Ashton Hall has a five-hour morning routine. People are obsessed

Martha Stewart’s five dogs – Empress Qin, Emperor Han, Creme Brulee, Bete Noire and Luna Moona – know the 83-year-old mogul will wake up and take them out to her courtyard at five every morning, an hour and a half before her trainer arrives for their 60-minute aerobic exercise session.

Friends fans know Jennifer Aniston rises at 4.30am to chug a mug of hot lemon water, while Michelle Obama wakes at that hour to work out. That’s child’s play compared with Mark Wahlberg’s 3.30am wake-up (famously 2.30am in a bygone era), which precedes prayers, vitamins, a workout and almost nine hours of fasting.

Jennifer Aniston, pictured here in 2019, wakes up at 4.30am every morning and has a mug of hot water with lemon in it.Credit: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

But winning first place for sheer, let’s call it commitment, is Ashton Hall. More than 100 million TikTok users worldwide have seen him out-commit them all.

Hall, an online fitness coach, wakes up at 3.52am, and his morning routine includes pushups at 4.04am, dunking his face in a bowl of ice water at 5.49am, journalling, going to the gym, ablutions, a mini-facial using the insides of a banana, and dunking his face in ice water again before starting work after 9am. All up, his morning routine takes five hours. Hall could probably solve global economic instability in a week if he wanted to change up priorities a little.

Social media can’t get enough of morning routines, with videos under #MorningRoutine racking up more than 47.4 billion views on TikTok, and at least 1.5 million posts flooding the hashtag on Instagram. Hall’s elaborate morning routine is not so much about kick-starting a focused, enjoyable and successful day, rather it’s about entertainment and the commerce of content creation.

But is this wellness trend of announcing your morning routine to the masses harmless fun, or something more?

What “disturbs” and makes clinical psychologist Dr Alissa Knight “uncomfortable” about our fascination with morning routines is when it moves beyond maintenance, or even the standard striving to be a better version of yourself, into a full-blown “pursuit of perfection”.

“If someone is feeling a push towards achieving ultimate perfection, that it will be the saviour to all their problems, and that message has been enhanced through endless TikTok exposure, that is when you know someone is at risk of developing mental health issues, and [reducing] the quality of their life,” Knight says. “Because no one can achieve perfection, it is an unrealistic fallacy.”

Looking to content creators for morning routine inspiration also has implications for physical health, with Dr Adam Brown, a GP with a special focus on longevity medicine, emphasising that it’s “crucial” to approach influencer health routines with “a healthy dose of caution”.

“What works for one person may not work for another,” Brown often tells his patients. “While one’s routine may work for them, it may not be appropriate or even safe for others.”

Genetics, lifestyle and environment are all factors that contribute to the need for personalised morning routines – and Brown notes influencer routines, designed to “engage and inspire”, are “not always rooted in solid scientific evidence”.

Not only is there “no scientific backing for [mouth tape] as a sleep aid”, Brown says, but Hall’s proclivity for plunging his face into ice water could be dangerous for people with heart conditions, a sentiment that exercise physiologist Dr Ben Singh says also applies for those with anxiety.

Health implications of Hall’s style over substance routine aside, Chloé Oestreich, whom Forbes dubbed the ‘CEO Whisperer’ after she spent more than a decade coaching Fortune 500 leaders, notes actual high performers don’t trifle with “window-dressing”.

“The focus on physical appearance and aesthetic perfection reflects a broader issue: too many people are prioritising how they look over how they feel and lead,” Oestreich says.

“In a world where being ‘busy’ is worn like a badge of honour, real leadership requires you to slow down and get intentional … A morning routine should be about more than aesthetics – it should build emotional resilience, increase your capacity to handle stress, and sharpen your ability to listen, communicate well and make high-stakes decisions.”

So what do high performers in real life really do every morning?

Not all high performers flag their morning routine to the world, but what successful morning routines have in common is the predictability of habits, routine and consistency.

“There’s no such thing as an ideal daily routine. The best model is the one that works for you,” Oestreich says, noting in her experience, “successful people experiment and gather insight to learn what works and helps them achieve peak performance” – and how someone prepares for their day internally is what sets them apart as an exceptional leader.

Oestreich’s morning routine prioritises training her mind with 40 minutes of meditation, then her body with pilates or strength workouts.

“When my mind is clear and my body is energised, I’m more focused, grounded and able to handle whatever comes my way,” she says, noting if she’s time-poor, she’ll prioritise meditation over physical exercise.

What happens to your sleep when you get up at 4am?

Sacrificing slumber for a convoluted morning routine is a move sleep expert Olivia Arezzolo wouldn’t advise, noting insufficient sleep can increase cortisol levels, ultimately heightening feelings of anxiety – the exact thing true wellness practices aim to alleviate.

“We still need seven to nine hours, depending on our chronotype,” Arezzolo says.

The “key to success” is saying goodbye to late nights, with a 4am alarm meaning dinner at 4pm or 5pm, and a bedtime of 7pm or 8pm, says Arezzolo, and keeping that schedule consistent is what will help regulate the body’s internal clock.

What’s a morning routine without a few trends?

The Huberman method: Get up within an hour of sunrise and drink water and electrolytes immediately, but avoid caffeine for 90 to 120 minutes after waking. Jog or walk in the sunlight within 60 minutes of waking.

Low-dopamine start: Avoid your phone and screens for at least an hour after waking up, and caffeine for the first 90 minutes. Eat a high-protein breakfast, complete a low-stress task like folding laundry, and do a low-intensity workout.

Five-second rule: Mel Robbins touts this as the secret to changing anything in your life. Count down from five to one once you get the urge to do something, like get out of bed, then do it.

Habit stacking: Attach new habits to your old ones, like making your bed immediately after getting up, or doing five minutes of meditation after pouring your cup of coffee.

The 555-30 routine: Dedicate five minutes to meditation, five to stretching, and five to mentally preparing for the day, then 30 minutes of any form of exercise you enjoy.

A five-hour morning routine? The ‘ultimate’ morning routine now needs to start at night.Credit: Stephen Kiprillis

A morning routine doesn’t have to be five hours

Brown does not recommend making significant changes without seeking advice from a health professional, though he notes “simplicity is often the key” to making a morning routine stick.

“It’s not about perfection – it’s about consistency. Even if you miss a part of the routine, getting a few of these steps in can make a big difference,” Brown says, adding the best health habits “are those you can stick with over time”.

At minimum, Brown recommends drinking a glass of water after waking, a few minutes of movement to get your blood pumping, stepping out into sunlight for 10 to 15 minutes to trigger the release of serotonin and regulate your circadian rhythm, five minutes of mindfulness or breathing, a balanced breakfast and three minutes to plan your day.

Exercise physiologist Singh, a postdoctoral researcher with the University of South Australia, emphasises the importance of the movement – whether it’s stretches, a short walk, yoga or body weight exercises – being simple, as “the integration of complex movement patterns immediately upon waking, without a proper warm-up, raises concerns about the risk of injury”.

Oestreich, meanwhile, advises her clients to take five minutes to check in with themselves at the very least.

“Most people are running on autopilot, reacting to their day instead of deliberately shaping it,” she says.

“If you haven’t taken the time to assess your capacity that morning – how much focus, energy, and emotional bandwidth you have – you’re likely going to waste a lot of time being scattered and unfocused.”

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