Starting with brushing his teeth before 4 a.m., influencer Ashton Hall says he also swims, meditates, journals, rubs his face with banana peel, lifts weights, submerges his face in ice water and accomplishes much more every day before breakfast around 9:30.

A video of his morning routine has racked up millions of views on social media, while sparking reactions that range from disbelief to awe. It also jumpstarted the conversation online about how best to start the day, even if a six-hour regimen is ambitious to say the least.

Don’t worry, said Kamalyn Kaur, a psychotherapist in Cheshire, England. You don’t need to start your day with dozens of activities to improve it. But she said it is a good idea to reevaluate how you get going because setting up a relaxed, structured morning will pay dividends for your energy and mood.

“It just sets the tone for the rest of your day,” said Kaur, an anxiety expert who advises new clients to start by reevaluating how they spend the morning. “If you set yourself up and you start your day properly, you start off feeling good, you feel organized.”

The case for establishing a morning routine

As a professor of workplace psychology at The University of Oklahoma, Shawn McClean has spent years studying how work life is influenced by the rest of your life.

He said accomplishing tasks in the same order every morning is helpful because people have limited mental bandwidth before they have to recharge. The brain subconsciously reserves resources for tasks that require higher-level thinking, so routines are a type of mental shortcut.

“We’re cognitive misers,” McClean said. “We don’t like to use our mental energy on things that aren’t important.”

His research has found that employees perform better and are more calm throughout the day when they complete their morning regimen uninterrupted. Conversely, employees with disruptive mornings report higher levels of mental depletion late in the day.

“When it comes to routine disruptions, it throws off your whole day,” he said on a day when he was playing catch-up after having forgotten about his daughter’s show-and-tell. “You get to work and you realize you didn’t brush your teeth.”

What is a “good” morning routine?

Most people already have some kind of routine in place, but few consciously decided on it before it became automatic, McLean said.

It’s hard to define what a good routine is, and there is no formula that is best for everyone.

“It’s going to be idiosyncratic to each person,” McLean said. “It’s what helps them function. Now, can we have destructive routines? Yes.”

Rushing around in the morning to shower, eat and get out the door just on time is an example of a destructive morning routine, Kaur said. The stress of a rushed morning produces extra cortisol, which is a necessary hormone that helps regulate the circadian rhythm, she said. It’s what naturally wakes you up and makes you alert in the morning.

Too much cortisol in the bloodstream, however, creates a feeling of restlessness and anxiety that can be similar to drinking coffee on an empty stomach, Kaur said.

Where should you start?

People who often have hectic mornings should consider setting their alarm 30 minutes earlier — and resist the urge to hit the snooze button, Kaur said. For many people, snoozed sleep is disrupted sleep that might leave you more groggy.

Kaur recommends adding at least two or three quick activities to your morning that have been shown to improve mood — starting with making your bed. Research shows that clutter foments anxiety, and completing a task first thing in the morning promotes the secretion of the feel-good hormone dopamine, she said.

Next, have a glass of water. If you’ve gotten a full night’s sleep, you’ll likely be slightly dehydrated after not consuming liquids for eight hours. And try delaying caffeine until after eating to avoid being jittery.

At some point within the first hour of waking up, expose yourself to natural light, preferably by taking a quick walk, Kaur said. Even if it’s cloudy, daylight is another trigger for the circadian rhythm that promotes alertness first thing in the morning.

“These habits are important,” she said. “It gives you the optimum chance and the optimum conditions to function better throughout the rest of your day.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: Albert Stumm writes about wellness, food and travel. Find his work at https://www.albertstumm.com

Tavče gravče, which translates as “beans in a pan,” is a Macedonian classic. Traditionally, large dried white beans called tetovac, named for a city in northwestern Macedonia, are the star of the rustic dish, while onions, garlic, peppers and paprika provide deep, rich flavor and color.

In this recipe from our cookbook “ Milk Street 365: The All-Purpose Cookbook for Every Day of the Year,” we opted for the convenience of canned butter beans, which are plump, creamy and the best widely available alternative to tetovac beans. If butter beans are difficult to find, cannellini beans work, too.

Combined with sautéed aromatics and baked for an hour with smoked sausages, the beans turn silky-soft and deeply flavorful. Both kielbasa and bratwurst work well. Optional dried mint adds sweet, woody notes that balance the richer flavors.

