Habits to Start Your Morning Right
Mornings can be tough. For those of us who thrive better later in the day, mornings can be hard to get through.
However, your morning sets the tone for the rest of your day, so you need to start your day right, not just to get by, but to conquer the day ahead! If we have a routine in place for our mornings, things will be less stressful and we have enough stress in our lives, right? While I cannot promise that the following tips will drastically reduce your cortisol levels, trying something new definitely cannot hurt!
So, try adding these tips to your morning routine.
- Plan your things the night before.
You have two choices: you can start your morning calm and pre-planned (i.e. NOT stressed), or you can rush around, not sure what you put in your bag and what you did not. You have a ton of things in your hand including your breakfast, your hair is undone, your shoes are missing, and everything is chaos.
To ensure a pleasant morning, plan a few things ahead of time.
Before you go to bed in the evening, you can set out and iron your clothes out, set out the products that you are going use, pack your essentials (lunch bag waiting in the fridge) and make sure your shoes have their match and are waiting by the door.
- Wake up a little earlier.
If you find it hard to plan out your routine the night before, try waking up a few minutes earlier than the time you actually need to be up. You will reap a lot of benefits if you wake up just ten minutes earlier. You can have a calm and enjoyable morning instead of a rushed one. You will have the time to actually wake your brain up so you can inspect your essentials with an alert mind and avoid mistakes. Start by waking up 10 minutes earlier each day, gradually working toward 30 minutes by the end of the month.
- Wake up immediately.
You snooze, you lose. Always wake up the instant you hear your alarm go off. That five minutes of extra sleep is doing nothing but harm and may be confusing your brain. What is the guarantee that you will wake up after five minutes and not an hour later? Then, where will you be?
- Make your bed.
To make sure that you do not jump right back in, make your bed right after you get out of it. This tells your brain ... "nope, we are NOT going back in bed!" This will make you feel productive and motivated to start the rest of your morning right. You will feel like you have already checked one thing off your morning’s to do list.
- Stretch and smile.
Wake up with a stretch and a smile. Stretching wakes up your body and smiling releases endorphins that will make you feel more positive throughout your morning and the rest of your day. It also shakes that groggy and grumpy feeling first thing in the morning ... you know ... that feeling.
- Brush your teeth immediately.
Some people believe in brushing their teeth after they are completely done with their morning routine, but it is actually better to brush your teeth first thing when you get into the bathroom. It will wake you up by getting rid of your morning breath and increase alertness by activating your senses.
- Let the natural light in.
Open up your blinds and pushing back your curtains. Let all that natural light in. It will make you feel happy and positive. You will be a lot slower in the morning if you skip this step. This little night to morning transition will go a long way toward powering you through your morning routine. Having said this, I know that the time some of us wake up is pretty early and even the sun hasn't risen yet. In this case, be sure to turn on the lights ... all the lights (so at the very least, you don't trip over anything).
Yours in health and wellness,
Francine