Title: Your Optimal Morning Routine

Brigid Bergin: It's the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. I'm Brigid Bergin filling in for Brian today. Listeners, how do you start your day? Do you have a set routine, a list of things you must do in order to feel your best self throughout the day? The number is 212-433-WNYC. That's 212-433-9692. I was reading Arthur C. Brooks' newsletter in the Atlantic, How to Build A Life when we came across his protocol for a happy start to the day. He actually realized that he tends to feel the most negative early in the morning, so his routine is optimized to build up as much positive energy as possible during the first few hours of his day, and whoa, does he start his day early.

He rises at 4:30 AM. According to Brooks, Hindus refer to this time as the Creator's time, precisely an hour and 36 minutes before the sun rises. This period in the day is considered to have powerful properties when the mind is most receptive to spiritual awakening, he wrote. Although this concept isn't necessarily backed by science, he notes that evidence have shown that waking up before dawn can lead to more attentiveness and better recall throughout the day.

So, are you a pre-dawn riser either by choice or out of necessity? What do you do in those first few hours of the morning when the world is seemingly still asleep? Have you figured out your optimal wake up time? Give us a call. 212-433-WNYC. That's 212-433-9692.

Now, Brooks, he hits the gym for some heavy lifting and cardio almost immediately after waking up, and then after an hour of exercise, he gets cleaned up and heads to a Catholic mass with his wife every day. He recommends prayer or some sort of meditation in the mornings to help with emotional self management. It's only after all of these steps that he has his first cup of coffee, and what he calls a protein-rich breakfast.

Listeners, what do you do in the morning to keep your body and spirit healthy? Are you one of those people in the gym at the crack of dawn? Maybe you cook for yourself an elaborate breakfast or get morning stretches in. Do you leave some time for contemplation about the day ahead? Why is this better than just rolling out of bed to get to work right away? The numbers 212-433-WNYC. That's 212-433-9692.

Wave a very special guest who's probably a very big part of many of your morning routines as a WNYC listener, that is my friend and colleague and WNYC's own morning edition host, Michael Hill. Michael, so great to chat with you here.

Michael Hill: Thank you, Bridget, for this.

Brigid Bergin: Michael, I hear you on the airwaves starting at 5:00 AM every day. What time do you actually wake up?

Michael Hill: It depends. Sometimes I'm awake by 1:30, sometimes by 2 o'clock, 3 o'clock, anytime really between 2:00 and about 4 o'clock.

Brigid Bergin: Wow, that is so early. Is it hard for you to wake up at that time? How did you get adapted to such an early start?

Michael Hill: I did this 20 years ago working for a station in Dallas Fort Worth, and this time around I just said, I really have to respect sleep. I go to bed consistently 8 o'clock to 8:15 or so at night. I'm either in the bed or heading to bed. When I started this four and a half years ago, I just said, "You have to be dedicated to getting sleep and rest. If you don't, it's a struggle from 5:00 until 9:00, really 5:00 until noon every day. I just decided that, look, you've got to bed, and I set alarms.

I set an alarm for 4:19 and another one for 4:29, and I'm usually well awake before those alarms go off. Those are just kind of safety measures. Look, if you do this, you have to respect your sleep, and I try to tell everybody who's around me, you have to respect my sleep.

Brigid Bergin: Wow. I have a lot of respect both for your sleep and for your wake because those are really, really early times. Michael, you will not be surprised to know that you're not alone. We've got some early morning listeners who are calling to share some of their stories. Let's go to Jordan in Bronxville. Jordan, you're on WNYC. What's your morning routine look like?

Jordan: Good morning. First of all, I get up probably about 4:45 and then do some tai chi first thing in the morning. Just some gentle waves up and down, arms up and down, trunk twist gets everything moving. Coffee is waiting for me as that auto coffee starts at 4:45, and then have a cup, read for 20 minutes. A book, not online.

Brigid Bergin: Wow.

Jordan: Just to get the mind going. Actually, you'd be amazed how much you could get done in terms of books over a year. Then, downstairs in the gym for an hour and a half, breakfast for the kids and the dogs, and get them off to School, get them walked, shower, get ready for work, and that's my morning. But if I don't do it, I am whacked out completely.

Brigid Bergin: Jordan, thank you so much for that. We're gonna get in as many of your morning routines as we can. Let's go to Francis in Jersey City. Francis, give us your quick morning routine.

