What are your healthy habits?
The older I get, the more I appreciate routine.
Don't get me wrong - I still live for new experiences, like traveling somewhere I've never been or eating something I've never tasted.
But in my day to day, I like having a series of healthy habits. They ground me. As I talked about in a previous post, consistency is key when it comes to health.
Recently, I've been thinking (ironically) about how to update my current routine by adding in new healthy habits.
Anyone who's tried this knows how hard it can be, especially at first.
For example, I've long thought about trying to make a habit of getting up early.
Numerous well-known people - from Apple CEO Tim Cook to Oprah - talk about this one. Getting up early means getting after the day before everyone else.
Imagine the productivity!
Photo by Carl Heyerdahl on Unsplash
The problem is, I really love sleep.
I've dabbled in being an early bird before. Last year, a month of travel around Asia left me extremely jetlagged for a period of about two weeks once I returned to North America.
I woke up at 5 am feeling wide awake, so I got up.
What I discovered was that it was wonderful, those quiet morning hours. Sitting in the stillness, reading and listening to podcasts. Getting a workout in before anyone else was even awake.
Then life got in the way. A late night resulted in a later morning, and then before I knew it I was back to regular 7:30-8 am wake ups.
This week, I tried it again.
I set my alarm every day for 6 am.
Some of you are unimpressed since 6 am or earlier has been your routine forever. It's early for me, okay? Moving on.
As with anything new, that first day's soft alarm going off at 6 was disorienting and VERY tempting to ignore entirely.
My body gave me all kinds of excuses.
It's not like I need to get up for anything in particular.
Sleep is important! See this previous post that you yourself wrote about it.
Bed warm. Sleep good.
With effort, I decided to be an adult and commit, so I dragged myself out of bed.
And I was glad I did. After those first few minutes of grogginess, I felt great. I reveled in that early morning peacefulness. The dog was confused at first, but he was happy to come with me on a walk around the quiet neighborhood well before regular traffic rushed through the streets.
I got through a long walk, a yoga session and a leisurely breakfast before work, and it was truly amazing. Even while the dog tucked himself back into bed, I felt like I had just found a bucket of free time I didn't realize I had.
The weekend was the real test. I knew that sleeping in too much on my off days would only make it more difficult to get back into the routine later. When it comes to sleep habits, every study you'll find concludes that it's best to stick to the same schedule as much as you can, even on weekends.
I failed.
On Saturday, I heard the alarm go off and I promptly dismissed it, rolled over and fell back asleep.
But I'm okay with it, because I decided that after a long day previously - in which we had ventured two hours outside the city, gone on a hot, sweaty hike and then come home only to rush out the door again for a dinner out in town - my body needed a little extra sleep.
Wake me up later. Image by Isabella and Louisa Fischer on Unsplash
The next day, it was right back to trying my new healthy habit. As I'm writing this post, it's 8:30 am and I've already taken my walk with the dog, did 45 minutes of yoga, read through a devotional and made myself protein waffles for breakfast.
I know there will be days when I just need a bit more sleep. Listening to your body and knowing when to push forward and when to pull back is part of being healthy.
But I'm going to try to stick with it. Getting in that little bit of cardio in the mornings is great for physical and mental health (for both me and my dog). Yoga and quiet time to do a devotional and fix a healthy breakfast are also great for every aspect of health.
I feel more prepared to take on the rest of the day.
What healthy habit do you swear by?
Articles to consider:
192 Health Habits: A Simple List of Healthy Living Activities