Daily Discipline

  

1. Get morning sun!  FIRST THING! (even as little as 3 minutes if it's a busy morning).  Anchoring yourself to the sun in the morning regulates your circadian rhythm.  If it's too dark, then put all the lights on. I have a SAD lamp in the bathroom so it's on my fact first thing in the morning. 
2. Prayers, pranayama and meditation. I do all of this outside, rain or shine barefoot (when it's cold, I may break but try to get enough of my feet touching nature :). Pranayana are breathing exercises that - over time - help with sleep (and a million other things like body pains, mental health...etc). Here's a link to the exercises: http://www.atmabodh.net/2015/06/pranayama.html?m=1.  
3. Walk and Workout:  I flip flop through the year, depending on when the sunrises.  My workouts are 2 days cardio focuses, 3 days strength focused, 1 day both cardio and strength (burpees, push up jacks, more plyo, using own bodyweight).  I mostly do Beachbody workouts, (and rotate workouts so I don't do any given workout more than once a month, except swim laps which I can do in our pool in the summer). I get bored fast.  
4. Red Light Therapy:  I do this after working out for muscle repair, but there are many benefits on a cellular level, as well as helping your neuromodulators/serotonin.  I do this with the sigh breathing that Andrew Huberman talks about.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afAZ1hlvRjI (on one of his podcasts, he mentioned the research behind this and truly, on a physiological level, it gives the calming effects many meds try to replicate). All of this helps with sleep! 
5. Shower: Okay, so this is hard for me, but after every shower (with warm water), I end with about 30 seconds of cold.  There are many reasons to do a cold water bath, shower.  And depending on your goals, you can either breathe into the shower (for stress management) or lean into the cold and shiver (for fat loss). It also helps to get your circadian rhythm aligned in case you're traveling (jet lag). For me, I do it for stress management.  Helps with life and anytime I have a stressful night not being able to sleep.  
6. Set your Intention for the day.  Every morning, right after my shower, I look into the mirror (eye contact and everything) and have a little mantra I say out loud.  This includes how I will sleep well tonight.  It's cheesy, it feels stupid and I wish I could say I do it flawlessly, but there are times I have to inject sarcasm into my self motivating meeting with myself (but I stand by it - it works).  
7. Hello to the outside world:   I check my email/phone after all of this (the phone is parked in my office overnight). 
8. Limit coffee, no caffeine after 12 pm. 
9. Intermittent Fasting (my eating window is 12 pm - 8 pm, one hour later on weekends).  There are a plethora of studies that show the correlation between intermittent fasting and circadian rhythm.  
10. Outdoor time throughout the day, quick walks, especially after eating (at . Even if it’s raining I still try to get out for a walk. 
11. Exercise Snacks:  1 min cardio, 1 min strength daily.  Helps stay in shape, keep body moving and just doing things that micro-suck everyday helps your tenacity and willpower (courtesy: Huberman :). 
12. Carving out time to be mindful.  I try to do that for at least 8-10 minutes daily.  Either lying down in my bed as if it's the middle of the night, or doing 1 10 minute NSDR.  I have learned that this skill is crucial at night when you can't sleep because if you can go about ten minutes without a thought, you will be asleep.  
13. Journaling:  A few times a week, but this really helps you get out your feelings, have a place to park them and mostly, which I am now discovering, it helps you just know yourself, which is a very undervalued human trait, vital if we want to have optimal mental health.  And of course, all of this helps with sleep. 
14. Check-in with self:  When I walk my dog, on the walk there I do a quick self-check. See where I'm at, what's bothering me, what's not.  What I'm happy about, sort of like a therapy session with my higher self.  On the way back from the walk, I practice staying present.  
15. Yoga. I'm not as good about this as my strength and cardio, but I hope to do more. Because when I do get it into  my week, it really helps keep my mind calm (and the key is to synchronize your breathing with the movements to give your body oxygen). 
16. Evening walks towards sunset:  I say towards because I can't see it form my house, but I walk my dog towards it to get some evening light. 
17. Limit alcohol. A 4 oz glass of wine with dinner is fine, but try not to drink too much or too close to bed if you can (this was the hardest for me, I love my wine!). And I also limit alcohol to weekends and try to keep it organic. 
18. Limit liquids after 5 pm. So you don’t wake up to go to the bathroom all night.
19. Bye to the outside world/evening meditation:  Put phone away in my office, then do quick evening meditations/breathing.  
20. Daily Gratitude/Owning: With my husband and daughter, we do three things we are grateful for every night, and each of us owns something we did that we could have done differently, followed by something self-compassionate about that same behavior (my husband does one for our dog too :).  
21. Consistency. Try to sleep at the same time everyday, if you can.