Morning Routine/Metabolic Shift

There has been a lot of talk about the morning routine.

Here’s the thing, before we look at productivity and “focus” hacks, we need to consider what’s happening physiologically.

According to Ray Peat, PhD and others, darkness itself is a stressor (sleep is somewhat protective, we slow our breathing rate) – when we wake, cortisol is elevated and we wake up with slightly lower body temperatures and pulses. The metabolism has slowed.

So, the first concern when we wake up is to break the “fast” effectively, try to get our metabolism up to speed and get energy production firing.

So, here are a few things I do to try to get my metabolism ramped up quickly.* This isn’t a full “morning routine,” but just includes a few things that I find affect metabolism.

1. Ideally wake up with the sun (when I work early, I rise well before the sun in Winter. This is not ideal, so the other practices are more important)
2. Avoid the phone. I’m looking to down-regulate first thing and start the day off centred, not up-regulate. I use an alarm clock in the bedroom, no phones in there.
3. Notice how I feel. Depending on the season, I sleep 8-9 hours and wake up alert and feel refreshed. If I don’t, I know I’ve messed something up the night before or in previous days. It’s not a big deal, just gives me feedback on what’s working.
4. Snack sometimes: small piece of fruit, possibly with some dairy (protein/fat), straight into.. 
5. Meditation (15-40mins), OR breath work if I don’t have much time (I start work at 6am some days). Breath work is direct,  I’m focusing on tempos, holds on exhale, or sometimes breath suspension (holds), depending. Increasing CO2 increases metabolism, body temperature and pulse. I can often get body temps up 0.7-0.9 degree through a breath work.
6. Cold shower or cold face rinse.
7. First bigger meal to “break” the fast. Fasting is popular, but to me now makes little (no) sense. My focus is to understand cortisol is higher at this time, and down-regulate it quickly I prefer a source of fructose (fruit) with protein and some fat (eggs or some dairy). Ratios matter.
8. Coffee. This isn’t for everyone, but caffeine up-regulates metabolism, increasing body temperature and pulse. I always brew it myself to avoid fluoride in the water from cafes.
9. Tidy up, plan day, phones/emails etc OK**

So, that’s really it. When the temps are up and blood sugar is stable, then energy is high, mood and outlook is typically good. 

Conversely, if mood or outlook is down. I’ll start by looking back at my food/what I’ve done and usually can tweak it quickly to regulate things.

The mind-body connection is real, focusing on physiology can help to generate mental clarity as well as overall energy and health.

 

*I have kept this mostly void of details for brevity. A focus on metabolic health through nutrition, lifestyle factors and breathing is also carried throughout the day. 

**A phone/email strategy throughout the week I feel is critical. As we need to manage inputs to manage physiological load.

I am creating a Metabolic Ramp Routine over the next little while.