Scheduling Your Day: For Health, Ease, Productivity, and...Fertility!
As summer fades and crisp autumn air appears for those of us on the East Coast, it’s time to reset schedules!
Does anyone else like the back to school shopping even if we’re not in school anymore? I love the idea of getting re-organized for Fall (and I do miss when life was neatly folded into semesters). One of the questions I work with fertility clients on is how to build a new and healthier routine. Changing lifestyle to be healthier for a baby starts with your day: changing your routine.
Healthy and Productive Life
Most of us are overwhelmed and if we’re still home teleworking, likely working more and with less separation. While cutting commutes and office stress can be good for mental health, not being able to “step away” from the office is extra stressful for all of us. To top that off, many of us are out of our gym routines or even regular social activities and those are key for burning off the stress. If there was ever a time for updating your routine, many of us are overdue.
I’m often asked “What’s the best daily routine for a healthy life?” or “Why is it important to have routines in the first place?” And “Do I really need to go running in the morning?”
Let’s go over some of the scientific benefits of a healthy morning routine and tips for creating an overall daily routine for a healthy life. While the goal is improved health, your best daily routine gets you the added benefit of optimal productivity.
The Night Before
Take 10 minutes to write down your schedule for the next day. Lay out what you need for the next day so you are good to go.
I learned and benefited from this habit some time ago and then somehow stopped when I transitioned to my home office. Now I’m back! Mostly. :)
There is nothing more annoying than trying to start your day figuring out what you are supposed to be doing or where something is— losing precious time, but also focus. (Totally guilty - today I was looking for my DMV paperwork before trying to get a new license. I do this preplanning pretty much M-F, but ironically not on the day I am writing my scheduling blog post).
It’s All About The Morning
To have a healthy day, it all starts with the morning. This doesn’t mean you need to be a morning person, but you do need to get moving in the morning to set up your day for productivity and ease.
Getting moving early and/or doing mindfulness can help you clear your mind and tune up your body for the day. I’m a big fan of James Clear’s book Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones which talks about the power of routine and how mornings are key. The best morning routine means getting up, exercising in some form, getting sunlight, and having a good breakfast with protein and fat (check out my personal avocado poached egg recipe).
Getting Moving: Morning Exercise
Barack Obama, Bill Gates and Jennifer Aniston are all reported to work out in the morning. No matter what your job is, everyone needs time to exercise.
Create a buffer in your daily schedule for your mornings that is “me time” for an hour or so. I suggest a slow wake-up with warm water and lemon or electrolytes to hydrate your body (coffee and tea are dehydrating and you are dehydrated overnight).
Moving in the morning can help set your body for the day mentally and physically. It’s important that exercise happens away from work. I can't believe the people answering work emails on the treadmill at the gym. Why bother? If it means being up before others or just getting out of the house, do it! Don’t take your work phone, don’t answer emails during your exercise time, and leave your phone in another room or gym locker.
Plan to have a minimum of 20 minutes or up to an hour of exercise in the morning. It doesn’t mean you need to roll out of bed and hit a treadmill. It can be a brisk walk outside, a run, yoga or stretching, a gym class or some pilates moves on your carpet. However you choose to move, that time should be yours.
Mindfulness Matters: The Power Of Breath
Our minds are going 24/7. Even when we sleep our brains seek to unpack what we are doing. Taking time for your mind to rest—whether it be for guided meditation, just simple quiet or deep breathing—is a powerful addition to your health and productivity.
I’m a big fan of 4-7-8 breathing because it’s easy and it activates your parasympathetic nervous system—the part that helps you relax. Another quick and easy breath technique for stress reduction is Soft Belly Breathing, The Center for Mind-Body Medicine’s core technique they’ve taught all over the world. Try it with the aid of this guided audio.
Ever feel so rushed or frazzled, nothing gets done? That is your sympathetic nervous system in overdrive—your flight or fight response. Mindfulness, including meditation or breathwork plus planning your day out ahead of time, reduces stress, increases wellness,ease and focus—and fertility.
Setting up your day
The lifestyle change that we do in the Simplina fertility program takes some planning and time. The idea is not to make more work for you, but to make your life work better for you. Eating differently, exercising more, practicing mindfulness all take time, but we help you learn to weave them into your schedule. The secret is that you build your day around what you need to do for you and by making it a habit it becomes second nature over time.
I recently became a fan of time blocking. So things aren't about an endless to do list, but you have a set time to batch your activities. It also balances the important things that are the longer term goals (i.e. taking care of your health) with the urgent stuff that comes up in your email or at work.
If you always do the urgent, you never get to the long term. Sound familiar? How many people say every New Year’s “I want to get into shape.” “I want to have more time for self-care.” “I want to take care of my health.” “I want to spend more time with my loved ones or building relationships.” These are important, but don’t come across as urgent.
Our fertility programs are about self-care, improving your health and your well-being. You know these things are important. We help make it all doable for you.
Creating A Buffer
Time-blocking is good at helping us create a buffer. If you have an endless to-do list, you never get a break. Realistically, you need a break! You need to eat (very important not to miss meals if you are TTC), you need to move, and you need to simply have a mind rest.
You need to give yourself 30 minutes to get to the gym and time to cook dinner. Make sure when you schedule your day that you give yourself buffers and overestimate how much time something is going to take. (I just went to the DMV today, which is a good case in point.)
Take Breaks
We do our best work in intervals, whether it is a health behavior or work project. Work in intervals of 50 minutes and take a 10 minute break. You might know your own rhythm and 20 minutes might be your max focus. If so you might do well with the Pomodoro Technique, which employs a 25/5 approach: set your alarm for 25 minutes of focused work, then a 5 minute break.
Experiment to find what works for you. I suggest installing software on your computer that's free or utilizing an alarm to remind yourself to peel yourself away from your screen—with bonus benefits for your eyesight, too.
The Low-Down
At the end of the day, we all want to live fulfilled lives. This definitely means taking care of your mind, body and spirit. Being fulfilled means being happy, being healthy, and spending time on things that we love. When you are trying to conceive and it’s not working right away, that’s often a time to evaluate how we have been living our lives and what needs to change to help set the stage for you and your partner to bring a new life into the world. Changing your schedule to enable you to live a better life is often the first step.
I love the quote, “When a flower doesn't bloom, you fix the environment in which it grows, not the flower.” by Alexander Den Heijer. This is the basis of what we do at Simplina Fertility Coaching program. We fix the soil to enable both you and your partner to improve your health and increase your chances of being able to conceive.