Why Your Morning Routine Isn't Fixing Your Life
and how one major pivot will set everything straight.
This week, a reader asked me for my wellness tips. As a career yoga teacher and medical anthropologist, I’m uniquely qualified to tell you how to practice wellness without dancing on the line of practicing medicine.
A few years ago, the chorus of ‘morning routine’ picked up again.
“Wake up early!” they said.
”Meditate and journal and write and fast and read,” they said.
I tried. I failed. I was tired. I could not meditate tired. That’s because they missed the crucial piece that makes mornings possible.
Sleep like it is your religion and you are in a cult.
If you are not sleeping adequately, it is your singular priority. It will support your body’s ability to be well. And here is the one-liner about how to do it:
Set a bed-time alarm instead of a wake-up alarm.
That’s it. That’s the big piece you’re missing. Set an alarm two hours before you intend to be asleep.
Here is how it goes:
1. When the alarm sounds, turn off your screens and turn down your lights.
2. Take a hot bath (or shower).
3. Put on cozy PJs.
4. Pick one: meditate, stretch a little, read a book written on paper. Listen to an audio book.
5. Go to bed when you feel sleepy.
This is probably sufficient to get you in a rhythm of adequate sleep. It might take a long time to wake spontaneously, and that’s ok. This will improve everything from memory to emotional regulation to athletic performance, even without reading five pages a day, or doing 100 pushups.
Sleep makes other things possible.
But it must come first.
Sleep like it’s your religion and you are in a cult.