Solo Episode: How To Thrive In Life Using A Nighttime And Morning Routine - Part 2

Having a nighttime and morning routine sets you up to thrive in life. In this 2nd part solo episode, I talk about how having a morning routine after getting good quality sleep will help you be more productive and thrive in your day, with other benefits. 

Transcript

 Hello and welcome to another episode of The Root of Our Health podcast. I am your host, Elizabeth, a National Board certified health and wellness coach, a certified functional medicine health coach, and a currently working as an employee wellness coach each and every other week. At this point, I'll be talking about topics that has to do with alternative health and wellness for women. As we celebrate the second half of our lives, these episodes will range from solo to interviewing professionals in this space, as well as getting to know everyday people like you to so that we can implement simple bite size habit in our daily lives that will help us thrive. Now, in today's episode is part two of the How to Thrive in Life using a nighttime and morning routine. So, so last time, a couple weeks ago, we talked about the nighttime routine, how to set yourself up to have better sleep. Um, and today we are definitely going to be talking about that part two. Once we get that better sleep. We definitely need that morning routine to set us up to thrive for the day. First off, I want to kind of tell you I'm wearing red today. The release of this podcast is on February 13th. Sure it is Galentine's Day. Yellow Chinese, happy yellow Chinese to everybody, and Happy Valentine's to everybody as well. 1s So, uh, now just kicking it off, I really want to recap a little bit about the nighttime routine again, setting herself up. Having that cutoff time with all the neurotechnology, the TV, the computer, laptop phone, all of that social media. Cut that off at least 30 minutes to an hour before you go to bed and then do some sort of winding down. So I'm not talking about having a glass of wine, because having a glass of wine may help you go to sleep, but it definitely does not help you stay asleep. It basically raises your blood sugar level or blood level, the skin or the blood pressure, 1s and you are just tossing and turning all night. And yeah, definitely not helpful. But another healthier way to wind down and get to, you know, set up is to take magnesium. Definitely helps calm that nervous system. Speaking of calming nervous system, you can also do some sort of meditation, if that helps. At night, um, we'll talk about how that's also going to help in the morning. And, you know, reading things like that, taking a bath, you know, things that really calm you down. If you want to listen to color music, I sometimes listen to some nighttime jazz. Uh, yes. It's on YouTube, on the TV, but it also helps. Uh, so yeah, get get yourself into that nice and relaxed state so that when you are in bed and again, you could listen to some noise that will help you fall asleep. Some people like to listen to noise. Other people need it completely silent to go to sleep and stay asleep, and other people, you know, either with, uh, you know, keep it black or, you know, dark in their room. You either have blackout curtains, I use an eye mask, things like that, to help you stay asleep. So that's the nighttime. We're we're done with part one. Part two. Now. Amazing sleep. Right? We have a great quality. Probably 80% or above. So how why I'm saying that is, if you track your sleep, knowing your numbers is great. If you don't in terms of, you know, any tracking devices or anything like that on your phone, on your watch, anything, it's okay. You don't have to just know how you feel so you can track how you feel. And if you're feeling rested, if you feel like it could take the day on, then you know that you had good quality sleep. And why am I saying quality not quantity. Quantity is great. Quality and quantity together is a recipe for success. But you don't always want to rely on quantity. So you go to bed to 9:00. You get up at five, but you're tossing and turning and you're not getting your deep sleep. You're getting more sleep and in and out interrupted all of that. So then, yeah, your quality may be like 75, 60%. At eight hours of sleep, you're still feeling groggy, you know, um, and you know, you can't fake, you know, all of that stuff. So brain fog, all of that. 1s So quality over quantity and then quality and quantity again is a is a recipe for success. 1s You got great quality quantity of sleep. Waking up, you're in bed, your alarm goes off. Or if you're just kind of getting up as you feel rested, you are waking up and you're ready to take on the day. So before we get into what you can do in the morning. 1s Uh, you know, to to get you set up for a great morning routine. There are ways of the reasons why. Right. Why do we want to have a morning routine? While there are several. Several ways, and they are all scientifically backed. So I'm going to go ahead and talk to you about several ways that you that is the reason for having a morning routine. First of all, it prepares yourself for the rest of the day. 1s If you wake up and you're feeling, if you wake up, say, you know, put your alarm on at 630 and you have to be at work at 730 and it's a half hour away. You only have 30 minutes. 1s Well. Setting yourself up for an earlier wake up probably will help with that. But the other reason to have a morning routine when you do have a longer time is that you don't feel rushed. So when you have this morning routine again. 