EP 7 | Flipping the Script: 5 Morning Habits That Actually Work (Backed by Neuroscience)

We don't need to spend 2 hours on our morning routines to start the day off right. Your morning routine should however consist of 5 things - which are backed by neuroscience) to help you optimize your morning. These include, delaying dopamine - meaning don't drink coffee within the first hour of waking up, getting some movement in, exposing yourself to sunlight - there are alternatives if you are unable to go outside, and more. 

This episode is inspired by one of my all time favorite podcasters - Dr. Andrew Huberman with the Huberman Lab Podcast: https://www.hubermanlab.com/podcast

Dr. Huberman is a neuroscientist and professor at Stanford and listening to an episode is like taking a class. It is packed with scientific evidence and data (duh) and he brings on so many guests to talk about all the topics. He has done research on creating the best morning routine and nighttime routine (which is next weeks episode)! Enjoy!

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Transcript

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what's up. Cuties. I'm so happy to have you here on the Cue the New You podcast. I'm your host Meritt, how has everyone's week been? Ours has been hectic, and I can finally say the day I am recording this, which is a Wednesday is the day our summer vacation officially starts. No more sports or school until September, and it's going to be such a nice break. And we plan to travel some during the summer, and definitely we're gonna hit up the beach in Valencia and along the coast because we can take so many day trips really easily, which are so nice for us because we have two cats and two dogs. So when we do the day trip, we don't have to board them or anything. If we're gone all day, then. We do have a friend who comes over to walk the dogs. And it's nice having that support. And guys, if you want to travel, just don't own any pets, we are gonna be gone for. A couple of weeks and we have to board them, which I love the boarding place that we take them to. And our dogs love it. It's actually really helped Soren a lot, just open up to other dogs and not be so reactive when he's on the leash. Not that he was like a bad or aggressive dog, but it, it has helped him going to this boarding place. Open up and relax more. So he is not as anxious, I guess you would describe him. I love my dogs so much and I wouldn't trade them for anything. So paying for boarding is totally fine for us a couple times a year. And like I love our cats too, but they're way easier to take care of since they don't go outside or need to be walked. Although I do see surprisingly enough, a lot of cats being walked in Valencia, which is kind of weird, but cute. I'm glad they're going outside. Speaking of walking, that is a great activity to do in the mornings. As part of your morning routine, which is what this podcast episode is gonna be all about, creating the ultimate morning routine that fits your lifestyle with some not so typical morning routine tips. Sometimes I see influencers or people on social media who have this insane morning routine and kudos to them. Like, whatever works for you. That's amazing. I know for me, I'm not spending 20 minutes taking tapes or masks or things off my face and neck every morning or waking up at 5:00 AM and let's be so for real right now. Most of us don't have time to do a lot of things in the mornings, and it's not realistic or sustainable for the majority of people. And again, if you do any of those things, that's amazing. I used to wake up at 4:45 AM to go to the gym and have my quiet time and get myself ready and put together and work my business before getting the kids ready for school and starting my nine to five jobs. So I have had the rigid discipline morning routine before. But today we're flipping the script and we are talking about creating the not so typical morning routine one that can actually work for you and your brain and your energy to help you achieve your goals. We're gonna explore how your neurochemistry, circadian rhythm, and even your belief systems play a role in how you start your day. We'll walk away with some tools to design your own personalized flow that helps you feel grounded and intentional Every morning. Morning routines aren't just about productivity. They serve as a psychological anchor for your future self. And I am always talking about visualization, and I believe that to be so true about your nighttime routine. And then in the morning when you wake up. Right off the bat, you think, what is your intention for that day? When done with intention, they reinforce identity agency and emotional balance, which are the real foundations of lasting change. One of my all time favorite podcasters and neuroscientist is Dr. Andrew Huberman with the Dr. Andrew Huberman lab podcast. He's a neuroscientist and a teacher at Stanford, and his podcast episodes are like taking a class of his, they are packed with scientific evidence, duh. Of whatever topic he's talking about. And I literally have notebooks worth of notes from his podcast because they're so informative. But just be aware because some of them are like two hours long, but it's worth a listen. If you have the time. And he brings on so many guest speakers too. I love his podcast. I've been listening to him, for, I wanna say over three years. So I've learned, I've learned so much from him. But he does a lot of podcasts talking about the morning routine, like getting light within the first 20 minutes of waking up or waiting to drink coffee for the dopamine hit to ensue later. And he speaks about our circadian biology and rhythm. So I've gathered up some information from his podcast and what he teaches, and we will break down the core principles for the optimal morning