Honor Your Morning Self
Align your practices with your natural design
This summer, I’ve been enjoying sitting outside in the morning, witnessing how the birds and squirrels begin their days. Shortly before sunrise, the community of birds in my yard explodes into a cacophony of sound and animation. They cleverly use this time when most predators are off duty to engage with their neighbor birds, announce their presence, assert possession of their territories, attract mates, and generally hold their own as alphas of the airspace.
By 7:30 or 8 am, the birds have begun to simmer down, but the squirrels are just picking up steam. They skitter from tree to tree and across my yard, gathering food and nesting materials. Later in the day, when the sun is blazing, the squirrels disappear for a while to rest in the shade. They reemerge and get to work again in the early evening when we are eating dinner out on the deck. Nobody has to formally teach them “productivity hacks,” or routines–they just intuitively harmonize their lifestyles with the rhythms of the sun and Earth. They don’t experience the misfortune of living in a society that obfuscates or circumvents their natural alignment with nature.
What about us?
It’s undeniable that modern human culture actively strives to disconnect our lifestyles from our biological moorings. Many jobs demand our presence indoors from morning to evening, often on screens, and sequestered away from the sun from which we are designed to receive powerful signals that guide our energetic output and regulate important hormones such as cortisol, melatonin, serotonin and vitamin D. Artificial lighting at night seduces us to extend our days beyond what is beneficial for us, causing us to neglect our need for a gradual wind-down into satisfying, restorative sleep. Many of us are too sedentary, feeling that we don’t have the time or energy or spend on movement for its own sake. Online and digital distractions relentlessly aim to consume every last “free” hour that we have left, robbing us of the space and time we need to truly care for ourselves.
I think most of us recognize the problems with our present society–we’ve been living it! We’re exhausted by it. We want to know if it’s possible to break free from this artificial and overbearing lifestyle being pushed on us from all sides and tap into something real. I think it is, and it may be more attainable than we realize.
Sometimes a little deliberate observation gives us all the guidance we need. When I started paying attention, I realized that the rhythms of Mother Nature and my body were both clearly guiding me on how to respect my needs as a human being. It started with recognizing and honoring the morning rhythms inherent to my life.
Sunlight
As I shared in this piece, sunlight is an essential pillar in the construction of our biological architecture. We were designed to live in sync with the sun, and can’t flourish if we don’t intentionally engage with her. She provides the anchor for our entire energy cycle. In the morning, we awaken just as our spinning globe ushers us back into her presence. That is our cue to go say “hello, again!”
For our ancestors, spending time in the sunlight when they first awoke wasn’t a question. They emerged from their dark, unlit shelters, and there she was. She was their only light source, and their constant companion as they went about their days.
Spending at least 10-20 minutes in unfiltered sunlight (no sunglasses) every morning is an authentic need, like eating or taking a shower. You won’t thrive if you don’t make time for it. You don’t have to just sit there if you don’t want to–you could take a walk, weed a flower bed or play with the dog. Doing that would help you meet your body’s need for both morning sunlight and movement within the same 20 minutes!
Movement
Along with observing morning sunlight, movement signals to our bodies that it’s time to be awake and active. I used to shame myself for not being the type of person who wakes up and rushes to the gym for a vigorous 6 am work-out session, but that’s honestly just not what my body is ready to accomplish right after waking up. It’s great if your energy ramps up that quickly, but it’s also fine to need to ease into your day a bit more. What kind of movement do you want to do in the morning? Listen to your body! I find that I just want to walk or stretch or do some light rebounding to get my blood flowing and reinforce my commitment to a “movement-friendly lifestyle.” If you do your morning movement outside in the morning sunlight, you’ve just activated a doubly-powerful lever to boost your energy and regulate your energy for the rest of your day!
Water
After sleeping all night, we wake up mildly dehydrated. We have been losing water through respiration and perspiration (or “glistening” if you prefer) for several hours without replenishing it. Morning is our time to rehydrate from the night and even front-load hydration for the rest of the day. (Front-loading hydration is helpful for making sure that we drink most of our daily water by late afternoon / early evening so as not to disrupt sleep later!) I’m working on finishing off at least one big cup of water before I lay into my hot tea and cream.
Nourishment
Morning is the best possible time to eat some nourishing food. Besides providing yet another signal to our bodies (along with sunlight and movement) that it’s time to increase our alertness and energy, eating in the morning takes advantage of our body’s peak window for insulin sensitivity and digestive function. It also fuels our mental clarity and mood for the incoming golden hours for deep work. Being sure to include protein helps with satiety and balanced blood sugar. After years (decades?) of skipping breakfast, I have recently begun to reintroduce this habit back into my morning, and I have noted how even a small and simple meal of–for example, cheese, nuts and fruit–along with my morning tea increases my alertness and energy.
Deep Work
After we’ve slept well and fully woken up with sunlight, movement, water and nourishment, our bodies are ready to get to work. From roughly 9 am to noon (give or take an hour) is the interval of time when we are most alert and optimized to focus deeply on our most strenuous cognitive tasks. This focus and energy will take a little nosedive in the afternoon after lunch, before rising again (into a slightly lower peak) in the later afternoon and early evening. For those of us who have any sort of control over the arrangement of our daily tasks, this is vital awareness to have as we think through how to designate our time. I am working on being intentional about protecting my golden focus hours for the deepest work I want to accomplish. It’s not always possible, but I have really noticed how much more mentally focused I feel in those morning hours, then say, 2 pm!
Just a few adjustments
With a little intentional creativity, we can choose to harmonize our lifestyles with the healthy rhythms that morning naturally sustains. It comes down to these few meaningful priorities:
Wake up at a consistent time everyday and spend twenty minutes in the morning sunlight.
Move in a way that feels good to you for twenty minutes. #1 and #2 can be the same twenty minutes!
Drink a big cup of water.
Eat something nourishing, including some protein.
Whenever possible, take advantage of your golden hours for your deepest work.
A few months ago, when I decided to start waking up consistently early (for me) every morning after living as a night owl for most of my life, I fully expected to meet some internal resistance. To my surprise, that never really happened! After I got past the initial adjustment period, I haven’t even been tempted to revert back to my old ways. I’ve found that doing these things feels easy because they are what my body was specifically designed to do. I legitimately want to do them, because I have experienced how much better they make me feel. If you are currently struggling to embrace your mornings, I hope you’ll give these practices a try! Whether you believe it or not right now, you and your morning were designed for each other.
