The Ten-Minute Morning: A Small Autumn Habit Worth Keeping

September is a funny month in Wales. The calendar says autumn is approaching, but some mornings still feel determined to give us a little piece of summer.

Today is one of those useful opportunities.

After overnight rain, the Met Office expects lingering rain across Wales to clear quickly this morning, followed by bright or sunny spells and a largely dry afternoon, with temperatures around 20°C.

So before the days shorten properly, I have a very simple suggestion.

Take ten minutes outside this morning.

Not an expedition. Not a workout. You don’t need walking boots, a fitness tracker or an inspirational podcast telling you how successful people apparently behave before breakfast.

Just ten minutes outdoors.

Start With Daylight

Our bodies use light and darkness as important signals for the internal body clock that helps regulate sleeping and waking.

That doesn’t mean ten minutes outside is a treatment for poor sleep, and I wouldn’t pretend that it is. Persistent sleep difficulties deserve proper attention rather than somebody on the internet prescribing fresh air.

But making daylight part of the morning is a sensible piece of everyday wellbeing.

It also becomes increasingly useful as we move through autumn because the opportunity gradually gets smaller.

The temptation when mornings become cooler is to wake up, shower, dress, get into the car and disappear into another building. Some days we can reach lunchtime having barely experienced the outside world.

I’ve done it.

Most of us probably have.

Ten Minutes Means Ten Minutes

This is where wellbeing advice sometimes becomes unnecessarily complicated.

I’m not suggesting you immediately begin a five-mile sunrise walk.

Take the coffee outside.

Stand at the back door.

Walk around the garden.

Feed the birds.

Take the dog around the block.

If privacy and temperature allow, enjoy those few minutes skyclad. If they don’t, put something warm on.

Naturism isn’t invalidated by a jumper.

That’s particularly important as we head towards the colder months.

Naturism is how we live throughout the year. It doesn’t hibernate when being naked outdoors becomes uncomfortable or impractical. The relationship we have with simplicity, nature, ourselves and one another can continue perfectly well when Wales requires several layers and waterproof footwear.

The practice adapts.

The values remain.

Notice Something While You’re There

There is another part to my ten-minute habit.

Don’t automatically take the phone.

Instead, deliberately notice three things.

Maybe the temperature of the air. Birds you can hear. Leaves beginning to change. Clouds moving. The smell after rain.

Nothing mystical needs to happen.

You’re simply allowing yourself a few minutes in which your attention isn’t being demanded by messages, headlines, appointments or somebody trying to sell you something.

Within the Wellness Wheel, I like habits like this because they don’t fit neatly into one compartment. There’s a little physical movement if we walk, some environmental connection, perhaps a quieter emotional start to the day and, for some people, a spiritual element in simply being still outdoors.

No special equipment.

No subscription.

No claims of miracles.

Just ten minutes.

Today’s brighter spell makes it particularly easy to begin, although the wider Welsh forecast remains changeable this week, with sunshine and showers expected on Tuesday before generally finer conditions Wednesday and early Thursday.

Autumn is coming.

We don’t need to fight it.

But perhaps we can enter it with a few good habits still firmly in our pockets.

Could you give yourself ten minutes outdoors before the rest of today gets hold of you?