9 Wellbeing Tips for Your Morning Routine
These nine wellbeing tips for your morning routine will transform your life – and all you have to do is to make minor changes in the morning.
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Learn nine, easy-to-implement wellbeing tips for your morning routine that will help you face the day with the energy you need to be happy, productive and successful.
“Born in San Francisco originally, Declan Lockheed now resides in the UK. He currently is a Content Executive for Twinkl, based in Sheffield. In his spare time, he enjoys cooking, reading and a good independent film.”
Let’s face it, for many of us, morning is our least favorite part of the day. We’re in a hurry to get to work and are often stressed for time, so we end up missing out on some important aspects of a healthy morning routine.
We can often get stuck in cycles which can contribute quite negatively to our mental health, and in turn, can affect things like our productivity at work or our social interactions.
But what if we could change just a few things and work on rebranding how we view our mornings? In this post, you’ll learn exactly that – the little changes you can make to your daily morning routine, which can help drastically improve your wellbeing.
Tip #1: Get at least 7 hours of sleep (the most important of these nine wellbeing tips for your morning routine).
Getting enough hours of sleep is arguably the most important thing you can do. It’s so important that, even if you don’t do anything else in this list but this, you’ll still experience massive benefits!
It will make the biggest difference to your morning, and carry over into aspects of your day by boosting your energy levels and increasing your ability to focus on tasks. Sleeping for at least seven hours also helps you maintain your circadian rhythm, which can help with things such as mood and even food cravings.
If you can’t get a full seven hours every night (and that’s a usual side effect of living life in the modern world), then at least aim to go to sleep at the same time every day. Your body is a habit machine – and it will eventually get much easier to fall asleep and wake up refreshed if your body is familiar with what time it needs to send out all the relevant chemicals and hormones.
Tip #2: Take deep breaths after you turn your alarm off.
Lay in bed for an extra 30 seconds or so and take super deep belly breaths. It’s a nice and gentle way to feel more awake first thing in the morning. And hey, it’s a bonus as you get to lay down for a little longer! And don’t worry, if you take the time to concentrate on the act of breathing, you won’t fall back asleep, and will even make you feel more awake.
Try to focus more on taking ‘belly breaths’ rather than ‘chest breaths’ throughout the day.
To make sure you’re using belly breathing, put one hand on your chest, and one hand on your stomach. Then go ahead and take a deep breath in. If just the hand on your belly moves up, then you’ve got it.
Tip #3: Drink a glass of water when you wake up.
Your body just spent seven (I hope it was seven!) hours without hydrating, so drink a full glass of water to help your body catch up. Even slight dehydration can significantly affect your focus, mood, and energy. Keep a bottle of water by your desk to sip on throughout the day!
You should drink a minimum of 3 to 3.5 liters of water every day. Buy a liter sized water bottle and fill it three times a day to keep track.
Tip #4: Open your curtains when you wake up.
Let some natural light into your room and working space. Natural light tells your body to stop producing melatonin (the sleepy hormone), which (with regular sleep patterns) helps regulate your circadian rhythm and makes it easier to wake up in the morning.
This is also why it’s so hard to wake up in the winter, less natural light means more melatonin which might help explain why you feel more tired and sleepy!
Tip #5: Stretch.
Wake your body up!
Just take a minute or so to do some intentional stretches or some jumping jacks. This will help get your heart awake and pumping! When stretching try focusing on your back, as many of us spend hours sitting at a desk every day.
And for some more advanced stretching try setting aside some time in the morning to try out some yoga, just 5 minutes of yoga a day has amazing results!
Or check out the resources below:
Resources:
Daily Qigong For Depression: 5 Easy Videos You Need To Do – The daily Qigong for depression routine to help you cope.
The Best Yoga Apps For Beginners – A run-down of 5 of the best yoga apps for beginners – all available for free to start with on iOS and Android.
Tip #6: Take an ice-cold shower (the most controversial of these wellbeing tips for your morning routine).
This is controversial and definitely not for everyone! Cold showers have lots of benefits to your mental health and body and are guaranteed to wake you up. The shock you receive from the cold increases your oxygen intake, your circulation, and your alertness.
Here are some of my favorite benefits of cold showers:
- They help with anxiety, depression, and stress;
- Stimulates deep breathing, which decreases CO2 in your blood;
- Preserve the natural oils on your skin and hair;
- Increase circulation and lessen inflammation (inflammation is another biological cause of anxiety and depression!);
- Helps with sore muscles.
If you’re not feeling that crazy, then splash some cold water on your face, or (if you have a garden or balcony) stand in the cold for a few minutes and take some deep breaths.
Tip #7: Take 10 minutes to meditate.
Meditation is a great way to prepare yourself for the day and is probably one of the best things you can do for yourself! All you need is ten minutes, a pair of headphones, and a place to sit or lie down. (bonus points for doing it outside in the cold!).
If you find it hard to get into meditation, that’s completely normal – especially in the beginning. It took me a few sessions to start to understand and appreciate it.
Remember if your mind starts to wander, that’s ok! Acknowledge the thought you have. Let it pass, and try to focus back on the meditation.
YouTube has plenty of free and easy beginner meditations. Take a look at the best ones we have here:
Resources:
Best Morning Meditation – Discover the best morning meditation, so you can have the best day ever.
Best Meditation Videos For Beginners: Top 5 on YouTube – A list of the five best meditation videos for beginners that you can find for free on YouTube. If you’re just starting out, then you’ll enjoy these short, easy to follow and not boring meditation videos.
Tip #8: Save the coffee for 30 mins after you wake up.
Eighth in our wellbeing tips for your morning routine is giving your body time to wake up before drinking coffee.
Why?
Because your melatonin production settles down about 30 minutes after you wake up. Throwing coffee into your body before that can interrupt your natural circadian rhythm and end up making you feel more tired in general in the mornings.
So give yourself 30 minutes to “wake up” before you drink a cup.
Tip #9: Be intentional about what you eat for breakfast!
Try to avoid carbs, sugars, and grains for breakfast and replace it with protein (lots of them!) and fat (especially Omega 3s). This will keep you from having that afternoon slump that we all know so well.
So instead of having cereal, or toast, eat avocado, seeds, eggs, oatmeal, olive oil, dark greens, nuts, tomatoes, mushrooms, etc.
But, not everyone has the time to make these though in the morning, so when you’re in a rush try some breakfasts you can make in a hurry.
Resources:
Genius Foods – The cutting-edge, practical guide to eliminating brain fog, optimizing brain health, and achieving peak mental performance.
