Implement these daily activities to maximize focus, motivation, productivity, and overall wellbeing. Ensure your habits help you feel your best each and every day.
Developing habits takes time and effort, and with so much access to information, it is often difficult to know which ones are proven to provide the greatest benefit.
Here are the daily practices that we've found and tested to be the most beneficial for improving daily productivity and wellbeing that are backed by sufficient evidence.
Beginning each day with a challenge ensures we are in a stress-is-enhancing and growth mindset, and it gives us a sense of accomplishment early on. This builds resilience for the rest of the day and empowers us to overcome additional challenges that inevitably surface.
We start our day with a deep stretch accompanied by deep breathing followed by a morning workout.
Getting movement in, whether it's small and iterative or an entire workout, causes physiological adaptations that improve the energy production and maintenance mechanisms within our body. Morning workouts, as long as they are not overly strenuous, result in improved bloodflow to the brain and body and lead to an enhanced sense of alertness and focus for the remainder of the day.
Current guidelines suggest >180 minutes of cardiovascular training per week and resistance training 3-4x per week. This amount of activity is shown to improve musculoskeletal, cardiovascular, immune, and mental health and lower all-cause mortality.
If we are unable to squeeze in a full workout, we take periodic breaks to increase our heartrate and get our blood flowing. For optimal benefit, try an activity like sprinting or climbing stairs at maximal exertion for 20-60 seconds a few times per day. This provides many of the benefits of extended cardiovascular training in less time.
20 minutes of morning sunlight has strong regulatory effects on our circadian rhythm and wakefulness, increasing focus and alertness and improving mood throughout the day. 20 minutes of afternoon/evening sunlight promotes sleep and decreases our sensitivity to artificial light at night. 20 minutes of sun exposure directly to the skin has positive effects on mood and hormone health.
It is equally as important to control our artificially lit environments. Keeping lights bright during the day helps with alertness, but it is important to dim lights 2-3 hours prior to sleep to avoid suppression of adenosine and melatonin, which help transition to sleep. We avoid light anytime we'd prefer to be sleeping, especially between 10pm-4am.
Fiber first. Fiber is essential for gut and cardiovascular health. It aids in digestion and feeds the trillions of bacteria that reside in our gut and provide us with essential nutrients. Consuming it first slows absorption of carbohydrates and other nutrients, reducing spikes in blood sugar and insulin. It also increases sensations of satiety.
Fermented foods populate the gut microbiome with diverse species of bacteria, promoting digestion and immune function, and reducing inflammation. Ensure fermented foods have little or no added sugar for maximal benefit.
Breathing is one of the few ways we can exert control our autonomic nervous system and instantly bring our bodies into a state of alertness and/or relaxation. Deepening inhales and elongating exhales calms the mind and body by reducing heartrate and carbon dioxide and moderating hormones. This is one of the most potent tools for reducing short- and long-term stress and anxiety.
Simply attuning to one's breathing is a form of mindfulness and can have positive effects on psychological health.
Ensuring consistent sleep/wake timing is crucial for circadian health. While it is easy to delay our circadian rhythm, it is much more difficult to advance our clock. Even after a night of poor or little rest, sleep scientists advise waking up at the usual time the next morning and going to bed a touch earlier the following night.
We try to avoid sleeping in on weekends, as it is detrimental to our ability to wake up on time the following several days and increases morning grogginess.
Meal timing also has a significant impact on our circadian rhythm and alertness during the day. Finishing dinner 2-3 hours before bed gives our body sufficient time to digest and properly prepare for sleep. Restricting the times we eat to 8 hours per day allows our body to better switch between energy sources and provide sustained energy. Reducing our frequency of eating has beneficial effects on insulin and blood sugar, stabilizing our body's primary source of energy.
Delaying carbohydrate and sugar intake to later in the day can also prevent blood sugar spikes and crashes throughout the day.
Alcohol and cannabis: alcohol is a sedative and toxin that puts strain on the liver to metabolize. Cannabis disrupts cognitive function. Both fragments REM sleep and inhibit mental and emotional recovery. While occasional alcohol and cannabis use is okay, we avoid both on days and nights prior to when we would like optimal focus and mental clarity.
Caffeine shortly after waking or after 12pm: caffeine works by blocking adenosine receptors in the brain. Taken too early, its effects may wear off in the afternoon, causing a caffeine crash. Taken too late, its effects will sustain through the evening and inhibit sleep. While caffeine's average half-life is 5 hours, it is highly variable within individuals and can range from 1.5-9.5 hours. We avoid caffeine within 90 minutes of waking and after 12pm.
Refined sugar and carbohydrates: refined sugar and carbohydrates are metabolized by the body too quickly, leading to spikes and crashes in blood sugar, insulin, and overall energy levels. Crashes in blood sugar tend to lead to additional consumption to increase energy, which compound the effect of energy crashes and often lead to consumption spirals.
How have these practices improved your daily focus and energy? Let us know by leaving us a comment!