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This year I really leaned into my wellness routine – I wore a sleep tracker, I journaled, listened to podcasts on health and I optimized my habits like a life raft as personal and global events went through so many upheavals.

I wanted to share a brief list of the simple habits and supplements that, in conjunction with the other things that bring me joy like being out in nature, have kept me healthy and in good headspace. 

I’m breaking them down into three categories, but really these all are interwoven. Read them as you would a recipe for a good meal 🙂 Make substitutes that work for you but know that all the ingredients together give you the best result!

 

Morning Routine:

1. Don’t check social media/my phone first thing upon waking up. It’s hard. I struggle with this one – BUT it has made the single biggest difference in my productivity and general happiness. I challenge you to try it for a week.

2. Instead – make a list of 3 things that would make the day feel successful and make everything else easier. This keeps me focused on my actual priorities of what’s most important for my time. My rule is to keep them as small as possible. I would frequently feel overwhelmed by my to do list, but I realized I wasn’t keeping the tasks concise enough. For me it was writing “choose 10 photos for the website” versus “finish website”. It’s a game I now play with myself of how many of those can I cross off before I check my phone.

3. Meditation and Journaling. This is my chance to check in with myself. Before I get anyone else’s thoughts, questions, opinions, and energy in my field I want to have a moment with myself. My meditation is usually 12 minutes (tips for those new to meditation here) and my journaling is free writing for 10 or so minutes. Some things I do because they make me more productive, this one I do because it has made me more at peace. Until I went through a break up I had a hard time sticking with it. In our busy schedules it can feel challenging to justify the time it takes, but now my experience of stress, anxiety, and heartbreak has been much more manageable.

Immune Support:

1. I recently added more Chaga into my diet. Chaga is one of a group of functional mushrooms and herbs called adaptogens which help relieve symptoms associated with occasional elevated stress. Chaga in particular is an immune superhero filled with antioxidant properties. I love Four Sigmatic products as many of you already know, so I add their Chaga Elixir (it’s a powder) to my morning tea. I do chaga elixir + hot water + 1 scoop coconut creamer + a spoon of local honey. On intense work days I also add their Lion’s Mane Elixir which helps me immensely with focused work. My code is CHELSEA if you want an extra 10% off your order!

2. More water! A full cup in the first hour of my day.

Sleep:

1. Sleep with my phone in airplane mode or in another room. We are creatures of habit. If the phone is next to me at night and in the morning – I will keep checking it. Studies show that our brains are actually distracted by the mere presence of a phone in our area of vision even if we aren’t touch it. Putting my phone out of sight has helped with the temptation to check it all the time and also reduced the number of sleep disturbances on any given night.

2. Wear Blue light glasses for a few hours before bed. There is a noticeable difference in how “awake” my brain feels when I wear my glasses versus not. When I wear them I naturally get sleepy and find myself winding down at a similar time each night. If I don’t wear them I’m more prone to stay up doing random things on social media, binging on Netflix, etc. Nothing wrong with that (omg watch The Queen’s Gambit if you haven’t already!) but it’s about bringing awareness to what I’m doing in that last hour of my day. Did I really want to be scrolling until 1 a.m. or was it unintentional?

3. Establish a consistent sleep schedule. Many sleep researchers believe we each have our own ‘chronotype‘ which means ‘the propensity for someone to sleep at a particular time during a 24-hour period’ based on your underlying circadian rhythm, hormones, etc. It will make you feel more alert at a certain time during the day and can affect when you’re hungry. I personally feel the best when I go to bed at 10pm and wake up at 6:30am. From journaling I can tell that staying up past midnight drastically impacts my mood and energy level for the next day even if I sleep in more. Find what works for you and stick to it to maintain a high quality of sleep.

    

Let me know how these make you feel @chelseakauai or read more on my top 7 Productivity tips. If you’re new to this try adding one new habit each week instead of everything all at once 🙂