Chapter 30: Exercises

Comprehension Check

1. What is chronotype, and why does it undermine the "wake at 5am" advice? 2. What did the Dutch cold shower RCT (Buijze et al., 2016) actually find? What were the limitations? 3. What evidence supports meditation, and what is the adverse effect rate? 4. What specific type of journaling has the strongest evidence (Pennebaker)? 5. Why does exercise have the strongest evidence of any morning stack component?

Application

6. Evaluate your own morning routine (or desired morning routine) against the evidence. For each component, rate: ✅ evidence-based, ⚠️ some evidence, or ❌ no evidence. 7. Try the "evidence-based morning" (adequate sleep + exercise + no phone first hour) for one week. Compare to your previous routine. Does simplifying feel better or worse? 8. Find a "morning routine" video on YouTube. Count the components. For each, determine: is this evidence-based or performance identity? 9. Determine your chronotype (multiple free questionnaires available). If you're an owl, is forcing early waking productive or counterproductive for you? 10. Track your sleep for one week (hours, quality, wake time). Compare to the evidence: are you getting 7–9 hours? What would change if you prioritized sleep over wake time?

Critical Thinking

11. The optimization cult produces anxiety about routine imperfection. When does a morning routine serve you, and when do you serve it? 12. The "optimized morning" assumes freedom from caregiving, shift work, and economic constraints. How does the routine culture exclude people who don't have this freedom? 13. Exercise is the strongest component. If you could only do ONE thing from the morning stack, exercise wins by a mile. Why isn't "just exercise" as marketable as a 7-component morning routine? 14. Meditation has an 8% adverse effect rate that's rarely discussed. Should meditation teachers and apps include warnings? 15. The morning routine is often a proxy for discipline identity ("I'm the kind of person who..."). Is there anything wrong with using routines for identity purposes, even if the individual components aren't all evidence-based?

Fact-Check Portfolio

16. If any of your 10 claims involve productivity, routines, or optimization: - Rate each component against the evidence - Note whether the claim serves an outcome or an identity - Update your evidence rating.