Having a better morning routine will help you take control of your day. Read on for 6 simple steps to a better morning routine that I have been using for quite a few years now.
Did you know that our genes are somewhat responsible for whether we are a morning person or not? A lot of people take pride in saying they are not a “morning person”. The thing is that research shows that being a “morning person” has some health benefits. Being a morning person has been linked to better sleep, sustained weight loss, and more happiness and less feelings of stress.
According to WebMD, we each have a biological internal clock — or in science terms – the circadian rhythm. The human clock is about 24 hours, matching up with Earth’s 24-hour cycle of light and darkness. Some people have a slightly longer natural cycle – like my husband and are more likely to be a night owl. If your cycle is shorter – like mine, you’re more likely to be an early riser.
To be honest, I wasn’t always a morning person.
You know how it is, after a long work week, it is like a little gift to yourself to sleep in, right? In fact, if I didn’t sleep in, I’d feel like I did something wrong. The problem was that I wasn’t actually good at sleeping in – much to my husbands dismay.
Over the past 5 years, I have learned how to streamline my morning routine a bit and have embraced being a morning person. Some days, I feel like I’ve lived a whole day in the first 2-3 hours of being awake. The downside is that I’m not much of a party animal anymore! 😂
Friends, it’s all about habits. If you’re in the habit of sleeping in, it’s not easy to start popping out of bed like a piece of toast out of a toaster. Especially if your circadian rhythm isn’t used to that. Start with these 6 simple steps to a better morning routine! You don’t have to do them all at once. Pick a couple and build up to doing them all or find some other morning routine habits that make sense for your days and lifestyle.
Start the night before
Decrease your digital distractions before bed – even consider placing your digital devices away from where you sleep. That way you’re not going to be drifting off to the land of zzz’s and dreams with memories of dreaded emails about low balances on your kids school lunch account. And, you don’t wake up to a blowing up feed of everyone else’s life before you start your own!
Say no to snoozing
Let’s be real. I’d bet my next Target run that your alarm time is set back so you can snooze a couple of times. Am I right? Like this – alarm set for 6am. Snooze 3 times and I’m up by 6:30. Sound familiar? Why do we snooze? Are you getting more sleep?Easing into waking up? Start tomorrow and GET UP when the alarm goes off. Try it and get yourself 30 more minutes of living.
Hydrate
Keep water by the bedside, throw some back before turning in for the night and drink up right away (instead of snoozing 😄) Do your sleepy head, dehydrated self a giant favor and water up when you wake up. Water is like liquid gold for your body. It keeps everything moving! Don’t like water, suck it up and drink it anyway.
Silence
In that time you gained by not snoozing, spend 3-5 minutes sitting in silence. If you struggle with silence, grab one of the zillion meditation apps floating around out there and try a timed meditation. When you start your the day with a clear mind, you’ll feel lighter all day long.
Workout
Friends, I want you to energize your day with endorphins! Start with 5 minutes if you’re new to fitness. Even if you plan to workout later in the day or night, do yourself the favor of stretching your muscles and getting the heart pumping. Since becoming a morning person, I get in a 30-40 minute workout every morning. That works for me now. It took me nearly 45 years to learn this one. Don’t wait any longer, start today!
Gratitude
I’ll give you a choice here – before bed or when you wake up, give it up! Give up gratitude for what you have, what you do, what you dream about. Some days your list might be the same. So what?! The more gratitude we give, the more we get. I’m committing to journaling every single day with my new fitness program.
If you decide to journal at night, do yourself a favor and make a mental list during the day. You’ll start to look for things to be grateful for and then the daily gratitude list will be more varied. Did someone hold a door for you? Be grateful! Was the sunset amazing? Write it down!
Here are the apps I have been using for my morning routine – 5 Minute Journal, Calm, & Stop, Breathe, Think.