How morning exercise can increase your productivity

• Exercising in the morning can be a beneficial addition to your daily routine.
• Among other benefits, it is scientifically proven that exercise stimulates alertness.
• Author Adam Barsouk explains how a morning exercise routine has "transformed" his productivity.

I found that getting out of bed was the most difficult test of the morning. After a few minutes of sleep, I fell asleep for hours, and this morning again the dizziness was gloomy.

Fortunately, I came across a simple, scientifically substantiated and incredibly healthy trick to overcome the dawn disaster: exercise.

It may seem like a torture at first, but here's why a few minutes of exercise each morning have completely transformed my mornings and my productivity.

Earn the profits of the exercise

One of the most common excuses for not doing exercise is that it is too difficult and you are not fit. I know from experience: a few years ago, I was overweight and I could not run more than one block.

Then I got tired of my appearance and feelings and started to try to move. The walk became a run, the pumps were turned into a bench press and, before I knew it, I had more time to do everything I needed because I was sleeping. better, thanks to the exercise.

With more free time and stronger concentration, I managed to reconcile faculty of medicine, cancer research and a lot of writing.

But none of this would have been possible if I had not stumbled on the morning exercises, which allowed me to overcome the gloom of the morning to be more awake and more productive.

Ticking your internal clock

I was not alone in feeling tired in the morning. More than one in three Americans do not sleep enough, and most "nights of hypersensitivity" on weekends, thus offsetting their natural and daily pace.

Our bodies are programmed with an internal clock called 'circadian rhythm', which works by oscillating hormone levels like melatonin (sleep hormone) and cortisol (stress hormone and awakening) while throughout the day.

Cortisol is a powerful hormone, and it is a hormone that I learned to use to my advantage in the morning.

Stimulate your hormone "awake"

I started doing exercise in the afternoons, which made my workouts exhausting after a long day of work. Cortisol levels tend to drop naturally in the afternoons and evenings, which can weaken the sensation.

On the other hand, cortisol levels start rising at 3 am in most people to help us wake up.

I really started to appreciate the effects of cortisol and exercise when I started running in the morning rather to avoid the summer heat. Soon, I practiced a daily rotation of running, swimming, cycling or weight training, and getting up early did not seem like a chore.

A study from the University of North Carolina is just one of many studies in which exercise is a great way to stimulate cortisol to make it feel more awake in the morning. The morning exercise exploits the already high levels of cortisol, which has helped me feel stronger and lighter.

In addition, as shown by the research of the National Sleep Foundation, spending the afternoon in my afternoon workout allowed me to go to school. sleep more easily and sleep more deeply. More sleep meant I felt more rested and ready to exercise and be productive the next morning.

My exercise routine has also begun to affect other parts of my life. I stopped relying on caffeine and sugar to spend the day. In fact, researchers at the University of Georgia have found that even 10 minutes of exercise are better at keeping watch than caffeine, and I can attest to that.

Do things "because they are difficult"

I was not born particularly fit or "well endowed" muscular. On the contrary, the key to my success has been the willingness to start with a little exercise in the morning and stick to it.

John F. Kennedy, speaking about the mission on the moon, once said that we do not do difficult tasks "because they are easy, but because they are difficult". Tomorrow morning, channel your inner JFK and force yourself to walk, run or maybe just do some pushups.

This will give you a much needed reason to get up from bed, a much easier time for bedtime that night and a much brighter day in between. At least I know that's what the morning exercises did for me.