9 Wellness Habits to Start Your Day
A consistent morning routine can be a game changer for how your day is going to go. It can boost your energy levels, reduce stress and increase your productivity, but have you considered implementing a morning wellness routine? Starting each morning with a routine that promotes wellness is key if you want to incorporate healthy habits into your day. It will set the tone of your day in a healthy way.
Wellness is achieved by creating healthy habits and it’s crucial for improving or maintaining your health. Good health equates to quality of life and who doesn’t want a great quality of life? If this is you, you’re going to want to create a morning wellness routine with these 7 habits that will change your life!
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1. Wake up refreshed
The first and most important thing is to begin the day feeling refreshed. In order to do that you need to get quality sleep the night before and be able to wake up with enough time to do things for yourself that will start your day off right. To make sure that your sleep habits are up to par, read 14 Tips for Better Sleep. You’ll be sleeping well in no time!
2. Drink lemon water
This one is a non-negotiable for your morning wellness! Drink a glass of warm lemon water first thing. Drinking warm lemon water on an empty stomach enhances digestion. It’s also a yummy way to hydrate and it provides a quick vitamin C boost before you even get going on your day. And don’t worry, after you do this, you can grab your coffee or tea and move on to the next habit!
3. Quiet time & Prayer
For me, it’s super important to set the tone of my day by getting into the Word! There is truly no better way than to start by reading Scripture and praying, submitting the day to Lord and His will for it. This is a habit that is so powerful for your mental well being and gets your mind and heart ready for the day. For some people this may look different than what I do and you might prefer to meditate or write in a gratitude journal. But whichever you decide to do, just be sure that this type of a practice is a staple in your morning wellness routine.
4. Take A Walk
I love to wake up and take my son out for a walk before I even make breakfast some days but the goal is always to start the day with some kind of movement. It’s not only beneficial to your health to start your day with exercise early, but also the exposure to sunlight will help regulate your circadian rhythm. A boost of serotonin puts you in a good mood and you get natural vitamin D right off the bat. A bonus is that you miss the heat of the day if you go early. Only good comes from moving your body early in the morning.
5. Eat A Healthy Breakfast
This one may seem obvious but the spectrum of what foods are healthy is different by everyone’s standards. When I say healthy, I’m referring to eating clean meats and whole foods. Some of our favorite breakfast options are raw yogurt with berries and granola with a drizzle of honey, homemade chia pudding, eggs, bell peppers, grape tomatoes and cucumber, avocado on sourdough, etc. We always have fruit on hand and I keep some sausage and uncured bacon in the freezer. My boys tend to eat a lot.
Another thing to keep in mind is that breakfast can also be leftovers from last night’s dinner. Americans tend to struggle to be stuck in a mental box when choosing breakfast foods. But think outside of the box when choosing what to eat for breakfast. You can eat any healthy whole foods for breakfast. It doesn’t have to be the typical cereal or oatmeal and toast. For example, the other morning (true story) I ate a leftover burger with sauerkraut and a small sweet potato. It was leftovers and I was hungry and had no ‘typical’ breakfast food!
6. Dry Brush
I’m a big believer in the importance of keeping those lymph nodes flowing. Before you shower, gently use a dry brush to get blood and lymphatic fluid moving. This will improve circulation as well as exfoliate your skin. It is also a detoxifier and can boost your immune system.
7. Take a Cold Shower
Taking a cold shower may not sound fun right now, but after your walk, you might feel differently! They also bring along some great benefits to your health. You may have heard of cold plunges or cryotherapy. Both are similar in theory, but much more intense than a cold shower. Cold showers can boost your immunity, reduce depression and improve circulation. This is something you can do at home to start your day as a part of your morning wellness routine.
8. Get Dressed
Lose the PJ’s or sweats and get dressed! Whether you go into an office, work from home or as a stay at home mom, it’s important for your mental wellness to get up and get yourself ready the same way you would if you were leaving the house for work. Doing your hair, putting on some makeup (if that’s your thing!) and putting on clothes you feel good in can boost your mood, improve your productivity and increase your confidence!
9. Brain Dump
One of the most overwhelming things is randomly recalling all the things that you need to do, buy, schedule or remember. One key to mental health and lowered stress levels is to do a brain dump each morning. On a handy notepad, write down all the things that you need to do that day. This will take a load off your brain and allow you to focus on prioritizing the most important tasks. We often underestimate the amount of stress we are carrying at any given time. Implementing small changes like this to alleviate some of your stress, are steps taken to protect your health. Being a cancer survivor, I’m well aware that stress can and WILL affect your body, so it’s important to learn to manage it well and reduce it as much as you can.
Creating a morning wellness routine and actually putting these habits into practice will put you on the road to a more peaceful and healthy start to your morning. After these are all accomplished, you will be ready to tackle the day and whatever comes.
Great article thank you. Morning routines are so important to start your day!