed time routine that promotes relaxation and comfort, you will be making strides toward better sleep hygiene. By practicing bedtime habits that help you get to sleep, getting to sleep and having a quality nights sleep will become an automatic occurrence.
Getting a good night’s sleep will allow you to wake up feeling rested and ready to take on a new day. Once your sleep quality is improved, you will find that creating a morning routine that works for you will become easier. If you think about it, it’s all cyclical. Getting good sleep leads to a good morning routine. Having a productive morning routine leads to you being prepared to wind down and start our bed time routine on time each night.
So now that we’ve covered sleep hygiene, and how important it is to set yourself up for a good nights sleep for more productive mornings, now we will talk about chronotypes.
Identifying Your Chronotype
Are you the type of person who finds they are most productive between the evening hours and find yourself far more awake in the evening and night time hours versus the morning and early afternoon hours? Or maybe you’re a die hard morning person like myself, and will take drinking coffee at sun rise over going to bed at sun rise any day. Being a “morning person” or “night owl” refer to a persons “chronotype” or your body’s preferences for wakefulness and sleep.
Your chronotype is literally written in your genes, so it’s not completely up to habit formation or just what you’re used to due to a work schedule. Those are all definitely contributing factors, but I can certainly speak from experience that some people are just naturally night owls or early birds.
Understanding your chronotype, and learning how to adapt your daily routine to a time of day that you feel most functional is important.
At this point you’re probably saying “Uhm, I thought this blog post was about creating a morning routine??” I assure you, it still is about creating a morning routine.
Not everyone’s morning starts at the same time of the day, and that’s okay. That’s why we’re talking about designing a morning routine for optimal productivity, that is custom built for you.
Want to learn more about chronotypes and what else it can effect in your life other than your sleep schedule? Check out the book The Power of When, by Michael Breus, PhD.
Incorporating Physical Activity into Your Morning Routine
Running a mile or sweating it out at the gym for an hour, first thing after waking up may be appealing to some people. But not all. Running and lifting weights aren’t the only forms of physical activity that can get your blood pumping and endorphins flowing in the morning.
Adding physical activity into your morning routine comes with a wealth of benefits, aside from the obvious fact that exercise is good for us. Doing something that gets your body moving and blood pumping, at least little will cause your body to release certain neurotransmitters such as dopamine. This then will lead to benefits such as up lifted mood, mental clarify, and an over all sense of motivation or rejuvenation.
Physical activities that you can easily work into your morning routine include yoga poses, a round of stretching, taking a walk around your neighborhood (bonus if you have a dog to walk with you), or maybe you could pick up on some Tai chi movements and postures. You could check your community offerings for local classes that might even be free to attend, to get you started on a form of physical activity that you’ll enjoy doing every morning.
Prioritize Your To-Do List Items
Have you ever heard the phrase to “eat the frog“? It’s a phrase that refers to doing the tasks act you hate the most, first. To just get it done and out of the way. It’s based off an old saying, that says if every morning you eat a live frog, and it’s the first thing you do. At least you can then move on with your day knowing that the worst thing is over and done with.
We all have that one task that we desire to avoid at all costs, and will put it off for as long as humanly possible. For me, that task is putting away laundry. I love to wash clothes, but once the dryer says they’re done, I like to just pretend I didn’t just hear that buzzer go off. So there it is, laundry is my daily frog.
By making my absolute least liked task the first thing I do in the morning, I feel 1000x more productive right then after completing that task. Not to mention the amount of relief I feel, knowing that laundry won’t be sitting waiting for me at the end of the day when all I want to do is get into bed and wind down.
Want to learn more about “eating the frog” as well as 21 other great ways to beat procrastination and stay productive all day long? Check out the book Eat that Frog, by Brian Tracy.
Conclusion
Not everyone is a 6am type of morning person, and that’s okay. Your morning is what ever time you feel most productive and well rested. In order to reach a place of feeling well rested, you have to optimize your sleep hygiene by creating an environment that supports comfortable rest, as well as creating a sleep schedule and bedtime routine that promote sleepiness and relaxation. The time that you begin your bedtime routine will depend on your chronotype. Whether you are an early bird that starts to wind down for bed at 7pm, or you’re a night owl whose bedtime routine begins at 11pm.
Don’t forget to find a form of physical activity to weave into your morning routine, to get your dopamine levels up and mind clear for the day ahead. Lastly, you’ll want to figure out what your “frog” is and make sure to prioritize that task as the firs thing on your to do list each morning, in order to get your momentum going and motivation levels up for the rest of your list items that you’re determined to tackle.
Let’s not forget the morning cup of coffee. If you are a coffee drinker like myself, and it is the one thought that gets you out of bed each morning, then do not neglect to prioritize it into your morning routine as well. What kind of coffee are you drinking in the morning?
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