How To Create a Healthy Morning Routine

How to create a healthy morning routine, The first step in establishing a healthy morning routine is setting aside enough time and making sure you aren’t rushing. Your routine can include things like exercise, meditation, and hydration.

1. Give Yourself Time

A healthy morning routine requires budgeting enough time. The prospect of getting up earlier might not sound appealing, but as long as you get enough sleep, rising earlier can be quite valuable.

The idea is to have enough time to take care of your needs, get yourself mentally prepared, and get to work or school without rushing.

2. Get a Good Night’s Sleep

Sufficient sleep—7-8 hours a night for most adults—promotes immunity, improves mental health, helps manage weight, and boosts work or school performance. Establishing a morning routine might mean getting up earlier, but this requires you to get enough uninterrupted rest the night before.

Steps to improve sleep include:

Go to bed and get up at consistent times every day.
Create a comfortable, quiet sleep space.
Don’t use screens or watch TV for at least 30 minutes before bed.
Avoid late-night snacks, large meals, or alcohol before bed.
Steer clear of caffeine in late afternoons.
Maintain a healthy diet and exercise regularly.

3. Drink Water

Staying hydrated helps prevent dehydration, which can cause symptoms like mental confusion, mood shifts, overheating, and constipation, Dehydration also increases the risk of kidney stones.

Start each morning with a glass or two of water before your morning coffee or tea.

4. Don’t Touch That Snooze Button

As tempting as that extra 5-7 minutes of rest may seem, it’s better to just get up. Hitting snooze is more likely to cause morning drowsiness and insufficient sleep the next night.

5. Eat a Healthy Breakfast

Eating breakfast may improve your overall nutrient intake, lower obesity and heart disease risk, and improve mental alertness. A healthy breakfast is well-balanced and rich in protein, fiber, healthy fats, vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients.

Aim for options that don’t include added salts or sugars. Possible healthy breakfast options include:

Homemade whole grain muffins with fruit (e.g., berries) and nuts
Smoothies made with fresh fruit, vegetables, and protein powder
Oatmeal with seeds
Scrambled eggs or tofu with vegetables and avocado
Whole-grain bread or sweet potato with nut butter
Yogurt and fresh fruit (e.g., bananas, apples, berries)

6. Adopt a Hygiene Routine

You can use the morning to perform necessary hygiene. This could include brushing your teeth for at least two minutes, washing your face, taking a shower, moisturizing your skin, shaving, and brushing your hair.

A routine like this can help wake you up while preventing disease spread, protecting teeth, and promoting healthy skin.

7. Play Brain Games

Playing a brain-stimulating game, like a crossword puzzle, is another way to cope with daily stress and prepare yourself for the day.

Word or number-based games positively affect cognitive function, attention, and memory in healthy adults.

8. Take Care of Quick Chores

It can be challenging to keep up with all of life’s obligations. For some, it can help to carve out some time for quick chores in the morning, such as light cleaning, laundry, or meal prep.

Try not to spend too much time doing this, or it will start to feel like a chore.

9. Get Creative

If you have a creative outlet, spending a little time with your craft or calling can be a valuable way to start your mornings. It can promote a healthier work-life balance, manage stress, and achieve an instant sense of fulfillment.

Whether you draw, paint, knit, garden, write, or play music, try to carve out space—even if just a few minutes—to engage your brain creatively.

10. Have Coffee or Tea

Set aside morning time for a cup of coffee or tea. Nutritional value aside, that cup can offer a moment of peace and reflection before the pressures of the day. If you’re a regular coffee or caffeinated tea drinker, the caffeine in these beverages can be even more important. Skipping the morning cup can trigger headaches.

11. Breathing Exercises or Meditation

Practicing meditation, breathwork, or mindfulness exercises can be a great addition to a healthy morning routine. It might include focusing on breathing, being present, and clearing your mind.

Breathing exercises and meditation can reduce symptoms of anxiety, high stress, and depression, as well as high blood pressure, chronic (long-term) pain, low-quality sleep, and weight control, among other conditions.

Even as little as 10-20 minutes every morning can help you start your day on a positive note.

12. Get Some Exercise

Physical activity is critical for overall health. The benefits include helping to manage weight, improve sleep, relieve stress, and reduce disease risk.

Exercise can be especially helpful in the morning since it can help boost energy levels and improve concentration.

Consider the 30-30-30 morning routine, which involves 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise and 30 grams of protein within 30 minutes of waking up.

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13. Positive Affirmations

Taking a moment to shift negative thought patterns can be a valuable way to start the day. One idea is writing down or verbalizing positive affirmations, which are positive statements that boost self-regard and self-esteem.

This practice eases stress, improves the sense of well-being, and improves professional or academic performance. A positive affirmation may sound like: “I am fearless and in control of my life” or “I am capable, good at what I do, and people like me.”

14. Make a List

If you often wake up stressed and anxious, budget time in the morning to make a to-do list. Writing down goals and tasks eases stress by freeing the mind from the burden of worrying about what needs to be done.

This practice also gives you a tangible sense of your goals and can ease anxiety.

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15. Catch Up With Loved Ones

Mornings can be an excellent time to focus on connecting with others. Strong social bonds help to manage mental health issues like depression and anxiety while promoting overall health. Take some time to focus on loved ones or family at home, or call a loved one, family member, or friend.

16. Listen to Music

Listening to music can help engage your mind and offers a broader range of benefits, such as easing tension and stress, reducing pain, and improving cognition, mood, and memory. Upbeat music can serve as motivation. Others may want to listen to something more soothing to regulate their nervous system.

17. Read

Pleasure reading can stimulate your mind, boost cognition, ease stress, and prepare you for the day. Regular book readers experience a 20% lower risk of death compared to non-readers.

Benefits of a Morning Routine

You may not be able to incorporate every tip into your morning routine, but having some sort of routine offers many potential benefits. For example:

Self-esteem: Morning affirmations, reading, and accomplishing errands in the mornings can all contribute to a healthier, more positive sense of self.
Overall health: Morning nutrition and regular exercise boost energy levels, strengthen muscles and bones, and improve immunity.
Improved mood: A morning routine that prioritizes meditation, social connection, exercise, music, or crafts can improve mood.
Cognition: Sleeping well, playing brain games, and reading in the morning can all help boost your ability to remember, reason, and make decisions.
Stress management: Habits like list-making, prioritizing quality sleep, reading, talking to loved ones, and meditating are all effective ways to manage stress and anxiety.
Nutrition: Prioritizing a healthy breakfast helps nourish your body for overall health, weight management, and disease prevention.

How To Create a Healthy Morning Routine