Making marvelous mornings a daily occurrence is absolutely possible! If you want a healthy, happy life, then getting your mornings right can be your best step forward. Not enough people think about this. Just consider how you start your day. Do you wake up groggy and tired, reaching for that cup of coffee with eyes half-shut? Do you worry about how much time you have before work every day? Do you stress about the busy day ahead?
If you take a step back, you’ll likely see that this is not a healthy way of doing things. Wearing yourself out can easily happen if you’re not careful, and over the long term the morning stresses are sure to accumulate and drive you a bit crazy.
This is why the morning is the most important thing to get right. This mini-guide will help you do that:
Get Enough Sleep
I know the feeling when nighttime comes and the racing pace of the day leads you to feel the most energetic before going to bed. Maybe you go on Messenger and chat with friends or that special someone for a while.
Or you might unwind and watch Netflix for a couple of hours. However, it can be worthwhile to instead follow the best bedtime advice, and that you maintain a strict schedule from day one. Without this, you are much more likely to collapse into morning fatigue.
Simply getting enough sleep – but not too much sleep – can wildly improve your morning performance. This means that you go to bed at the same time every night, have clean bed sheets, quit drinking coffee after 4 pm, and you spend at least an hour at night unwinding as best you can. It’s not hard to do once you get the hang of it, and usually small beneficial changes in your habits can lead to big things later on. Take care of this now and you’ll likely see great results over time.
Morning Shower
If you usually shower at night… Don’t. Switch that shower to the morning and just see how much more refreshed you become. Bear with me as you’re likely not going to enjoy hearing about this next tip. Cold showers can be the best way to wake up in the morning. There, I said it.
Why is this? Well, it’s not hard to understand that cold water hitting your back will often shock you into an alert state. This sounds like torture, but it’s absolutely worth it.
Not only does the cold water rid you of any body fatigue and mental cobwebs almost immediately, but it also helps your heart by raising its BPM and your nervous system will respond in kind. The feeling after coming out of a cold shower is truly amazing, and it can often completely replace the need for a morning coffee.
It can also help you become more mentally tough over the weeks; your boss’ lecture isn’t as bad when you faced the challenge of ice cold water that morning!
The health benefits of doing this are well documented. You also needn’t convince yourself that the entire shower should be done in an iced state. You can enjoy a warm shower, and then turn the tap to cold in the last few minutes. This is enough to give you the benefits and wake you up, all without too rude an awakening in the morning.
Diet
Sleep is also highly impacted by how hydrated you are. While you might need to wake once in the night to relieve yourself as you’ve had plenty of water during the day, this inconvenience is minor in comparison to the benefit of waking up feeling healthy. You won’t have that morning dry mouth and your body has all the nutrients and minerals it needs to make a solid healing contribution when you’re asleep.
Gently Waking
The alarm you choose in the morning can either hurt or benefit your wake cycle. Ignore loud, obnoxious alarms. If you can, opt for a sleep app instead that slowly wakes you up within the sleep cycles you usually enjoy. This allows your body to wake you naturally and provides feeling of calm awakening as you slowly come to consciousness.
Use this guide to improve each morning from here on out so it is nothing but conducive to your career. You’ll be more alert, feeling healthier, and make the most of your day!
As I get older, getting enough sleep is huge for me!!! Great suggestions, Christy! 🌠🌠🌠🌠
Sending a BIG hug your way!
💜🌠
Well I can sort out most of the list but I am partial to a bit of morning love which puts me in a good mood for the day….sadly that bit isn’t there,maybe that’s why I’m not operating well in the mornings
I like to put in a half hour to an hour working on my next Art Gown. I do this while enjoying my morning coffee! Then I shower. :D xx
I’m all about the morning coffee ;)
:D
Thanks, Christy! I always dreaded mornings…but now I’m actually a morning person. I love early mornings with coffee and preparing for another day. I also LOVE what I do, so that certainly helps too. :)
Happy Friday! Thanks again. :)
I am so not a morning person! I do or have tried most of these tips except for the cold water. The thing that works best for me is adhering to a strict bedtime. If I manage that, I feel much better in the morning.