Don’t forget to reserve 1½ cups of the bean liquid before draining the cans. The liquid is added to the pot and keeps the beans plump and moist during baking. If the amount of liquid from the cans comes up short, make up the difference with water. To ensure enough liquid evaporates during cooking, use a Dutch oven with a wide diameter, ideally between 11 and 12 inches. Finish with chopped flat leaf parsley and serve with crusty bread on the side.

Baked White Beans and Sausages with Paprika, Onions and Sweet Peppers

Start to finish: 1 hour 50 minutes (20 minutes active)

Servings: 6

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons grapeseed or other neutral oil, divided

2 medium yellow onions, chopped

2 medium red bell peppers, stemmed, seeded and chopped

Kosher salt and ground black pepper

6 medium garlic cloves, thinly sliced

4 teaspoons sweet paprika

1½ teaspoons dried mint (optional)

Three 15½-ounce cans butter beans (1½ cups liquid reserved), rinsed and drained

2 dried árbol chilies OR ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 to 1¼ pounds smoked sausage, such as kielbasa or bratwurst

¼ cup lightly packed fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Instructions:

Heat the oven to 400°F with a rack in the lower-middle position. In a large Dutch oven over medium-high, heat 3 tablespoons of the oil until shimmering. Add the onions, bell peppers and 1 teaspoon salt; cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, 8 to 10 minutes.

Add the garlic, paprika, mint (if using) and ½ teaspoon pepper; cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in the beans and reserved liquid, árbol chilies and 1½ cups water. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally, then nestle the sausages into the pot and drizzle the surface with the remaining 1 tablespoon oil. Transfer to the oven and bake, without stirring, until the sausages are browned and the beans on the surface are slightly crisped, 1 to 1¼ hours.

Remove the pot from the oven and let stand, uncovered, for about 15 minutes; the bean mixture will thicken as it cools. Transfer the sausages to a cutting board. Cut them into pieces, return them to the pot and stir into the beans. Remove and discard the árbol chilies (if used). Taste and season with salt and pepper, then sprinkle with the parsley. Serve from the pot.

EDITOR’S NOTE: For more recipes, go to Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street at 177milkstreet.com/ap

NEW YORK (AP) — The second season of the Star Wars series “Andor” and the streaming release of the Wu Tang Clan’s latest album are some of the new television, films, music and games headed to a device near you.

Also among the streaming offerings worth your time, as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists: Willie Nelson releases his 77th solo studio album, “Oh What A Beautiful World,” and the arrival of Nicole Kidman’s “Babygirl” on Max.

New movies to stream from April 21-27

– Halina Reijn’s “Babygirl” (streaming April 25 on Max) stars Nicole Kidman as a CEO who has an affair with a much younger male intern ( Harris Dickinson ). The A24 film, which earned Kidman a Golden Globe nomination, resurrects the steamy, campy atmosphere of erotic thrillers like “Basic Instinct” and “9 ½ Weeks” but tells it from a more female perspective. In my review, I wrote that the “ever-shifting gender and power dynamics make ‘Babygirl’ seldom predictable — even if the film is never quite as daring as it seems to thinks it is.”

– Gareth Evans, the Welsh filmmaker of “The Raid” franchise, returns with more brutal, choreographed mayhem in “Havoc” (Netflix, April 25), an action thriller starring Tom Hardy as a detective battling a criminal underworld. Jessie Mei Li, Timothy Olyphant, Forest Whitaker and Luis Guzmán co-star.

New music to stream from April 21-27

— Wu-Tang Clan is forever, but their touring days are numbered. In June, the legendary hip-hop group will embark on a final tour titled the “Wu-Tang Forever: The Final Chamber.” Whether you’re planning on attending or not, there is no bad time to throw on one of their records. On Friday, April 25, Wu-Tang’s joint album with Mathematics, “Black Samson, The Bastard Swordsman,” released earlier this month as a Record Store Day exclusive, will hit streaming platforms. Why not start there?

