The early morning hours my favorite time of day. It’s usually when I’m most clear minded, inspired, and eager to get to work. I believe that much of that is because I’ve fine-tuned what my perfect morning routine looks like and have been consistent with it over the years. It’s never exactly on point because life is life and things change (travel, events, etc.), but I do my best to be regimented on this morning routine.
I picked up a couple of these from different sources, but some of them have been things I’ve experimented with over the years and have noticed the positive effects.
In addition to this perfect morning routine, check out the perfect day for mind and body performance, the perfect wind down routine before bed, and our top 10 ways to get better sleep at night.
Need a training program to follow? Check out any of of 35+ free workout plans to chose from. And if it’s your diet that needs work, check out this piece on everything we order from Whole Foods every week.
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1. Immediately get sunlight when you wake up.
This I first heard from Dr. Huberman. He says getting sunlight triggers the release of a healthy level of cortisol that promotes alertness. It also triggers to the onset of melatonin for when it’s time to sleep. Also, according to him, viewing light through a window doesn’t count. The windows filters out the wavelengths of blue light that needs to get in your eyes. Gotta go outside! 365 days a year.
2. Delay drinking caffeine in the AM by 1 hour.
You need to allow your bodies own cortisol hormone wake you up first which can take about an hour. This is another great one I picked up from Dr. Andrew Huberman of the Huberman Podcast.
3. Take a quick cold shower.
There’s a lot of research behind the benefits of cold exposure. The shock wakes you up for starters, but some research shows it may boost the immune system. I’ll start slow with a warm shower, go cold, then go hot again to get my body warm again before I go workout.
4. Fast for 12 hour (mostly at night).
So that means from approximately from 7PM to 9AM I won’t eat anything. I feel this has helped me stay lean, keep my blood glucose in check, keep my digestive system feeling good. This is something I’ve been experimenting on for many, many years.
5. Work out first thing in the morning.
Initially this was hard but my body acclimated. I don’t need to eat before a workout, unless it’s a super long run or competitive event. And even then, the meal is tiny.
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