Francis: Hi. Every day, automatically, my clock gets me up. My internal clock gets me up at 5:30. I don't look at any other clock. I numb up. I know it's the time, then I go right out and begin my routine. My routine is I turn on WNYC to find out what happened the night before. Then, at the same time, I create a great four fruit smoothie. Then, I spend an hour working out, and then I'm showering and off to the office.

I find that to be the best time of the day because many times I wake up with a solution to a problem that I went to bed with the night before. I don't know why, but somehow, I get up thinking, aha, that's the way to handle this situation.

Brigid Bergin: Francis, thank you so much for that. Let's get Marjorie in Sardis, New York. Marjorie, you're on WNYC.

Marjorie: Good morning. I'm calling because this is an opportunity to express my absolute delight. Michael is just beyond belief, and on the mornings that he's not there, I'm disappointed. My morning routine is very-- I'm old, but I just wanted to tell him how much I appreciate him and how comforting his voice is. That's what I have to say to Michael.

Brigid Bergin: Michael, I've got to let you go.

Michael Hill: Thank you very much.

Brigid Bergin: Marjorie, thank you for sharing that. Michael, I didn't set you up for this, but maybe I did just a tiny bit, so that all the Michael super fans could call in in one segment. I also want to read a text from a listener. The listener writes, "Muslims also rise before dawn for prayer. As a mom, this has also helped me ensure that lunches are made and we're ready for school on time. There's also a site called Sleep Calculator, which I use to help me find the optimal time to wake up based on when I go to bed."

Michael, another listener, writes, "How does Michael adjust for days when he's not on the air?"

Michael Hill: I'm still awake even on weekends. I keep this sleep hygiene because I really have to respect that. Even on Friday nights and Saturday nights, if it's 8:30, 8:45, I get anxious in the evening. I'm just like, "I really should be in the bed." Within a half hour, 45 minutes, even if there's something I want to see on TV, I go to bed. I don't want to break that routine.

It was tough doing this early on in this job because I would try to stay up on Friday and Saturday nights, break the sleep pattern, and then on Sunday nights, it was really difficult to rest and to sleep. So, I just decided, you know what?

One of the things I used to do in the morning was get up and that time, 1:30, 2:00 clock in the morning after going to bed at 8:00, 8:30 or so, get up and really work out. Burning 600 to 800 calories in the morning, working out. Then, I found in the middle of the show, seven o'clock in the morning, in the middle of Morning Edition, I would just run out of energy, and I just said, "Okay, something's got to stop here." I decided get up in the morning, deep breathing, drink lots of water, walk a little bit in the house, maybe walk outside, stretching and so forth, and then start my day. If I wanted to work out, then do it after the shift, do it after noon or something like that because otherwise, it was draining to expend that kind of energy in the morning.

Brigid Bergin: Your 7:00 AM is like everyone else's 3:00 PM, Michael. But let's go to Suki in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

Suki: Hi. I also get up around 5:36. I'm a preschool teacher and having just that time in the morning before the sun rises, I love looking out the window and seeing the sky change. Like the previous caller said, the way a morning routine can really dictate when you go to bed, I love going to bed early. That's really helped me.

Brigid Bergin: Suki, thank you so much for that call. Let's see if we can sneak in a couple more callers. Mike in Astoria. Mike, you've got about 20 seconds. What's your morning routine?

Mike: Different times, but the most important thing is that just allow at least two hours of not touching the phone. I have to get up, meditate, read from a novel, do some exercise, but keep the phone away at least two hours in order to have some stability for the rest of the day.

Brigid Bergin: Mike, thanks so much for that. Let's see, can we sneak in one more? Let's try Matthew in Long Branch, New Jersey. Matthew, you've got about 15 seconds. What's your morning routine?

Matthew: Hey, thanks for taking my call. I guess the one thing that's different from what everybody else is saying is, I've got to have my cup of tea in the morning and usually, in a quiet space, as well as take my dog out before I get to work teaching. It's usually pretty quiet before all the hustle and bustle of schoolwork. Thanks.

Brigid Bergin: Matthew, thank you so much for that. Michael, you've got some super fan texts. I love Michael Hill. His laugh, chuckle always tickles me. Thank you, Michael, for just being you. Michael Hill, super fan here, "We love you, literally wake up looking forward to his melodic voice and chipper personality."

Then, another listener writes, "Early to rise, early to bed makes a man healthy, but socially dead."

Michael, thank you so much for joining me. We'll have to leave it there today. WNYC's Michael Hill, Morning Edition host. Tune in tomorrow, you will hear him.

That's all for Brian Lehrer. Stay tuned for All Of It.

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