Yes, going to bed at the same time each night is best for the body – routine is what the body likes ;) Hope you get a nice rest tonight, Amy.
I would just like to warn my family: I might be trying some of these suggestions and not sure of the ramifications
Hahaha!!
Christy, this is all wonderful advice and I do follow all but your suggestion of a cold shower. You don’t want to be around me after a cold shower. Just ask my husband or my sons. Our water heater went out on a Friday evening before a holiday weekend. Our plumber was unable to get a new water heater to install before his supplier opened on Tuesday. (We are talking about pre-Lowes-Home Depot stores). Cold showers left me the meanest, grumpiest person – a total 360 from my usual happy self. My sons tried to talk my husband into getting me a hotel room for the weekend.
Early to bed and early to rise… and the girls go out with the other guys.
Very refreshing Christy! Thanks for sharing such great tips👍🏼
I too believe mornings are the best to turn your day around. Even I worked upon 5 such habits that are meant to bring a positive change in life. You might enjoy reading this too.
https://aarzoorose.wordpress.com/2018/04/04/5-habits-that-are-meant-to-bring-a-positive-change-in-your-life/
It would be great if I wake up with no reminders of to-do list running through my mind. :)
I haaaate mornings. I am absolutely not a morning person, so reading all these tips made me cringe each time inside because you’re so right, I would hate doing any of that haha like showering in the morning, not winding down with Netflix or other energizing hobbies, etc. It’s tortuous because I know you’re right!!! My favorite tip is the last one though. Never really thought of that… Like something that would gradually get louder but still sound peaceful? That might be nice…
I became a morning person because I had a paper route as a boy; six days a week for seven years. It was hell on my social life because I usually can’t sleep past 6 am no matter when I go to bed, but whenever I wanted to take a class from a popular professor I’d just wait for them to have an 8 am class and sign up for that.
Haha nice! I remember in college, I’d avoid all morning classes like the plague. My brain can’t function that early, but it was a bit trickier when some of the good professors or more interesting classes were scheduled early :\ I probably missed out on a lot because of my obstinacy against early mornings…
Great tips. My problem is not getting enough sleep. I have to work on that
Great tips, Christy! I take my magnesium at night…glad I’m doing something right. :)
Great article! I totally fail at getting enough sleep! Will work on that 😉
Awesome tips, thank you! :)
I find that keeping to a regular routing really helps me sleep well, but I might pass on the cold shower although i can see the reason behind it.
sleep is so important. This has been a priority recently.
Glad to hear you’ve been focusing on getting more sleep xx
I agree that diet is very important for many reasons in our life. Great post!
Great points, Christy. My spouse used to do the warm/cold shower routine. I had only cold showers when I traveled in the developing world and I must say, I prefer the warm!
And then brace myself for Mordor.
Hugs!
With some elvish bread and a trusty friend…
I’m a night shower kind of gal but I’m not a morning person . I’m going to try these helpful tips and hopefully I’ll become a better morning person. <3
Ha! Would be nice to awake smoothly :)
A cold shower in the morning does sound like torture (but then it could be worth it if it prepares me for torture during the day job)! Maybe I’ll just try the cold at the end of the shower trick. :)
Love this helpful advice, Christy. My beloved grandmother taught me a beautiful life lesson by her actions about morning routines. She actually used to keep Joy dishwashing liquid in the windowsill above the sink in her kitchen because her morning routine always began with a cuppa joe. She’d see the bottle of Joy and remind herself to “Begin each day with Joy.” True story!
Awww I love that story, Micki. Are you interested in writing a guest post about it? I would feature your blog within the post and any other content you want to highlight xx
I would be honored!
Great! Feel free to fill out the form here at my About page. That will take you to my email and then we’ll go from there.