Parineeti Chopra's hacks for starting your day on the right note are surprisingly simple

Indian dads are obsessed with early rising and they’ll make sure there’s no sleeping in for you either. They’ll launch an attack on the tightly shut curtains of your room or jolt you awake with their loud WhatsApp videos playing on speaker throughout the house. You wake up early enough times this way and your body clock will reset faster than you can hit the snooze button every morning. Et voilà, you turn into an early riser. You don’t want to be, yet you become one. But when you’re new to the morning routine territory, what do you do with all this time? You scroll through reels, get your dose of morning caffeine… and then what?

This was my challenge too. I began waking up early but figuring out what to do with the extra hours is still a mystery. I cannot work out in the morning to save my life, let alone to get the blood pumping and scrolling Instagram mindlessly seems like a productivity killer. In a bid to get some ideas on how to utilise these wee hours, I tuned into the Parineeti Chopra Morning Chai episode on Tweak India’s YouTube channel (You should subscribe too, no regrets there). Safe to say, I came away equipped with a whole cheat sheet on what to do with my A.Ms.

4 things from the Parineeti Chopra Morning Chai episode that are easy to add to your mornings

Catch that sunrise

This report says that catching the sunrise can help reset your circadian rhythm and act as an indication to the brain to become alert and prepare for the day. Emotionally, it grounds us in the present moment and gives us a few moments of quiet before the storm of emails and notifications.

For Chopra too, watching the sunrise is a crucial part of starting her day. “I like to wake up super early in the morning. I cannot miss a sunrise. In fact, I have a very off day if I don’t see it. Even when I’m on a trans-Atlantic flight, I set an alarm and wake up to see the sunrise. I am that person,” she says.

Try your hand at meditation

In the Parineeti Chopra Morning Chai episode, the actor admits that “meditation is really the answer to everything. You could do a two-minute session or a 20-minute session, but it’ll change your life”. Mind-body experts for decades have emphasised that spending a few minutes meditating early in the morning reduces stress and anxiety, sets a positive tone for the day and makes it easier to stick to the habit.

If like me, a morning workout is not your jam, start with shorter, more manageable durations and slowly increase the time as you cultivate the habit. It’ll help curb the wild goose chase your mind likes to go on when asked to be still, and you’ll feel a lot lighter.

Start your day with a light, home-cooked breakfast

For most people, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It replenishes the nutrients in your body after a long fast, making you more alert and focused by reducing brain fog. As an early riser, you can spend time cooking a delicious, healthy and easy breakfast for yourself. Take a cue from the Parineeti Chopra Morning Chai episode and the actor’s preferred meals. “I eat South Indian breakfasts, poha, avocado toast or even parathas sometimes,” she says.

Break up with your phone

It’s a habit none of us can seem to lay off of — checking the phone right after opening our eyes. As Chopra tells us, be it breaking news, book/ movie/ song reviews or any information hunt, you always turn to social media for updates. While being off the phone completely might be a little extreme, the Parineeti Chopra Morning Chai episode gave us a few clues on how to reduce screen time.

“Get some fresh air in the morning, look at the sun and at the world waking up. That, I think, keeps me in a great frame of mind,” she says. The best way to do this? Take yourself on a walk or sit on the balcony or near the window and look as the world wakes up around you. Journaling and reading are two other things you could do during these quiet hours to start off your day on a positive note.