Sleep quality can be greatly affected by your daily habits. It’s not just about good sleep hygiene. I’m going to give you one of the most overlooked sleep hacks of all time – an optimal morning routine. It takes about 30 minutes, but you can easily multitask with this routine.

Your New Morning Routine

Step 1: Wake up no earlier than sunrise and no later than 2 hours after sunrise

Early morning sunlight plays a tremendous role in signaling your body that it’s time to start making serotonin. The more serotonin your body makes, the more melatonin it can make at night. Our goal is to supercharge serotonin production. 

The sunlight during these hours contains blue light which is pretty much guaranteed to energize your body. I know what you’re thinking, “Hey! My smartphone emits blue light too. I can stay in bed and just look at my phone.” That would be something, you lazy so-and-so, but your phone doesn’t come close to the amount of blue light the early sun rays can give you. 

You need to get out of bed and move because this is going to set yourself up for sleep success tonight.

Now would be a good time to let in lots of natural light if possible.

Step 2: Drink 2 glasses of water with a pinch of Himalayan or sea salt

You just slept all night, you’re dehydrated. You need 2 glasses of water (about 24 ounces) with a pinch or 2 of high quality salt in each glass to hydrate and replenish electrolytes. 

The water actually isn’t very salty. It won’t taste pleasant at first, but you can quickly get used to it after a few mornings. 

For those that aren’t bakers, a pinch of something is whatever your thumb and index finger can pinch together. Adding your middle finger to the mix would be called a chef’s pinch. See if you can work your way up to 2 chef’s pinches. 

Don’t be tempted to make coffee or eat anything. That’s for a little later.

Step 3: Walk for a minimum of 20 minutes

The goal here is to get out in the sun and be slightly active in a fasted state. Even if it’s cloudy the sun’s rays still come through the clouds, albeit in a diffused manner. 

Here’s another hack if you’re trying to lose body fat: get your body in a low intensity steady state (LISS) while doing your fasted walk for at least 20 minutes. 

Why should your body be in a fasted state? While your body has no fuel to burn it’ll turn to body fat stores for energy. Pretty cool huh? And you didn’t need to really do anything to make it happen. 

Your goal should be to reach about 50 to 70 percent of your maximum target heart rate.

To calculate your target lower heart rate range: (220 – [your age]) x 0.5. Use 0.7 to find your upper range. So if you’re 40 years old your lower HR would be 90 bpm and your upper HR would be 126 bpm.

What if you don’t have a heart rate monitor? There’s an easy way to know if you’re in this “zone 2” cardio range: If you can carry on a conversation with some difficulty then you’re in the right intensity. It really is that easy. There’s no need to stress too much about it either, as long as you’re moving you’re doing better than most everyone else and you will still burn body fat.

Additionally, during your walk you can meditate. Some things that really help are mindfulness or mental preparations, such as:

• Setting daily intentions
• Gratitude
• Reflections

Step 4: Eat a high protein breakfast

Eating a breakfast with 25-40 grams of protein (depending on your needs) will do a few things:

• Kick start your metabolism
• Support muscle repair and growth
• Keep you satiated which will help keep you from being tempted by junk food
• Help keep you from suffering energy drops throughout the day
• Support serotonin production

Some examples of a healthy breakfast include:

• Overnight oats with yogurt, protein powder, and topped with fruits & nuts
• Spinach, feta, and egg omelette
• Protein smoothie – protein powder, banana, yogurt, frozen spinach, and chia seeds

10 Day Challenge

Embracing this morning routine not only primes you for a day filled with energy and productivity but also sets the stage for restorative sleep. By prioritizing natural light, hydration, physical activity, and a nutritious breakfast, you’re investing in your well-being from the moment you wake. 

I challenge you to intentionally do this morning routine 5 days a week for 2 weeks. That’s only 10 days of work and if you plan it out you’ll notice it doesn’t disrupt your current life in any way. Give it time, and you’ll likely notice not just improvements in sleep quality, but in your overall mood and health as well. 

Let us know how it worked for you and any other tips you came up with along the way. Did you find yourself falling asleep easier? Did you snack on junk food less? Did you lose weight? Did you experience higher levels of energy? Improved overall mood? Did you notice new things while walking around the neighborhood? Let us know!