I’m sure you know how important it is to have good morning habits. For instance, if your alarm clock blares early in the morning, but you are groggy and less likely to do anything health-promoting, you are less likely to stick to your diet. Morning habits are important because they help you start your day on the right foot. If you want to create long-lasting change with your morning habits, you need to make them lifelong habits. Below are 5 health-promoting habits that everyone can start doing for a lifetime.
1) Get Up An Hour Early
Getting up an hour earlier is going to take time to adjust to, but once you make it a habit, you will never look back. This is about having a healthy morning routine and making your mornings the most productive part of your day.
The health benefits of getting up early:
- You can wake up an hour earlier and exercise: Exercising first thing in the morning has many benefits such as more energy, better circulation, and even better memory. Exercise has been shown to improve brain function, help with depression and anxiety and even prevent diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
- You can work on your passion projects or side gigs: Do you have a passion project or side gig that you want to start? Setting aside some time first thing in the morning to work on it will give you an intrinsic sense of motivation and accomplishment. It can be as easy as meditating for five minutes or cleaning out the junk drawer in the kitchen!
- Eat breakfast: Breakfast is one of those things that some people just don’t have time for. Getting up early allows you time to eat breakfast before heading off to work or school. If you want to lose weight then this is one of the most important things that you can do for yourself!
2) Get Hydrated
Research shows that drinking hot water first thing in the morning not only helps to melt away fat but also cleanses the body of toxins and bacteria.
Here’s why:
As your digestive system slows down at night, waste products start to accumulate in the gut. As the day goes on, they are further reabsorbed into the bloodstream. Additionally, as you sleep, your body produces stomach acid which can cause heartburn if not expelled from the body.
Drinking a warm glass of water in the morning helps flush out these byproducts of our body’s metabolism.
To make this process even more effective, Ayurveda recommends adding freshly squeezed lemon juice to your warm water, this helps remove toxins from your digestive tract that may have built up overnight, provides a good source of vitamin C, freshens your breath, supports weight loss and stimulates metabolism and digestion all at once!
3) Make Your Bed
Making your bed can help you get in the mindset of taking control of your day. It’s a good way to set yourself up for success and to get motivated before you even start your day. If you’re not a morning person, it may take some time to build this habit, but once it becomes routine, it will become easier and easier until you can’t imagine starting your day any other way.
4) Meditate
When most people think about meditation they think it is all about relaxing; however, meditation is actually more than that. Meditation trains the mind to be able to focus better on one thing at a time which allows us to eliminate distractions that can cause us to lose focus.
Studies have shown that meditation can help improve focus, creativity, compassion, and happiness. And it doesn’t have to take up a lot of time either. Just 10 minutes of quiet meditation can have an impact on your day.
5) Write Your “To-Do” List
A simple habit that can change your life is the morning “To-Do” list. As soon as you get up in the morning, or before you go to bed at night, write down 3 to 5 things that are on your mind that you need to get done the next day. This is a great way to plan out your day and organize yourself.
This ‘To-Do’ list should have no more than 5 items on it so it is easy to digest and not overwhelming. Try to tackle these tasks first thing in the morning, or at night before you hit the hay.
An example of a ‘To-Do’ list:
- Review calendar for tomorrow
- Call John about the party
- Finish report
- Buy groceries
- Pick up dry cleaning
The key here is that if something pops into your head during the day, write it down on a sticky note and put it next to your computer monitor or somewhere you will see it during the day, and then add it to this list when you get time.
By having only 3 -5 tasks on your mind for the day, you will be able to accomplish them easier and with less stress and fatigue!
Conclusion
Creating a morning routine is one of the best ways to get more life balance and create a healthy lifestyle for yourself. Most people only think about creating a morning routine when they feel like they need something to help them get going in the morning. However, creating a morning routine is not just about feeling better or starting each day off right, it’s also about setting your intention for the entire day.
