Energize your mornings
Does your night help or hinder your morning?
How do you wake up in the morning? Setting your energy level in motion first thing, helps ensure the same energy level follows you through the next 12 to 16 hours. There are many ways to energize your mornings, but the first step actually start with a good night routine.
Getting a good nights rest is key to helping our body and our mind function properly. It increases our immune system, our memory, and our overall productivity.
Go to bed on time Keeping a bedtime schedule lets our minds know when it is time for rest, that way it can clear us up from daily stressors and relax into sleep mode.
Turn off the screens Many of us are guilty of scrolling on the phone right before bed, falling asleep to a movie, or simply binge watching TV before we turn in for the night.
The blue light emitted by your cell phone limits the production of melatonin, which is a hormone that regulates our sleep cycle, therefore, our sleep is disrupted. Watching TV on the other hand, sends a lower level of blue light yet, stimulates the brain keeping it alert and not ready for sleep mode.
Studies suggest turning off screens a minimum of 30 minutes to 2 hours before bed to get a better nights rest.
Quiet routines relax with a book or journal before bed, practice meditation or do yoga. Anything to help calm you down and prepare for sleep. Remember that 30 min downtime can help you slip into a deeper more rested night.
Energize your mornings
How do you wake up? Do you listen to your alarm and hop out of bed, or do you hit that snooze button... maybe a few times?
Why does hitting snooze seem to make us more tired, rather than the days we drag bed right away? A sleep cycle lasts between 90 and 110 minutes. Snoozing between alarms confuses the brain into thinking we are ready for another sleep cycle, so when we only get another 10 minutes it takes our brain time to adjust and actually wake up.
Getting up when your alarm goes off may be hard, but when you hear it, get out of bed, stretch out, and let those feet hit the floor. Do not start off the day laying in bed and procrastinating about what needs to be done. Get up and get moving so you can energize your morning!
H2O and go OK if you like me, you like to start your day off with morning coffee. But trust me when I say your body will be much happier if you drink that glass of water first. Hydration after a night of sleep is important for our gut health, our metabolism, and our mental clarity. Water treats your whole body, then coffee treats your taste buds. ;)
Cardio, not so scary for those who can go for a run in the morning, you rock! For the rest of us, cardio in the morning seems like hard work, but it doesn’t have to be. Anything that gets your heart rate up counts as cardio! Whether it’s a brisk walk, jumping jacks, skipping, dancing, or sex. The list goes on, and even 10 minutes a day can improve your cardiovascular health. Let’s be honest we all have 10 minutes in our day... no excuses.
Time to review today’s to do list:
Brain dump, unload all thoughts onto paper and prioritize, what needs to be done? Having a weekly schedule, or planner, helps this process as most of what we need doing will already be noted. Keep tally of everything on your to do list. Seeing things get checked off, brings feeling of accomplishment and motivation to help us on a steady role.
By morning you have a few tasks crossed off the list.
Drink water, exercise, shower, coffee.. check, check, double check!
Check your emails
Getting a jump on your emails can be a quick task or a mini job in itself. Spending even 15 minutes going through and prioritizing, deleting unneeded ones, or replying to one or two of importance, you will have a good idea what your day looks like.
If it takes under five minutes, do it now. Load the dishwasher, put the first load of laundry in, take inventory of what you need to pick up for dinner. Clear the little things that take no time at all, yet take up room in your mind. If it’s on your mind, it’s a weight carried.
Morning mindfulness builds healthy habits
Stay mindful in your morning routine. This will result in change becoming automated with time. When you repeatedly practice a new habit, there is an increase of neural connections in the brain. Telling ourselves that whatever it is we are doing, it is as natural as breathing, walking or talking.
We get up brush our teeth, shower, dress and don’t have a thought about it. This is because we have repeatedly done it and it’s now programmed. Or driving to and from work, we do that without a second thought.
In order to set a habit that will stick we simply need to repeat it daily. It may take two weeks. It may take two months, depending on how big or how different the habit is.
What matters is not giving up. You may have a lazy morning, where everything is a bit off, just focus. Remember the promise you made to yourself and allow yourself to start fresh again in the morning. You are important and deserve the effort. Self care and self awareness are the foundations on which self promises are kept.
What new habit will you start today?
