Getting up at five in the morning to go to the gym, prepare protein smoothies or even spread 18 products on your face… “Morning routines” abound on the networks, to the point of attracting more followers every day. But these injunctions – to be always more beautiful, always more efficient – can “lead you to exhaustion“, warns Dr. Gérald Kierzek, emergency physician and medical director of True Medical.
The benefits of the morning routine, touted everywhere on the networks
On the Internet, millions of videos extol the benefits of “morning routines”. And for good reason: getting up very early and taking care of your body would indeed facilitate decision-making (thanks to this new “inner calm”, we would be more concentrated) and would allow us to gain serenity throughout the year.
“For some people, the morning routine is a way to take a moment to yourself, says Shannon O’Neill, a licensed psychologist and assistant professor of psychiatry at Mount Sinai Hospital. “It’s a ritual that allows us to start the day with a pleasant feeling of success.”
In fact, this “can become a benchmark that helps us regulate our emotions, encourages us to take care of ourselves throughout the day, and allows us to regain a feeling of autonomy”, admits the expert.
Going for a simple jog at dawn (or reading a few pages of a book) would allow us to stimulate our mind… and achieve our goals more easily.
However, this overload of obligations upon waking up is not without risks, says Dr Gérald Kierzek.
“A morning routine that is too intense (getting up at five in the morning to go for a run, applying ten products to your face, etc.) can lead to exhaustion, because it ignores the natural need for sleep and overloads the body from dawn,” he warns.
A real risk of exhaustion
Multiplying extreme morning activities (intense sport early, complex skincare rituals) disrupts hormonal balance, elevates cortisol levels and reduces the time needed for recovery (in other words, at night), especially if you go to bed late, says the doctor.
“This ritual generates great fatigue which persists, because the body does not have time to move from rest to activity without a smooth transition,” warns the medical expert.
But who are we at risk, concretely, beyond this chronic fatigue?
“We are at risk of reduced daytime energy, digestive disorders (including gastric irritation linked to repeated coffee intake or exercise on an empty stomach), increased anxiety (due to early exposure to screens and stimuli), paradoxical sleep disorders and long-term immune weakening.“, he emphasizes.
The ideal routine is yours
There is no “universal” formula: an effective routine is above all one that respects your physiology, your energy and your pace of life.
“Everyone has a natural biological rhythm – morning (“early riser”), evening (“night owl”) or intermediate – dictated by their internal clock. Getting up at 5 a.m. can therefore suit morning profiles, but often exhausts evening chronotypes (around 40 to 50% of the population)”, underlines the medical director of True Medical.
The latter in fact secrete cortisol more difficult very early, accumulate a sleep debt and undergo a circadian shift when they force their rhythm. “In the long term, this promotes persistent fatigue and chronic elevation of cortisol,” warns Dr Gérald Kierzek again.
“Night owls” are therefore likely to suffer more from insomnia, daytime irritability and exhaustion; “early risers” tolerate early awakenings better, but can also become exhausted if the routine becomes excessive (running, training, multitude of treatments).
“The common effects of an unsuitable rhythm remain the same: reduced immunity, weight gain linked to hormonal stress, reduced alertness…”, he alerts.
The main thing is therefore to assess your chronotype (via dedicated questionnaires or applications) and adjust your routine accordingly : “wake up close to your natural rising time (often 30 to 60 minutes after dawn, for example 6:30-7:30 a.m.), 7 to 9 hours of regular sleep, 10 to 20 minutes of gentle stretching or Pilates, hydration with a piece of fruit, then two to three essential treatments”, concludes the doctor.