My morning habits were terrible, in fact, I probably didn’t have one healthy morning habit at all. Needless to say, starting my days like this would make me grumpy, stressed and even more tired by the time I got home.

In my effort to live a more energized, healthy-habit-fuelled lifestyle, I’ve created some healthy morning habits that work for me but I believe they could work for you too whether you’re looking to be more energized, start your day with a clearer head or you just want to look after your waistline from the time the sun comes up.

These healthy habits weren’t always easy to stick to, especially at first. They take commitment over time until they finally begin to feel natural.

Why are healthy morning habits important anyway?

Starting your day off on a good foot is important because it sets the tone for the rest of your day.

The morning is when your body is just waking up. If you’re like me, it takes you a while to feel fully awake so it’s important you set up your environment the right way so your morning habits are easy to do. You don’t want to have to make your healthy morning habits feel like a chore or you’ll never stick to them!

My own morning habits have benefited me in many different ways. They make me feel less stressed, rushed, and ultimately, they make me feel healthier.

Stay consistent with your daily morning habits by getting anything you may need ready the night before. This means setting alarms or making sure that exercise equipment is ready and in the right place. You may even find that you need to wake up a little bit earlier to complete your healthy morning habits. 

Why are healthy morning habits important anyway? 

My own morning habits have benefited me in many different ways. They make me feel less stressed, rushed, and ultimately, they make me feel healthier.

✅ Get sunlight on your skin 

Sunlight on your skin has many benefits. Most importantly, getting natural light on your skin in the morning helps your brain realise it’s time to wake up. Our bodies work on internal circadian rhythms, therefore your body knows when it’s daytime and knows when it’s time for you to go to bed. Of course, the key indicators for this are sunlight and darkness.

So getting direct sunlight in your eyes is important in the morning for your natural energy levels. That means opening the curtains when you wake up. Of course, this can be difficult in the winter so you could consider purchasing a daylight lamp to imitate natural daylight. Whilst it won’t be the same as real daylight, it’s a fairly good replacement.

Due to our circadian rhythm, getting direct daylight in our eyes early in the morning can also help us sleep better in the evening.

✅ Meditate/Stretch/Pray first 

Meditation is a mind and body practice that has been used to increase calmness and physical relaxation, because you focus on your present moment, nothing else. It can also help to reduce symptoms of anxiety, stress, and depression.
The practice of meditation typically involves five elements:

📌a quiet location with few distractions;

📌a comfortable posture;

📌a focus on breathing;

📌a focus of attention;

📌an open attitude, letting distractions come and go naturally;

You can perform meditation alone or in a group setting. Try starting with just a few minutes at first, such as 5 to 10 minutes. Sit quietly, taking slow, deep breaths in through your nose, then blowing it out through your mouth. 

If you’re a beginner, it may be a good idea to set a timer. Feel your breath as it goes in and out, focusing only on your breathing. Don’t feel bad if your mind starts to wander. That’s not uncommon. Just come back and return your focus to your breathing.

As you get more comfortable with focusing your attention, gradually increase the amount of time you meditate.

✅ Exercise 

If you’re not a ‘morning person’, exercise in the morning may seem like the last thing you want to think about. However, there are some benefits of exercising in the morning. For one, it can increase your energy levels by getting your blood pumping and waking up all the functions in your body.

An obvious benefit is that it can help to aid weight loss but one of the biggest benefits of exercising in the morning is the sense of focus and control it can give you. Once you’ve completed a sometimes uncomfortable and energy-intensive workout in the morning, you feel as if you’ve overcome something challenging which aids your mindset for the rest of the day.

Having completed a worthwhile healthy habit before you’ve even left the house sets a strong tone for the rest of the day.

You don’t even have to make it a long exercise session either. Just performing 50-100 press-ups is enough to aid your health, improve your mood and leave you feeling awake and ready to take on the day.

✅ Set your intentions for that day

These days there are a million and one things we need to do or at least feel like we need to do. It’s easy to become distracted and end up trying to do a bunch of things at once leaving them all half-done and your mind more scrambled than it was before.

Make sure you wake up and focus on one or two things you want to get done that day. Do not bog yourself down with wanting to please others by having to do things or say things. After all, you only have so many hours in the day and therefore cannot do everything.

You can make a mental note of your goals for the day or better still, write them down on a piece of paper or a on a note on your phone.

Spend your time focused on your completing your goals and nothing else. If something else comes up, don’t feel bad for saying no. Your time is precious and is not limitless.

✅ Recognize at least three things you are grateful for

Mondays can seem boring, Fridays can seem exciting and the weekends can feel like a relief from the stresses of work. However, how much better could you feel if you were able to find a sense of gratitude for each and every day, even if many of your days are spent behind a desk at a job you’re not particularly passionate about?

It’s easier said than done sometimes but practising gratitude can fill your life with a new-found sense of appreciation and joy if you give it a chance. One of the best times of the day is to practice this in the morning so it makes for one of the best healthy morning habits you can have. It also sets a healthy tone for the rest of your day.

Practicing gratitude doesn’t need to be complicated or take up too much of your time either. You can do it by writing down several things you’re grateful for, or better still you could meditate on those things for several minutes before you leave in the morning.

These are the most realistic morning habits that have helped me personally. Of course, there are many more healthy morning habits that you could benefit from but let’s be honest, when there are too many of them to think about they become chores.

The idea of creating better and healthier habits is you want to make them stick and therefore they have to be realistic and achievable.

If you want to make your healthy morning habits stick for you, Click here and book a free 1:1 Clarity Session, where we will be able to set your daily routine clearly towards your main goal! I will be glad to assist you in the best way possible!