Is it true that a morning routine can change my life for the better?

Is it true that a morning routine can change my life for the better? 

For many, morning is the most important part of the day. Yet more often than not, morning is either the most hectic and stress-inducing time or it is when we feel the most lazy or unmotivated. 

Mornings set the mood for the entire day, and they can be a time where we can make powerful choices that have positive effects on our day to day life. 

How can we make more of our mornings count? 

An effective morning routine may set us up for a fulfilling, and a less stressful day. Routines are actions that we do without conscious effort or thought. Routines provide us the structure for our day so that fewer conscious decisions are made and actions are easier to do. 

Morning Routine Benefits

• Routines become automatic, decreasing decision fatigue. Making decisions consistently for various actions can deplete our energy. When morning routines are formed, we can focus our energy on making more important decisions all throughout our day. Thus we become more productive, less anxious and less stressed. 

1. Routines are actions that are hard to break. If our morning routine is composed of actions that promote our well-being, they become part of our identity and are hard to lose.
2. Routines energize and improve alertness. An effective morning routine allows us to avoid rushing from one thing to the next because we have set up a schedule for waking up, fixing our bed, or maybe even putting on music and for stretching. Each activity has its own time, so there is no need to hurry. 

What activities can we incorporate to our morning routine? 

• Move your body. Exercising makes our body produce hormones like serotonin and norepinephrine. They are our body's happy hormones and they act as natural painkillers. Exercise, a form of stress to the body, can stimulate our body’s natural stress response in a more controlled way. It increases our body’s ability to respond to different stressors it would encounter. 

Feeling happy after exercise? That’s because these hormones also give us feelings of bliss even up to two hours after exercise! (2) Get into the healthy habit of adding physical activity in your mornings. It becomes easier to do over time. 

• Care for your body with a healthy first meal.  It has been found that the rise in being overweight and obese in Western countries happened together with fewer people eating breakfast. Moreover, those who eat breakfast are more energetic than those who have their first meal in the middle of the day. Today’s busy lifestyle has normalized just drinking coffee in the morning, but it does not provide a working and healthy adult with the nutrients it needs. 

How can eating a healthy first meal be easy to do in the morning? Preparing something light and nutritious the night before can help us consume a healthy meal without taking too much time in the morning. 

• Start the day with a positive and proactive mindset. Planning how you will spend your day allows you to take charge of your thoughts, feelings and actions. Instead of walking up and reacting immediately to all the information we receive from the news, social media notifications, work messages and emails, we can choose to integrate “life-giving” activities first, like quiet time and meditation, reading a book, eating something healthy, drinking tea or stretching, before we dive into work mode. 

How do we practice being proactive? We can make a list of things we want and need to do so that we avoid making random decisions in the morning and neglect what’s important. 

Setting up the right morning routine lessens our anxiety, makes us more productive and energized, conserves our energy and allows us to make impactful decisions. 

A word of caution though. As you set up your routine, prioritize incorporating just one or two activities first. Making so many changes all at once can be overwhelming. You are more likely to find success in adding healthy activities one at a time because you can test out and solve possible barriers. 

Lastly, if making decisions has been difficult for you lately, and you notice yourself becoming exhausted quickly, entertaining a lot of negative thoughts, and struggling with anxiety, seek help from your doctor or a mental health professional.

If you are a mental health professional, browse through the premier healthcare job board to find healthcare career opportunities that fit you.