Lewis HowesYour Personal 24/7 Greatness Coach

Neuroscientist Reveals His Favorite Morning Routine

23 Mar 2025 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

1:07

In this monologue, neuroscientist Lewis AI outlines a dopamine‑focused morning routine that begins the night before by charging the phone away from the bedside to prevent immediate dopamine spikes upon waking. He recommends using a traditional alarm clock placed across the room so the user must get out of bed to turn it off, avoiding the quick dopamine hit from a phone alarm. Upon waking, he advises a minimum 15‑minute, ideally 30‑minute, window of purposeful activity: first, go to the bathroom, keep a book on hand to engage in effortful reading instead of scrolling, then splash cold water on the face, brush teeth thoroughly, and finally return to the bedroom to make the bed. Each step is presented as a deliberate habit designed to regulate dopamine levels, promote alertness, and instill a sense of accomplishment early in the day.

Chapters

What is the greatest morning routine to get our dopamine in check? The most important aspect is it starts with the night before with where you charge your phone. You can't charge your phone by your head. It's the most fundamental change society has to make with the dopamine. And if it has to be in the room for an alarm, it charges the other side of the room and you get out of bed to turn it off. Ideally, you get yourself an alarm clock, you get off like two pounds on Amazon, or you get yourself a nice one for Christmas, whatever it might be. But we need an alarm clock. We need to wake up and not go into quick dopamine. So the first thing is 15 minutes minimum, 30 minutes ideally. You want to wake up and you want to immediately take action. You wake up, you immediately walk to the bathroom and you go to the bathroom. After you've been to the bathroom, if you're sitting there and you're going to the toilet, you've got to have a book in there to entertain you if you're going to potentially go on your phone. Then you're engaging in effortful reading and that's much, much better. Books are way better for our dopamine because they're challenging, not easy. Then you splash cold water on your face. You brush your teeth and you brush your teeth properly. And then you walk back to your bedroom and you make your bed.