1s You're coming out of that. Like, I know I've seen brain fog, but that that sleepy state. Right? You're coming out. You don't want to be jolted awake. That's just then your cortisol level is just kind of go all wonky and and you get stressed very easily. So when you have a morning routine, which I'm going to go through in just a moment, it prepares yourself for the rest of the day. So. When you feel like you're rushed, um, or, you know, or lazy, you just don't feel like doing anything. Expect that sensation to remain with you for throughout the day. So a remote a morning routine can get you on track from the moment you wake up and puts you in the right frame of mind. 2s Second thing, and this is kind of like a no brainer, really increases your productivity. When you have a morning routine, you'll find that you're able to focus and are more likely to finish tasks. The third thing is that you feel more in control. Now. I do love a good control feeling, and that will set you up for feeling a little bit more control in your life. So everything is chaotic around you. Things are happening left and right when you have this morning. Routine and routine is definitely needed to feel in control, so when you have any commitments, it could feel like you are rushing through one task to another, to another, to the other. So when your day starts to control you rather than the other way around. So a morning routine, um, may just cover that small part of your day, but it definitely helps, um, you know, get you the step forward to help you gain control the next way that a morning routine house is to lower stress. 1s We're talking about stress here. So stress often occurs when you feel like you lack enough time to complete everything. 2s I can say I'm in this, can 1s I? From the morning or from the time I wake up. Now I do have a morning routine and it and it helps. But let me just say, from the time I go to the time I go to sleep, my calendar is jacked, filled and some of it. Now let me say, when I fill up my calendar, some of it is not work. It is my morning routine. But of course that morning routine is task getting done. It's things that you love to do, but you're doing because it is putting you at a better spot for the day. Why again when it's time management, right. So when you have so many things that go on in the day, it's like going one thing to the next to the next and next thing, you just feel like, oh my God, did I get everything lucky? You feel like you just had a, you know, a mental, I don't know, not breakdown, but just finish this, go 100 miles an hour and some of those things can get lost, right. The balls can drop. And so when you have one thing after another, you feel like it's taking control of you. And it's it's ramping up that stress. But when you have that morning routine. Um, you you always know exactly what you should be doing and what follows, for example. And I'll, I'll kind of put this again in, um, what to do in a morning routine. But for example, and this has also helped some of my clients as well. Working out in the morning is to me a little bit beneficial. 1s For the morning routine. It gets this day started in the right way, on the right track. And I'm not saying doing it after work is not beneficial as well. It definitely helps with the stress from the day and to just relieve, um, to get, you know, just out of work mode. But. 1s Again. You know, when I work out, I'm also not only focusing on my. 1s My weight and my reps and the sets and what I'm doing. But in between, I'm also kind of like, okay, well, I need to do this. So yes, I'm still ruminating. Maybe that word is not the best word, but I'm still thinking about what? Is lying ahead for me and this also helps. So remember movement helps your thoughts. So this also helps me kind of bite-sized these tasks, so to speak. These things I need to do and move them around like Tetris in, in my brain, meaning like, okay, well I have x, y, and Z to do, I need to maybe I can do it at this time and then set myself up, you know, prep this way, you know? So you're talking to yourself? Uh, not out loud, really. 1s Um, but, you know, in between sets, and I'm doing this so that I am setting myself up and and prepping for the day versus the day getting a hold of me. So when you have a routine, you always know exactly what you should be doing and what follows. When you avoid a stress, of course you improve both your emotional and your physical health, for example. 1s When obviously you remove stress from your life or minimize. I don't want to say remove. Never remove stress. When you minimize stress, it will decrease your risk of developing depression and anxiety along with illnesses like high blood pressure. I think given heart disease and diabetes. 1s So of course, this is probably one of the main reasons why I set up. A good morning routine because I don't want my day to get a hold of me or take control of me. I want to be able to take control of it and not get so stressed. 1s Another reason why having a morning routine is very important is it develops healthy habits. And yes, it may, you know, be very, very tempting to hit this news button or stay in bed with your phone. So your phone is your alarm, let's say. And you. Okay, I shut off my alarm, but my phone is in my hand. 1s Now what am I doing? I'm laying in bed and I'm checking my text messages. I'm checking social media and I'm scrolling. Uh, you can doom scroll as well. You know, there's a lot of negativity going on in this world. You're gonna be laying in bed and the outside world. Is in your bed with you as soon as you wake up. So when you have a morning routine and again, this starts from using a an alarm clock, a regular alarm clock. And. Not hitting snooze unless lying in bed for five minutes or so, kind of getting yourself awake, right? So that grogginess of a wakefulness, you're not jumping out of bed. You have this time because you set yourself up for enough time before you have to get ready. 