routine. If you know anything about Dr. Huberman, you know, he strongly suggests getting sunlight within 30 minutes of waking up. He touches on what to do if you wake up before the sun comes up, or for some reason you can't physically get outside. But why is getting sunlight exposure so important? He suggests that it triggers your circadian rhythm and sets your internal biological clock. But what exactly does this mean? Well, I was going to read some from his podcast website, but it has a lot of scientific words in it that I can't pronounce, so I will try my best to break this down. In a simplified form'cause I'm not a neuroscientist, but I'll definitely link his podcast channel in the show notes. So light exposure stimulates intrinsically photos, sensitive retinol ganglion cells in your eyes, these cells send signals to your. Supra asthmatic nucleus, which is a brain's master clock. This indirectly influences your cortisol pulses, which helps you feel alert and focused, or cortisol release and suppress melatonin, which melatonin makes you feel sleepy. That's why you take melatonin at night. This process helps initiate a 16 hour timer that helps you fall asleep at the right time that night. So it's kind of like you wake up when the sun comes up and you go to sleep when the sun goes down for your circadian rhythm, and it is recommended to get. Five to 10 minutes of sunlight within 30 minutes of waking up. If it's cloudy or your indoors aim for 15 to 30 minutes or use a 10,000 LUX light therapy lamp, which you can find one of those lamps on Amazon from 25 to 142 Euros. Depending on your life and lifestyle. Say if you have young kids, you work overnight or you just like to get an early start to your day, you can stand in front of the lamp for 15 minutes. Another big thing Dr. Huberman talks about is delaying your caffeine intake by 90 to 120 minutes. In order to avoid an energy crash and maximize dopamine benefits later. I've been doing the morning exposure and delaying caffeine for about three years now, and I typically don't drink coffee until about two hours after waking up most days. Now sometimes, like if we have tournaments or we're traveling, I'll drink it earlier, but majority of the time. I delay my caffeine intake, and actually I'm about to wean myself off of caffeine and start drinking tea in the morning, non-caffeinated tea, but I'll let you know how that goes. The reason behind the caffeine delay is because when you wake up a molecule called, adino scene, y'all. I don't know how to pronounce some of these words. I'm sorry. I'm trying. My best adino scene that builds up during the day and makes you sleepy is still high. So if you drink caffeine immediately, you suppress the adino scene to temporarily. However, when caffeine wears off, it rebounds harder leading to an energy crash. When you to lay caffeine, it allows natural cortisol to peak. And adenosine to clear more naturally with anything new you are trying or implementing, start slow. So if you can't wait 90 minutes before drinking coffee. Let's start with 30 minutes and increase to 60 minutes, et cetera. Another thing too that I've been doing for years now is drinking one mug full of water before coffee, which is the next suggestion. Hydration. It is suggested to hydrate immediately upon waking up. Because dehydration reduces blood flow to the brain, and even 1% loss can impair focus while you sleep. You lose water through breathing and sweat leading to mild dehydration. Your brain needs electrolytes and hydration to maintain cognitive function and blood pressure upon standing drinking water when you first wake up helps wake. Your body up by boosting blood flow and oxygen delivery, especially to the brain. And we all want our brains to function in the morning, right? If you've heard or seen influencers who have that cute vase and water cup on their nightstands, who suggests to drink a glass of water immediately upon waking, they are definitely onto something. A glass of water upon waking improves alertness and kickstarts. Your system. Huberman recommends water with electro electrolytes like sea salt and lemon for better cellular hydration. I started recently again implementing drinking hot water with lemon and sea salt before my morning coffee as well. Another great tip to implement into this non-traditional morning routine is to do some kind of physical movement. I remember visiting my brother and sister-in-law, and they both worked. This is when they lived in New York City and had two young boys at the time, and every morning my sister-in-law did a seven minute workout to start her day. And let me just say, she's not only beautiful and amazing, but she is uber successful and physical movement boost dopamine and norepinephrine, which increases alertness and motivation. And this does not have to be a five mile run. It can be a light seven minute workout like my sister-in-law did, or a 10 minute yoga video. And again, I'll say this over and over again, Yoga by Adrian on YouTube is, she's my all time favorite or a 15 minute walk outside to get that sun exposure in. So kill two birds with one stone with that. Morning movement also supports the glymphatic clearance, which acts as a sewer system that aids in detoxing your brain by clearing out debris that surrounds your neurons, which is very active during the slow way sleep cycle. So this is the recommended neurochemical cocktail to start your day off right. Light movement Plus hydration. Plus light. Dr. Huberman strongly suggests avoiding dopamine overload first thing. In the morning, such as checking your phone immediately or doom scrolling or eating sugar, waking up without this overload protects your dopamine system from early overstimulation, which can reduce motivation and focus later on, which can cause a steep dopamine crash. We all have a baseline of