5 Morning Habits That Make or Break Your Entire Day
What you do in the morning can affect your mood for the entire day. Morning habits can make or break your entire day. Some can help you and some cause you harm. It is important to use this time wisely and set yourself up for success. Best of all, you don’t need 2 hours to benefit.
Learn what habits are good and which you are better off without. Use this quick list to learn ways you can improve your mood, clear your mind, and provide yourself with happiness and success today!
5 Morning Habits That Make or Break Your Day
What you do in the morning has a significant impact on the rest of your day. In fact, studies have found that morning habits and routine, when done right, have life-changing benefits like reducing mental illness, boosting concentration, and increasing overall wellbeing.
Without further ado, here are 5 habits that you either need to stop doing, or start doing, immediately! They can either make or break your day.
1. Grabbing Your Phone
Picture it, you set your alarm, go to bed, and wake up said alarm screeching. You reach for your phone to stop the noise, and welp, your phone is in your hand. You start scrolling. About 80% of individuals check their phones within the first 15 minutes of waking, so you’re not alone. It’s one of those morning habits almost all of us share.
This is one of the worst ways to start your day. Scrolling through your phone on social media, looking through videos, texting all prime your brain for distraction. The time between sleep and wake is a state where we should concentrate on ourselves internally and stay in those brain waves where creativity flows.
Using your phone forces high activity in the brain that can trigger our nervous system, making us tense, anxious, and stressed. This is especially true if you are reading the news or whatever clickbait headline that pops up as a notification.
Instead, try using an alarm that isn’t your phone and take about 15 minutes to work through a simple and quick routine.
2. Making Your Bed
It’s tempting to roll out of bed and just move on with your day sometimes, particularly on days when you don’t feel your best. However, maybe you end up doing your bed anyway out of necessity or spite. Well, this is actually one habit you want to continue.
Making your bed when you wake up is a great way to start your day off on a positive note. Plus, you feel accomplished as you complete a task. When you make your bed, your brain sends signals of dopamine into your body as a treat from doing something. Though it may be a subtle change, when you start to pay attention, it makes all the difference. Making your bed can even help regulate emotion, increase productivity throughout the day, and calm the mind.
3. Moving Your Body
A habit many of us have is stretching a little bit once we wake up. This is a habit we need to keep up and even expand! Movement as part of your morning habits can help you in body and mind. In the morning, you want a small, simple routine that fills up your cup. In other words, something that contributes positivity and wellbeing into your life.
Moving your body in a way that feels good is an easy way to fuel your mind and body. There are even some stretches that you can do from the comfort of your bed. In any case, movement in the morning can help increase concentration, reduce tension and pain in your muscles, and boost heart health. Try out some stretches, do some yoga, or go for a 5 minute walk. Any movement is good movement.
4. Watch TV or Use Phone While Eating
Most of the time we tend to scroll on our phones for content, turn on the tv, or stream a show while we eat but this can cause many problems. It causes us to ignore our food, the taste, sight, and smell, and makes us more likely to overeat as a result of the distraction.
Eating mindfully can help you digest well, eat slower, and feel fuller faster. When you eat, try to make it a nutritious, healthy, calorie dense, high protein meal. I know, lots of factors, but the hype is real; avocado toast with eggs sunny side up is the ultimate breakfast. It is important to eat healthy carbs, fats, and protein in the first meal of the day so you are full and satisfied through the rest of it.
5. Planning Your Day
The morning is a great time to put pen to paper and write it all out. You can use this time to plan your day. Planning your day in the morning will allow you to make the most of your time, concentrate on the important things, and make space to enjoy yourself.
You can even use this time to journal. Write down your feelings, use the time to be creative, or work through a problem. If you write things down, it is less likely to feel overwhelming in your head. This can allow you to feel lighter, more in control, and ready to take on the day.
Don’t know where to start with journaling? No problem! Check out these journaling techniques or try some of these prompts out to get you started.
The Takeaway
Starting off on the right side of the bed is vital. Morning habits can set up your day for either success or failure. Use these simple habits that can either make or break your day to help guide you in the right direction. Try not to pick up your phone for the first 15 minutes, sit in silence for a couple of seconds, and make your bed instead. Move your body by stretching or doing yoga, then have a well-balanced meal with plenty of protein and plan out your day.
Remember that health comes from within, so try to eat nutritious food, move your body daily, and take care of your mental health. What you eat and do become building blocks for health, emotional, mental, and physical. Take care of your gut health too for even more health benefits! Learn everything you need to know about gut microbiota today for free here.
