Routines are important and help promote health and wellness through structure and organization. Having a routine can help improve your health in many ways, including decreasing stress levels, improving sleep and bettering overall health.
Here are some tips for an effective morning routine to set up for success:
1. Have a consistent wake up time
Your circadian rhythm will try to ensure your body naturally wakes up at a similar time every day and gets sleepy around the same time as well. Therefore, it is important to ensure you aren’t hitting the snooze button too frequently and are avoiding too many late nights. Keeping a similar sleeping pattern, even on weekends, helps you sleep better, keeps you more focused throughout the day, and provides more energy.
2. Let natural light flow into your room
Light is crucial in controlling circadian rhythm and natural sunlight can help you kick off your day. Natural light helps improve your mood and ability to complete tasks. It’s okay to sleep in complete darkness but try to open your blinds first thing when you wake up.
3. Drink water
If you sleep around 7-9 hours, that’s a lot of hours without water and your body can become a little dehydrated. To help replenish your fluids and ensure your metabolism runs throughout the day, it is important to have a glass of water as soon as you can once you’re up.
4. Eat a balanced breakfast
Skipping breakfast can make you feel less energetic, therefore have you feeling tired most of your morning and throughout the day. Eating breakfast is also linked to help improve cognitive function, increasing concentration and productivity. Eating breakfast is important, but it is more important to ensure you are eating a well-balanced, healthy breakfast to kick start your day. Take some time in the morning to cook a healthy breakfast or prep an easy breakfast the night before.
5. Burn calories
Exercising in the morning has many benefits, including increasing energy, boosting metabolism, making you happier and sleeping better. Your morning exercise routine doesn’t have to be anything intense and can just be a short walk or skipping rope. A morning workout sets you up with a positive mindset for the day.
6. Accomplish an important task
Your willpower is often strongest in the morning, so it’s best to tackle a difficult task to start your day. What this task is will completely rely on your personal, professional and/or academic goals. Some examples are jotting down notes for a meeting, starting a project or simply checking and replying to emails.
7. Meditate
In our opinion meditation is severely underrated for the benefits it provides. Meditation done correctly can help decrease stress and anxiety, improve sleep, and promote overall well-being. Meditating first thing in the morning sets the right mood for the day and helps you feel calm. All you need is a 5-to-10-minute meditation session. If you’re a beginner, you may want to start with guided meditation.
8. Make a to do list
This can be done at night or in the morning but should be based on what you want to accomplish that day. Make a list of tasks you want to accomplish early, even before you head to work (or start your workday). Make sure your list includes your work/school and personal tasks. A checklist is best so you can check off the items you have successfully completed, which helps you feel even more motivated and fills you with a sense of pride. Make sure your list is attainable but still meaningful – you don’t want to feel discouraged if you don’t get everything done before the end of the day.
These are just some things to include to your morning routine to get set for success. Some of the most successful people in the world swear by these and follow this routine on the daily. Your routine will vary based on your personal schedule, but this is just somewhere to get started.
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