The EZ Method #9d The importance of Morning Routines: Creating the Habit
'Play or cool trig - nice and easy'
Most people that I'm friends with through health interests usually ask me about the best way of getting themselves accustomed with cold exposure. (See EZ Method #3c Your inner Light)
There are lots of different ways and lots of different people telling them how to do this exercise, it's hard to know who to listen to. There are even gadgets you can buy, ice vests, equipment, (because you can't get cold without a gadget, right!) and there is an industry trying to cash in on something that is gathering a lot interest since the discovery of brown fat tissue in adult humans. This is still cutting edge stuff in the mainstream
I tell all these people the same thing: in order to do CT and become heat adapted the way that I do it (right or wrong) you need two things 1. Get in touch with your natural environments temperature 2. Make it routine: Do it every single day
What do I mean by this?
Well you can go and get in an ice bath, and we can argue how good or bad that is (I personally think it's a circus act, as you will see) but are you going to buy all that ice and do it everyday? ... unlikely Like a January gym membership, it's doomed to fail Of course if it's cold enough where you live that water is iced over then great, it's natural, but just getting into a 'cold only' bath for 10 minutes, once a day when you get up and work it into a 5 point routine.
This will create the habit, this will be much much more effect after about a month. You will never go to a gym for cosmetic reasons ever again in my opinion and experince In fact you will view the gym like I do: pissing in the wind
There is nothing that you can do for 5 minutes that is more effective than something you do forever
See, the real key, and the real benefit in becoming heat adapted is that it feels like summer all year. Every time you look out the window, all you see if blue skies, sunshine, and warmth. Cold exposure is not about enduring cold, it's about everything feeling warm.
Think about how you feel when you see snow for the first time in years and how inviting it looks. Every single type of weather looks like a 'beautiful day' and you will be comfortable regardless of what the weather man says. This all has a big impact on your day - in fact nothing annoys me more than people relit what the weather report 'predicts'. I love all weather, I can function and operate in ice, cold, rain, sun, the lot... and so can you
Can you imagine how much more positive this makes you mentally, you can't really until you try it. Once you can stand outside in less than 4 degrees in shorts you will never need to jump into ice baths, but you will be able to do jump into ice baths because of your upgrades cellular engines (mitochondria), because you would have heat adapted. However, this is a slow build. Not something a 5 minute teeth rattling session in ice water will accomplish But who is going to watch YouTube videos of a 'slow build' - people want circus acts, slow build is not extreme enough
I love that I can sunbath comfortably in February, which has a snow ball effect for absorbing light. More light in the system, more EZ water, less cold sensitivity, more resilience - boom... you've cracked the code, it's been 6 months, you're ripped up, forgot what cancer and diabetes even means, saved £100 a month on gyms and you forgot you were even doing it That's why I make so much noise about this stuff
Getting heat adapted is about being able to walk around the house with less clothes, or less heating, until eventually, you're doing both, and burning more fat than all those people in the gym. Ok, it's a step outside of the comfort zone in the early days, its front loaded with stress, and it's counter intuitive, but it works so well it's unfair to people that don't know about this 'hackback'
So creating the habit, I would start with a morning routine Something like Wake up 1. Put the bath on (cold only) 2. Make tea and drink 3. Brush teeth 4. Get in bath for 10 minutes 5. Get dressed and leave the house Or some other such method so that it becomes and everyday thing.
You might wish to do CT in the evening, I flit between morning and evening from winter to summer, and I really don't know why. Just intuitively Point is, a little everyday has given me so many more benefits than what jumping into ice could ever do, plus when I have got in ice because it's been that cold where I live, it's actually been easier than 8-10 degrees (we won't get into why yet)
The other benefit of having a morning routine is that it stops you from thinking and having to make decisions at a time of day when you really shouldn't be making decisions. Anyone that wears uniform to work or remembers the ease in which they got dressed In their school uniform will attest to this. Even having to choose clothes to wear first thing in the morning can be a tough, mind boggling decision at 6am. We only have a limited number of Brain power to make a limited number of decisions per day, and it's much lower than you think... like 20 or so, after that we start to make mistakes or become stressed. We lose our efficiency and cognitive clarity The key is to limit the number of decisions we make by having 'rules of thumb' and a morning routine that gives you as long as possible after waking without decision making is the beginning to all that. The one thing about having a job was that I rarely made any decisions before 9am, That was 3 hours after I woke up, and driven to work, in fact part of the reason I left my job in 2014 was being bored, so there is certainly a balancing act to adhere to. Do all your thinking midday and take over the world
Your routine doesn't need to be 5 point, or 30 mins or anything restricted by time or points, but I feel it's positive to be conscious of how you spend your time and then build into that time the beginnings of the things you want, because tomorrow just really never comes.
I think it's a big win to build something productive into your routine, CT is great, but could also incorporate meditation, or even 50 burpees, choice is yours... but start small and realistic if anything... too much too soon will limit the longevity of everything. Imagine meeting the girls of your dreams, and starting off by telling her you want kids, marriage, a dog, a house and what colour curtains ... she'd last about as long as your January gym membership... take it slow, 'play it cool trig' (Americans see attached video for British humour translation!!!)
See EZ Method #9b Mindfulness, visualisation and conquering pain)