A 40 minute Morning Routine To Enhance Cognitive Performance

As exam season is around the corner, I figured I would write a post outlining a simple morning strategy that yields powerful results with respect to concentration, cognition, and overall mood throughout the day. As someone with ADD I have researched many methods of modulating my fragmented attention and have found this routine to be the easiest to implement and maintain. This routine with practice can be condensed to 30-40mins

1.Meditation
The health benefits of meditation are almost shocking, these include increased focus, fluid intelligence, reducing stress and increases in working memory. Studies have found significant increases in cognitive function both in short and long term after practicing meditation [1].
Personally I found that my mood and attention span instantly improved after meditation, I was able to cope with stress better and could increase my work load with out feeling burnt out. Meditating for greater then 20mins a day is ideal but it is best to start with 5 minutes and building up. Here is a good source to use as a step by step guide for the technique http://www.zen-buddhism.net/practice/zen-meditation.html

1. Cold shock
   Cold shock is essentially subjecting the body to cold temperatures for an extended period of time. It causes a vast array of biological responses most of which are not nescesary to cover for now. What is interesting is that cold shock has been found to increase levels of norepinephrine, a neurotransmitter involved in learning and attention. Cold shock also has been found to increase levels of bdnf or brain derived neurotrophic factor, a protein which promotes growth, maturation and survival of neurones [2]. To introduce cold shock therapy into your daily routine try it at the end of your shower by showering in cold water for 30seconds and build up from there. Subjecting yourself to Icy cold water first thing in the morning is difficult at first but personally, after several days I began to enjoy it because of how energised it made me.

2. Exercise
   Exercise is well known to be great for brain health increasing blood and oxygen flow to the brain, increased neurogenesis, and cognition [3]. long distance running provides the most benefits but high intensity interval training is the next best thing. I try to fit a 10min work out in using kettle bells and body weight exercises to keep it simple. This is the hardest part of the routine to implement, so start slow and work within your own ability. There are many online resources for obtaining good and quick workouts, but simplicity is key. A quick run or work out involving push ups, sit-ups, squats etc will suffice. For those that want something more advanced or challenging try this workout generator : http://www.thewodgenerator.com/category/bodyweight-wods/

I hope this is helpful for some, I plan on writing more in depth posts geared towards nutrition, more advanced techniques and research into optimising performance on a whole but I thought I would start simple for now!. I would greatly appreciate some feedback on whether this has been helpful to you guys.

References:
[1]http://jtoomim.org/brain-training/Zeidan2010_Mindfulness_Meditation.pdf

[2] https://www.foundmyfitness.com/?sendme=cold-stress
[3]https://physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1113/JP271552/abstract%20%20Why%20Exercise%20Boosts%20IQ%20http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20141010-why-exercise-boosts-iq?cookieSet=1