5 Reasons To Start A Morning Routine

Are you feeling tired even after a full night’s rest? You feel sluggish in the morning and have no energy. You don’t have time and it’s a rush to get out of the house in the mornings. It’s a chore to get ready for work or school. I would tell you it’s because you don’t have a solid morning routine set up.

What is a morning routine? 

A morning routine is a set of activities done in the morning to gain healthy habits for the benefit of having a productive day and make you feel good about yourself so you can go about your day with a positive mindset and confidence. This could be:

  • Meditation
  • exercise
  • journaling
  • eating a healthy breakfast
  • stretching your body
  • taking a shower
  • doing house chores
  • taking a walk
  • saying positive affirmations
  • reading a book

I was someone who always felt tired after a 7-hour sleep. Every morning I would wake up sluggish and not positive about my day. I would rush to get ready, and I never had time for breakfast. This would make me hungry and make poor food choices. I eventually discovered a morning routine in 2020 and I telling you it changed my life and the choices I was making. These reasons I will be sharing with you.

Such healthy habits will carry over into the rest of your life. You may well find that you start eating better, exercising more often, or wasting less time on your phone in general and improving your productivity and mental health.

Productivity 

There’s something about waking up early and giving you a boost to be productive. I think it’s because you have more time on your hands to squeeze in those tasks you have been putting off. That’s the power of a morning routine. A morning routine is a structure and structure improves productivity.  

What would be productive in the morning look like?

Creating a to-do list. Figure out what you want to get done and write down a list. My advice is to make it short. Write down max 5 things. I’ve learnt from my past experiences, if you make your list long you get overwhelmed and you lose your motivation to get things done because you don’t even know where to begin. Always make your list simple and short. After you have got your list, start the things that are a priority that needs to be done today. You do those first. This mindset can take a bit of practice because you always want to get the easiest one done first but I found that by the time you are done, you have used up all your energy for the big task.

Exercise 

There are many benefits to exercising in the morning:

  • Boosting energy
  • Reducing fatigue

These are great benefits to get in the morning because it fuels you for the rest of your day. Exercising is such a big task that when you are done, you feel accomplished and ready to tackle your activities for the day with confidence.

Tips to exercise in the morning:

  • Pack your workout clothes the night before. This helps your mind to mentally prepare for a workout the next day and it’s less of a chore and no excuses Put them in a space in the cupboard where it will be the first thing you see in the morning if you work out from home. If you go to the gym, pack your gym bag the night before.
  • Find a workout that best suits you. if you crunch for time, do a 10-minute workout. If your body is feeling sore and you have limitations find a modification workout. As long as you move your body.
  • Tip: if you work out from home, PopSugar Fitness has plenty of workouts you can do that I have been loving lately.

Feeling less sluggish

Do you ever feel tired in the morning even though you just got enough rest? You feel unmotivated to get up simply because you don’t have the energy to do so. Your body just feels like a blop. You might be feeling sluggish.

Sluggish is a lack of energy, and motivation to do something. You are inactive and operating more slowly than usual and with less energy or power. Feeling sluggish is mostly due to a poor lifestyle like lack of quality sleep and not exercising. Establishing a morning routine that lets you get up early, move your body, meditate and eat a healthy breakfast can help eliminate this feeling.

How to feel less sluggish:

  • Wake up early
  • Drink a glass of cold water
  • Splash water on your face
  • Don’t look at your phone. Put it away
  • Open the curtains and let some sunlight stream into your bedroom and the rest of your home.
  • Go outside.

Healthy eating habits

It’s important to gain healthy habits to give your body the right nutrients it needs to perform its best. What’s best to practice this than first thing in the morning?

Eating breakfast will make you fuller for longer which will influence your food choices. Making

Eating a healthy breakfast in the morning increases a feeling of fullness. This makes your calories at later meals and makes you healthier food choices. You don’t make choices based on hunger which usually is a fast choice and can take unhealthy food just because you need something to eat.  

Mindfulness

Doesn’t it feel nice to just escape from the noise of everyday life even for just 10 minutes?

We live busy lives and many things need our attention. It could be work, school, being a parent, running a business etc and busy schedules can cause us to have stress and anxiety because there is so much to do. One way to manage stress and anxiety is to practice mindfulness in the form of meditation.

I have been meditating for about 2 years and I still call myself a beginner because it took a while to get used to it. When I did I loved it. It’s a part of my day where in 10 minutes I sit in my safe space and just embrace peace. For those 10 minutes, I feel peaceful, I feel relaxed, I feel positive, I feel happy. What better time to do so than in the morning, when it’s still quiet and not too busy, then you’ll go about your day relaxed.

If you are a beginner, you can start with just 5 minutes. An audio I listened to and recommend is my Lavendire.

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