dopamine, which can vary from genetics. Epinephrine is a main driver of energy and it wakes up neural circuits of the brain. Dopamine and epinephrine are closely related and they like to hang out together. And when you have increased dopamine, which is the increase of pleasure you get from doing a task, you have an increase of release of epinephrine, which is more about energy. Huberman states, quote, epinephrine alone can be fear paralysis or trauma, not physical paralysis, but mental paralysis, frozen in fear or being traumatized or scared, but the addition of dopamine to that chemical cocktail. If dopamine is released in the brain, well, then that epinephrine becomes one of excitement. End quote. He goes on to talk about what increases and decreases dopamine because what you do or ingest causes the level to rise or fall transiently. He said to increase dopamine, eat chocolate, which I'm gonna stop him right there because I'm not a chocolate fan, especially dark chocolate. I don't know what it is. I just, I just do not like chocolate, but. If you like chocolate, go for it. The pursuit and the act of sex increases dopamine. A very short-lived dopamine increases comes from nicotine, especially in cigarettes. Smoking form is what he meant. That's why people become chain smokers they're trying to catch that dopamine hit. Along with cocaine and amphetamine. Now, he's not suggesting, nor am I suggesting, doing drugs, but that gives you an idea as to why people become addicted to them. Exercising is another way to increase your dopamine, and this was from his podcast. Called controlling your dopamine for motivation, focus, and satisfaction. So try to delay phone, use, social media, and email for the first 30 to 60 minutes. After waking up, I set my phone to not turn on except for the alarm until 7:00 AM since I typically wake up at 6:00 AM. And even at seven, I'm already doing other things and I don't usually check my phone until around eight. I used to listen to audio books first thing in the mornings or on my morning walks with my dogs, but I have stopped doing that just to allow my brain a break and some quiet time. An additional dopamine increase can come from doing a cold plunge. As it improves mood, metabolism and alertness, but it also boosts long-term dopamine and will stay elevated for hours afterwards. Now, Huberin also talks about dopamine, the increase of how long something stays around, um, or how elevated it is, but I'm not getting into that. Again, we're going over just the core examples. So the cold plunge doesn't have to be like an actual cold plunge. You don't have to go out and buy that thing for your house. It could be taking a cold shower or dunking your face into ice water for one to three minutes. And I hate cold water. But maybe I should give this a try. I don't think the face dunking would be that bad if you do it for a minute. I already rub an ice cube on my face if I feel like I woke up puffy or bloated. So I wonder if that has a similar effect if you rub the ice cube on your face. I don't know. I love being curious, so I may try doing the ice cube every morning to see if that helps. Okay, so we've gone over light exposure, delaying caffeine, hydrating morning movement, and dopamine increases to get the most out of your morning routines. And for all my visual learners, I'll add this chart to the new Instagram page called, you guessed it, Cue the You. But I'll break down a sample morning routine with the time and the habits. Time. Zero minutes. Wake up. Drink 12 to 20 ounces of water. Add lemon salt if you want. Five minutes after waking up, get outside for 10 minutes of sunlight or use a therapy lamp 15 minutes after waking up. Do light movement, yoga, walking, body, weight circuit, something. But I would also say if you're already outside, you may as well walk or do some yoga 30 to 60 minutes after waking up. Try and have just some quiet time. I like to unload the dishwasher and start laundry maybe. Sweet. Just do light housework and that will also help you or maybe read the newspaper or something, but doing try to do something light that's not on your phone. And then 90 to 120 minutes after waking up, drink your coffee or tea. Now that your dopamine system is primed. And then after this, after your caffeine intake, then begin your daily routines, or then begin your deep work or running errands. Basically just starting your day. And I guess anywhere in between that, so the 30 to 60 minutes, that's when you can do the cold plunge or, dunk your face into a little ice bath and then get yourself ready for the day and then drink your coffee so you can kind of play around with, with the chart. Again, that's just a sample. For morning routine. but try and add one or two of these to your current morning routine and see how you feel. Again, we don't want to jump straight into, into this and get overwhelmed and then stop because our brains are freaking out of this new routine. So slowly add one or two things and gradually increase as time goes on with a delayed coffee and dopamine overstimulation, and not checking your phone. Start with 10 minutes first after waking up, and then move up to an hour, and then gradually move on to 90 minutes and see how much, how many things you can get done. When you aren't checking your phone first thing in the morning and see how you feel. All right. I think this was a shorter one, but hopefully you enjoyed, learning more about what you can implement into your morning routine to feel better throughout the day and be more focused on your goals and start achieving what you want to achieve. and next week we are going to talk all about your nighttime routine, because if you have a solid nighttime routine, you will wake up, refresh, and ready to tackle your morning routine. All right, y'all, I'll talk to you later. Okay. Bye.