— Calling Willie Nelson prolific is about as revelatory as saying the sky is blue; it is self-evident. On Friday, he’ll release his 77th solo studio album, “Oh What A Beautiful World,” celebrating the work of songwriter Rodney Crowell. Nelson embodies many Crowell classics – like 1976’s “Banks Of The Old Bandera,” recorded by Jerry Jeff Walker and 1981’s “Shame On The Moon” for Bob Seger. Crowell and Nelson join forces on the song’s title cut. The album also arrives just five months after his 76th solo studio album, “Last Leaf on the Tree,” his first produced entirely by his son Micah. “He’s a real artist,” Nelson described his son to The Associated Press at the time. “He picked all the songs.”

— Twangy punk band Rodeo Boys are experts in sugary, spirited hooks – from 2019’s debut “Cherry” to their 2023 Don Giovanni Records debut “Home Movies.” But the Lansing, Michigan, group’s 2025 album “Junior,” out Friday, that takes them to great new heights — a collection of sardonic, queer Americana, melodic songs for and by the heartland. The best description of the band is the one they wrote themselves: “Rodeo Boys is what happens when the Miller High Life gets legs and starts walking around on its own.” Yeehaw.

New television to stream from April 21-27

— The “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” prequel series “Andor” returns for its second and final season Tuesday on Disney+. Diego Luna stars as Rebel spy Cassian Andor and follows his radicalization against the Galactic Empire leading up to “Rogue One” and “Star Wars.” The first season of “Andor” was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for outstanding drama series and received praise from critics. It also stars Kyle Soller, Adria Arjona, Stellan Skarsgard, Fiona Shaw and Genevieve O’Reilly.

— Penn Badgley is closing out his chapter as the stalking serial killer Joe Goldberg –who is also disturbingly likeable but that’s for a therapy session– in Netflix’s “You.” Its fifth and final season debuts Thursday. While Season 4 took place in London with Joe working as a literature professor, he’s now returned to his hometown of New York. Joe is married to Kate Lockwood (played by Charlotte Ritchie) whom he met in season four — and they’re a New York power couple. Joe is happy with Kate and intends to stop killing people, but the guy is prone to building tangled webs of obsession that leave dead bodies in his wake. The new episodes also feature Madeline Brewer of “The Handmaid’s Tale” and Anna Camp.

— In Season 1 of Hulu’s “Vanderpump Villa,” Lisa Vanderpump oversaw a young staff at French chateau that both lived and worked together for the summer. For Season 2, she’s relocated to a castle in Italy and brought roughly half of the “Villa” staff with her. She’s also invited “Vanderpump” all-star, Stassi Schroeder to be a special VIP and to serve as her eyes and ears with the staff. Schroeder starred on “Vanderpump Rules” for eight seasons before she was fired for slurs and racial profiling in 2020. Schroeder has since written two best-selling books, launched a new podcast, got married and become a mother of two. She also has her own show for Hulu in the works. “Vanderpump Villa” premieres Thursday.

— When Brett Goldstein isn’t writing and acting in hit shows like “Ted Lasso” and “Shrinking,” he’s a busy stand-up comedian. Goldstein recently taped his first comedy special called “Brett Goldstein: The Second Best Night of Your Life” for Max. It premieres Saturday.

— Bravo has tapped some of its most famous single ladies from “The Real Housewives” to star in a new dating show called “Love Hotel.” Cameras follow Shannon Storms Beador (“The Real Housewives of Orange County”), Luann de Lesseps (“The Real Housewives of New York City”), and Gizelle Bryant and Ashley Darby (“The Real Housewives of Potomac”) as they stay at a hotel in Los Cabos, Mexico and meet eligible bachelors who are just visitors to the property, unless they get an official invite from one of the ladies to check in. Bravo superfan Joel Kim Booster hosts as their “Love Concierge.” “Love Hotel,” premiering Sunday on Bravo, streams next day on Peacock.

New video games to play week of April 21-27

— Every year, the mystical Paintress paints a new number, and every person of that age dies. This year’s number is 33, so its up to the crew of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 to try to stop her. It’s the debut title from French developer Sandfall Interactive, and it aspires to the storytelling, exploration and turn-based team combat of classic role-playing games like Final Fantasy and Persona. The graphics evoke the lush glamor of Belle Epoque Paris, while the voice cast features heavyweights like Charlie Cox (“Daredevil”) and Andy Serkis (“The Lord of the Rings”). It’s rare for a young studio to launch such an ambitious RPG series — and we’ll see if it pays off Thursday, April 24, on PlayStation 5, Xbox X/S and PC.

— Lou Kesten