Healthy Morning Habits

Hola and welcome back to the blog! This week, I thought it might be nice to lay out some healthy morning habits to kickstart the day. The habits below are just what I practice, though if you all have any that you enjoy please leave them down below or send them to my instagram- the more healthy tips, the better! I’ll be uploading a follow up Youtube to this post next Thursday.

Before we get into the habits I think that more important than anything you’ll read below is the factor of having enough time in the morning. How you start your morning sets the tone for the rest of the day so make sure that you wake up with ample time to do everything you need/want to do before you leave the house. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather wake up half an hour earlier and feel relaxed and prepared for the day than sleep a bit longer and start the day feeling stressed. 

So, once your alarm goes off, what can you do to start your day off on the right foot? The following is just what I do each morning that allows me to take on the day with a clear head. However, each person’s morning routine is particular, so feel free to use the habits below as suggestions when creating your ideal routine. 

1. Morning stretches. I’ve made a full YouTube video showing some of my favorite morning stretches that can all be done in the comfort of your bed, I’ll post the link to that here. After a night’s sleep, our bodies are stiff and not necessarily ready to start the day running. I’d suggest light stretching first thing after waking to get the blood flowing and wake up the body.  

2. Breathing routine. Our breath is quite powerful and manipulating it in different ways can produce wonderful effects on the body. As with the stretching routine, I’ve filmed a video showing some of my favorite breathing techniques commonly practiced in yoga that I’ll include here. I also wrote a blog post on some of the benefits of intentional breathing if you all are interested in reading more. There are a few breathing methods that help awaken and energize the body so I’d suggest trying some of these before reaching for a cup of coffee :) 

4. Journaling. I’ve mentioned journaling a few times here on the blog before but this practice has been a part of my morning routine for over two years now. Each morning I start by writing down what I am grateful for, what would make that day great and three positive affirmations. This 5-minute practice starts the day off in a state of gratitude and optimism that has become a crucial component to staying motivated to work hard. It doesn’t matter much what form your journaling practice takes, but rather that you have some kind of daily ritual that helps you to reflect on all the good around you. There’s so much to be grateful for, as long as we just look for it :) 

5. Brush teeth and tongue. Now I hope that all of you are brushing your teeth every morning (and hopefully again at night) but there’s actually something else I’d like to stress with this point- cleaning your tongue. During the night, saliva production decreases and the bacteria in our mouths get to work. They feed on all of the proteins in our saliva and mucus. When the protein starts to breakdown within the bacteria, a chemical reaction occurs and releases Sulphur gas [1]. This is why we have bad breath in the morning and why it’s so important to give a little extra attention to our tongues when we brush our teeth. Some toothbrushes even come equipped with a tongue scraper. I’d recommend doing this before you eat or drink anything to avoid swallowing the gassy bacteria- better out than in, right?

6. Wash face and apply lotion and sunscreen. This one is quite self-explanatory but people please wear your sunscreen :) As I write this in June, the sun is out more than 16 hours of the day so let’s keep our skin protected and looking youthful as long as we can, shall we?

7. Drink a large glass of lukewarm water. While lukewarm water may not sound like the most appetizing thing out there, it’s actually a vasodilator meaning that it expands our veins and helps us to absorb more water. We lose a lot of moisture when we sleep so it’s important to replenish these stores as quickly as possible when we wake. 

8. Make the bed. This one is simple but, like journaling, it helps to start the day off on the right foot. By making the bed first thing, you can feel accomplished and organized which may carry over into some of the other activities throughout the day. Plus, it’s much nicer to come home to a made bed than a messy pile of sheets. 

9. Plan out the day. Make a to-do list for the day and qualify the tasks as “urgent” or “important.” While you may have 1,000 things to do on your plate, not all of them can be done in one day. By sectioning off which ones are time-sensitive versus the ones that are important, you can better allocate your time. Once you have an idea of what you have to do and a plan of action for it, your stress levels should start to decrease. As they say, you eat an elephant one bite at a time. 

10. Make a nutrient-dense breakfast. This one applies to any of you not practicing Intermittent Fasting. If you know that you wake up ravenously hungry, plan ahead. When you do your next shop, pick out ingredients for a healthy breakfast that can either be made quickly (if you’re crunched for time) or the night before (e.g. overnight oats). If you like to eat at home in the morning, I would highly suggest taking your time to eat and chew the food thoroughly. Eating quickly can result in indigestion and stress on the gut. If you all would like to see some simple and healthy recipes for breakfast, just let me know and I’d be happy to put a few together :)

11. Prepare food to bring with you during the day (can also be done the night before). I will touch on this a bit more in the how to meal prep blog post coming next week but I thought I’d mention it briefly here. If you have an office job or know that you are going to be out of the house for a few hours running errands, prepare some food in advance that you can take with you. This can be done either in big batches 1-2x a week, or each morning before you leave the house. Having healthy food on hand will not only save you money but will help you stay on track with your fitness goals. 

12. Get dressed and go! Now that you’ve taken the time to wake up, prepare the body and mind for the day and eaten, you’re ready to take on the day. So go out there with a clear mind and do the best you can :)

Thank you all for stopping by this week. I hope that this blog provided you with some good tips that you can start implementing into your morning routine. As always, if you have any tips that you live by but that I didn’t mention here, please let me know either down below or on Instagram :)

See you all here next week!

xoxo,

Alexandra 

Sources:

1. “What Happens in Your Mouth While You Sleep?” Le Downs Dentistry, 13 June 2016, www.ledownsdentistry.com/happens-mouth-sleep/.