There are a number of habits you can implement that can help optimize your mental, physical and emotional health. Combining them can optimize them even further. But it all starts as soon as you wake up; here’s the simple habit that can improve your whole day:
Wake Up as Soon as Your Alarm Goes Off
I prefaced this post with the word “simple” in the title for a reason. This is as simple as you can get. And yet it can have a huge impact on the trajectory of your day.
Try to view a large part of daily success by doing what’s difficult. The more uncomfortable tasks you take on and complete, the more mentally prepped you are for whatever complexity in your life awaits you.
The first place you can start is getting out of your bed in the morning. It’s literally the earliest challenge you can take on, so it will set the pace right away. No one wants to escape that feeling of comfort, but once you do you can be reminded of your unwillingness to take the first easy route of the day and sleep in.
Impact on Mental Resilience
As mentioned above, forgoing the act of sleeping in is the first daily challenge you can complete.
As a result your mindset will be operating from a position of strength. You’ll want to attack the day as productively as possible.
You might also find that this habit will naturally boost confidence, almost without you realizing. As for men, this could be a result of higher testosterone levels. I wasn’t able to find studies on direct links between the two but some studies do cite general bad sleeping patterns with low testosterone so, assuming you’re getting the right duration and quality of sleep (alongside not hitting snooze), healthy sleeping patterns likely have the opposite effect.
Impact on Cognitive Functioning
Sleep inertia has been proven through studies to negatively impact your cognitive functioning (see here for more information on this from a previous post of mine). This includes memory and processing time among other things. See my post on sleep inertia here.
In fact, it can have serious consequences in the real world. One military analysis cited more than 400 Air Force accidents happening during the first hour of waking. This suggests a potential link to sleep inertia. See here for more information on the study.
It’s safe to assume that we all want to perform our best, mentally speaking, at work or in school every day. The one healthy habit that can improve focus, reaction time and accuracy in cognitive tasks is ignoring the snooze button and waking up when you hear your first alarm. This was discovered through my own personal experience, although I’m sure many others can agree.
Impact on Emotional Regulation
Poor sleep quality and duration often triggers your emotions to go out of whack, easily leading to irritation throughout the day. Andrew Huberman from the Huberman Lab Podcast pointed out that people who are suicidal generally have bad sleeping patterns, and sleep inertia can add to the problem.
For more information on this and other health topics, check out his podcast on Spotify. I’ve been using this service for a while now and have been impressed with the selection of podcasts and music as well as the sound quality. Visit here to get your first 30 days completely free.
What I’ve also found is that ignoring the snooze button is the one simple habit that can improve my emotional regulation – with the help of other habits as well. I have less feelings of sadness and am less likely to get angry at trivial or serious matters. More of an emphasis is put on rationally dealing with the moments throughout my day, which helps when I have the temptation to react to things emotionally.
I believe this added benefit stems from the improvement in cognitive functioning and impacts your mental resiliency.
What Else?
Everyone’s wake up time differs. Some have the luxury of getting to wake up after 10:00 every day and some don’t. However we do get to choose how early we want to get up through trial and error.
Some people can get everything they need done with no problem from waking up later and some can’t. Regardless of where you fall under, though, just ensure that you’re getting up at the same time daily, or close to it.
You’re setting your mind, brain and body up for success by staying disciplined with the one healthy habit mentioned, and pairing that with a set routine every day.
Sources
- Hilditch, Cassie J; McHill, Andrew W. Sleep inertia: current insights. National Library of Medicine. 2019 Aug 22; 11: 155–165. DOI: 10.2147/NSS.S188911.