This month, we challenged you to get your health in order, one small action at a time. If you followed along, you got up to date on your vaccines and checkups, put a little thought into meal planning, set up your bedtime and morning routines, and tweaked your home office setup to better support your health.
For me, the biggest impact came from fixing my bedtime and morning routines. My sleep was okay to start with, but I’m a night owl and a morning exerciser, so it’s always a struggle. After reflecting on bedtime routines for this challenge, I came up with a plan that was shockingly effective: I stopped doing my main workout in the morning.
Illustration: Benjamin CurrieThis meant I could sleep in until 8 a.m., which, combined with some extra effort to put together a bedtime routine, meant that I started spending a blissful nine (!) hours in bed each night.
Now, I know that exercise in the morning is essential for me to put myself in a good mental space for the day, so I can’t just go straight from bed to my desk. In place of my morning workout, I now go for a walk as soon as I’m dressed. That gets me a little exercise and a lot of sunshine. (If it’s raining, I either go out with an umbrella or hop on my bike trainer.)
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As a result, I now get more sleep than I used to, and my weightlifting workout now falls later in the day when it’s a bit warmer—convenient, since I’m still mostly lifting outside.
So now I’d like to know: how did it go for you? Did any of these little daily habits spark a moment of joy or inspire you to reshape your routine? Did the larger assignments help you figure out a major issue in your life? Let us know below.