1s You leave about, you know, a minute to five minutes laying in bed. 1s And you think about. 1s Well. What? Not every task that you need to do, because that's not the time to think about it. But a good thing to think about is how you want to show up. For the day. Who you want to be. How do you feel? What's going on? So it's not the task or the. You know, the. What's going to happen is how you are going to feel and show up. That is a recipe. That is what it should be. 1s And thinking about. 1s When you wake up. So when you have a routine, it is much easier to avoid these bad habits and stay on and develop healthy ones. Such healthy habits will carry over into the rest of your life. You may well find that you start eating better. And this is. Let's talk about this. This is the reason why I am actually focusing on a nighttime and a morning routine. When we all speak about how to live a healthy life, or thrive in life or energy, or just getting rid of. 2s Certain. 2s Conditions and issues and, you know, things that we need to get either lower or increase. It all starts with a routine. So just think about this because you are already starting with a routine, a morning routine, setting yourself up. You will start. In other ways like eating better, exercising more often, wasting less time on your phone in general. So it is. And then that is what's going to carry on into a full on, healthy, um, and thriving life. Another way. 1s In your, uh, having a morning routine it could help you thrive in life is to boost your energy levels. So we talk about, you know, that 1 minute to 5 minutes and then kind of getting out of that groggy ness, then you start to get into that morning routine, your brain and your body knows what's going to happen. So what ends up happening again, coming off of a great night's sleep going into that morning routine, it will boost your energy level. And so then a great thing about a morning routine is that it could increase your energy, especially when you give yourself no time to be lazy, no time to lay in bed, no time to hit the snooze, no time to rush around. You know all of these things and you can dedicate all your time to your scheduled activities, things that you want to do, things that are accomplishing, things that light up, that make your day fun, that make you who you are. 2s Another way that having a morning routine will help is to improve relationships. Yes. 2s Just think of it this way when we talk about stress in the mornings and yet you go and rush around, you're groggy, you're exhausted, you're tired already. You just woke up and you're tired. 1s When you are, when you have a partner or even a family or in general, you know, um, friends, if you are meeting up with them, it will improve your relationship with them. 1s A morning routine also means that you're more accessible to your family, which is a critical thing to improving your relationships. So yes, your kids need to go to school. You got to get them out the door. Well, when you have your own morning routine and that doesn't include getting your kids out the door. 1s You're able to get them out the door without envy with that, right. So you do your thing and then it's like, okay, mom or dad did their thing. Now we can get the kids out the door and you are present with your kids. So when you are better organized, you have more spare time to spend with your families. 1s So developing a morning routine is most important for improving relationships with the people you live with. Uh, another thing that it says is when your family or roommates know your schedule for the morning, right? They could work around you. So you're not again. This is your time. This is me time, right? This is your time. 1s When your family or people that you live with know this your time. They will schedule their all time so that again, you're not inundated with the outside world. You're able to process things. You're able to get your 1s again life together. Doing things that lead you up, doing things that gets you motivated and moving and energized so that you can fill other people's cup and energize that. 1s Uh, the other thing that it says here, and it's funny, there will be no disputes about who gets to use the bathroom, and no problems with two or more people trying to share the kitchen at the same time. So this is another thing. If you have one bathroom and you know you live in small areas, you know, of course, you know, having. 2s All these people. It's one small area. You have a routine. I get in here to do my makeup and get ready for work at this time. Okay? That's your time. So morning routine helps others to know not to do the same at that time. 2s Now, another reason that having a morning routine will help you thrive is that it combats forgetfulness and it improves your confidence. So combating forgetfulness when you have a routine, yes, your mind goes into autopilot. 1s But you sharpen what you need to do. So when you take on a new task, what happens? You forget about it. It's it's it's foreign. So you have to do it over and over and over and over again to be, you know, repetitious with it so that it becomes second nature. 