You are your best self when you feel rested, organized and ready to take on the day. Ease yourself into this morning routine to feel your best self before you set off for your day.
GET ENOUGH SLEEP
Before even starting your morning, the way you feel when you wake up will have a lot to do with how much sleep you had the night before. A study by researchers from Iceland and Sweden showed that eight hours of sleep turns on genes that metabolize fat and prevent obesity. A single night of sleep deprivation can interfere with as many as 269 of our genes, preventing them from making proteins, including one gene that is a tumor suppressor (Eat To Beat Disease, 2019). If you have to, go to sleep earlier than you normally would. Your health really does depend on it. A good night’s sleep is essential to your health, so make sure you get the recommended eight hours!
DON’T HIT SNOOZE
This is one that’s definitely easier said than done. When you hear your alarm in the morning, don’t hit the snooze button. When you hit the snooze button, you’re disrupting your REM sleep, which in turn can cause a fight or flight response, a lot like anxiety. The 5 – 10 minutes of extra sleep we get after hitting snooze isn’t restorative sleep, so it’s not much of a benefit to us. Rather than hit the snooze button, get out of bed and take a cold shower.
TAKE A COLD SHOWER
When you get out of bed, quickly take a cold shower to wake your body up. Start the shower off cold, and then gradually warm it up once you feel yourself waking up. A cold shower, although super unpleasant at first can do wonders for alerting your senses and getting you to feel awake.
HAVE BREAKFAST
A healthy morning routine should definitely mean eating breakfast. Having breakfast in the morning makes all the difference in my day (hangry is not a good look on me). I’m a lot more patient, focused and motivated when I’m not hungry (aren’t we all??).
So, make sure you have breakfast in the morning. I’ve tried intermittent fasting and so I do understand if you want to continue with your fast. If so, make sure that your first meal of the day is a healthy one! For me, I felt a lot better when I ate before heading off to work. Even if it’s something small like fruit or a smoothie, have a meal in the morning. Oatmeal with fruit is my go- to because it keeps me full and filled with energy.
PRACTICE 5 MINUTES OF YOGA
Child’s pose in the morning never fails to give me a sense of balance in my day. A few minutes of yoga each morning is a wonderful way to stretch out and relax your mind. Yoga is a great way to start your morning off with a calm and settled mind. I absolutely love Yoga with Adrienne and her Sunrise Yoga session which you can watch here.
REFLECT IN YOUR JOURNAL
If I have time, I like to reflect in my journal in the morning. I’ll often write about my goals for the day, what I’m thankful for, or an affirmation I’m practicing that day. Writing it down on paper makes it feel a lot more real and easier to put into action.
Of course, you might not be able to practice every one of these each morning. I know I definitely struggle some mornings more than others. But, if you get into a healthy routine each morning, you’ll feel a lot more prepared for the day ahead of you.
What are some of your healthy morning routine practices? I’d love to hear some of the things you do to get ready for your day!