1s And that helps your brain to sharpen. And you're not able to forget things. You're not able to forget to turn on the coffee because that's part of your morning routine. You're not able to forget to make your kids lunch because that's your part of your morning routine. Things like that. When it becomes a routine, it becomes that you are able to remember it easier. It also improves your confidence because when you are able to do things without forgetting, you are able to take on the day easier with confidence. It's not utilizing a lot of your brain capacity. Because you're doing things. And yes, when you first start this and we'll talk about this in just a minute, when you first start this one thing at a time. It's not like you should overhaul your morning and do five new things at once. Start with one thing you learn that, start with another thing you add on, and then, you know, you become then this person. Who will do this? Religiously. Who will do this? Even when you travel? Who will do this even when you're on vacation? 1s Goodness, right? And it's not to say it's it's very rigid. You don't want to be rigid. Of course you want to be a little bit flexible. Which again, I'll get to in just a second. But it's also saying that your brain and your body knows what's coming. So when that happened. And you really. 2s You understand? You get into it. 2s You have that confidence of I. I have achieved this, I can do this. So when your call and collected, you naturally feel more confidence. Plus again, better time management will mean you accomplish more, which can also improve your self-esteem. Now. I talked about flexibility. That is another reason why having a morning routine helps you learn to be flexible. Your morning routine is just the beginning of your schedule. It's normal. Of course, things won't always go exactly as planned or as you hoped. 1s You'll need to adapt, so stick it to your morning routine as often as possible is great, but you also need to learn to be flexible. If something unexpected happens. Your dog is sick. Your kid is sick. You know something happened to where it throws your morning routine off. That's fine. Learn to be flexible. It's not like you let yourself down because you didn't do one thing. Learn to be flexible. Maybe take that one thing and put it in the middle of your day. And I'm talking maybe meditation, things like that. Learning to adapt your morning routine around such events will train you to be flexible into other aspects of your life. So these things are. 2s Many reasons why having a morning routine is so so so helpful. There are definitely more, but for now, let's go ahead and talk about five things that you can do in the morning to set yourself up for an amazing day. Now, a lot of these things I already do, but I've also coached my clients in some of these things and has helped them tremendously. So number one is meditate. 1s Of course I said you can do that at night. If it helps, you kind of wind down. You'll do some nighttime sleeping and meditation, but you can also do some awaken in the morning meditation, things that set yourself up for the day. What are you feeling in that morning? What's going on coming up in that day? If you have a presentation, you can meditate and visualize yourself having a perfect presentation. If you are feeling stuck in certain areas of your life, whether it be financial relationships, um, you know, certain things in that, you know, you feel stuck. 1s You can meditate towards that. And what that meditation and maybe also gratitude. Right. So that meditation and gratitude will also kind of kick up that energy and get you centered and focused for that day. Another thing that you can do in the morning is read. So again, if this isn't something that you are doing in the evening, if you like doing it both evening and morning, that's great. What I will say, um, is. 1s For your evening. Try not to do things that make you think. Are that a given right? 1s When you've read read things that are entertaining, you know, entertainment purposes, things that are maybe fantasy, maybe kind of whimsical, maybe things that, um. 2s Will not have your brain to either think about numbers or think about ways you can do things you know, like self-help books. Those are great in the morning. And those are great to kind of set yourself like, okay, I can do this today. That's one thing maybe I can do today. Those books are great. So read if you are not doing that as your nighttime routine or you can do both. Number three is to work out, exercise or move. 2s I. I think all three are great movement. Of course, if it is nice out and this will kind of go in with the, um, sun in the morning as well. Getting outside. Definitely not in the Midwest in the winter. I'll tell you that. Uh, but if you can walk outside. Even better when the sun is coming up. And get that movement in. But I will also say exercise in working out is a great, great, great morning routine to get yourself set up for that day. It releases that dopamine, that oxytocin and that that serotonin feel good hormones, right. These things that you crave. And that's why they become such obsession and such passions for people like me. 1s It's just it gets you going, it gets you energized. And again, if you need to do this at night due to your daytime schedule or your morning schedule, that's fine. Or that you feel that you're, uh, you can't get a good workout in the morning. That's fine as well, but at least move, do some stretching, yoga, walking, something like that. Get your blood going to your brain and that will definitely help. Um, as a morning routine. 1s Another thing that you can do that people kind of shudder. So this is the fourth way. Ooh. Cold shower. Yes, yes. I, uh, you know, obviously I fangirl over, uh, you know, Andrew Huberman and and kind of 1s listen to his, um. Talking and talks about and podcasts about morning routines and cold therapy. And it's not just him. I've just been listening excessively about the benefits of cold therapy, and what a great way that you can do it in the morning, because obviously, I don't think all of us have a cold plunge sitting in our bathroom. So the next best thing is a cold shower. 1s I have been doing this and this is amazing and it's actually helps me to before I work out. So when I get ready to go to the gym. 1s It's just funny. And I can't believe I'm letting you all know this, but I put on motivation, a workout, motivation, and maybe only get up in the show notes so you all have it as well. And it is, uh, you know how I love, uh, you know, Jocko Willink and, uh, David Goggins. 1s They have this compilation or there is a compilation of not them, but it is them. 1s Motivating you to work out. I listened to this. And it's not just to work out, it's just to 1s stay hard. 1s It's just a motivation to get you going in the morning. I listen to this as I take a cold shower. Yes, it helps. And so when I started taking a cold shower, I couldn't even do two minutes. Now my three minute buzzer goes off and I'm like, oh. I. I've been here for three minutes already. 1s You get used to it. So now I mean something I can't do any longer, but I think. Yes. And probably gonna get a cold plunge. I'm saying that, but we'll see. It is definitely very, very, very beneficial. And how is it beneficial? Well it bolsters immunity. It combats symptoms of depression, improves circulation, increases metabolism and helps weight loss. It also reduces inflammation and prevents muscle soreness. It does all of that. It does all of that. So for three minutes and believe me start obviously start slow. Start one minute. 1s Doing. If you need to start it with hot water and then go to cold and just being there one minute, kind of, you don't even need to get your whole head. It's up to your neck. Um, and of course, you need to kind of, you know, turn around and all of that. So your whole body is. But do that. Start that at least one minute and you will see the change in the differences, I guarantee it. And then three minutes like me is nothing right now. The fifth and final morning routine that you can add in is satellite. 2s I say this. Living in Indiana, near Indiana. Indianapolis. Um, I say this. For those who. Understand that winters are hard to get sun in the mornings, especially when you are doing this at 5 a.m., 6 a.m., even sometimes at 7 a.m.. 2s And I will also say this I have experienced the Seasonal Affective Disorder this past January. Now actually the beginning of this month. So a couple weeks ago I. 2s I felt it. I felt off. I felt fatigue. I felt. I just I just felt really, really, really bad, almost depressed, cried. And yes, some of it had to do. It was my mom's birthday, uh, this past Thursday and what would have been her 81st. And so yes, that kind of also was in my mind as well. But I'm not going to say, I mean, last Thursday I was better, I was fine, I was I don't know, maybe I released it, but. 1s It definitely, like, took a hold of me. So what did I do? I ordered a sunlamp and I used it. And of course you have to obviously be careful with the sun lamps as well because, um, you know, they are usually and our UV rays and, um, you don't want it too much on you, but it does help. It helped tremendously. And of course, you know, then it became sunny after that too. But, you know, it's great to have for those dark days, the endless. And it was literally ten days or so without any sun. And I believe I heard somebody told me that this was the longest and in practically several, maybe ten years or several years or so. 1s It helps. So having so if you can't get out in the sun right. If you can't walk in the sun, get a sun lamp. Having that sore in the morning and having it as a routine every morning, maybe, you know, 30 minutes. Definitely definitely helps. And try not to wear sunglasses when you are out in the sun for a long period, or have when you are out in the sun for a long period of time. But when you're out there and you're, you know, first off, make sure that your eyes don't look at the sun totally, but make sure your eyes are adjusting to the sunlight so you're not shielding them right away because your eyes, your retina, all of that is that's your gateway into your the vitamin D into your bloodstream and your skin, of course, as well. So those are the five ways you could start your morning routine. And again, do not have to do all five at once. So pick one that you can start off with if you're already doing something one of these five. Or maybe you're old, I don't know. Uh, if you are ready doing something on your own that is a morning routine. Maybe add one of these things and see how that feels. Um, but I would love to hear from you all and know what your own morning routine is, or how you are setting yourself up for a morning routine to help you thrive in life again. I hope this has been very, very helpful. When you have a nighttime routine and a morning routine, it definitely sets yourself up for a positive, productive, and amazing day. So please do share this episode around. Also, hit that subscribe button or follow wherever you are seeing or hearing this podcast and I do wish you well and again, you are worth it.