How to Supercharge Your Morning

Let’s face it, mornings (especially Mondays) can suck…but they don’t have to. There are ways to improve how you start your day, no matter if you rise at 4:30 or 11:30. While some of the following suggestions might not be for everyone (I, for one, am certainly not getting under a cold shower ever, let alone when I get out of a warm bed), you should be able to incorporate a few into your morning routine to get your day started in the right direction. Simply pick and choose those that pique your interest, try them out, and keep what works for you and discard the others.

• Ensure you get enough sleep the previous night- this is fairly obvious, no? However, you’d be surprised how many of us do NOT get enough sleep. In surveys, over 70% of Americans report failing to get enough sleep (7-9 hours) at least once per month and 11% report not getting enough sleep every night. Also, it’s estimated that sleep-related issues affect 50 to 70 million Americans. It’s difficult to get going in the morning if you’ve only slept for 5 hours the previous night. Let’s work on that.
• Don’t touch that snooze button. Even drifting off for 5-10 minutes after your alarm awakens you can cause you to feel even more listless when that damn alarm re-fires. When you drift off again, you’re signaling to your body to re-release sleep hormones for some more deep sleep. Then, when you re-awaken 7 minutes later, your body’s like, WTF? You’ve just awoken at the START of a sleep cycle rather than at the end and that can cause sleepy repercussions for hours after.
• Postpone your first cup of coffee. When you awaken, your body produces the stress hormone, cortisol, to get your body up and moving. Drinking coffee as soon as you arise limits your body’s production of cortisol which delays your body’s efforts to wake itself up naturally. If you rise at 7:00AM for a 9:00AM start to your day, wait until 10:00 or so for your first cup of joe.
• If the weather allows, get some early morning sun. Exposure to sun as you start your day has been shown to improve mood, boost cognition and improve sleep quality that evening. Simply by grabbing a glass of lemon water while you sit on the back deck or balcony soaking up some morning sunlight can signal to your body that it’s time to get the day started.
• Perform, like, 10 minutes of exercise as this has been proven to lower anxiety levels, improve mood, and release hormones and brain chemicals that increases memory and cognition. The oxygenated blood flooding your muscles as you exercise will also supercharge those muscles for an active and busy day. Best of all, you can use body weight exercises, such as squats, jumping jacks, push-ups, planks, step-ups, lunges, sit-ups and dips to derive these benefits. If you can do these exercises out in the morning sun, so much the better.
• Embrace the cold in the form of a quick, cold shower or a brisk walk outside in the cold with minimal clothing. Yes, this will decrease inflammation within the body, improve your sleep quality, and offer some pain reduction, but it will also improve your willpower over time. Let’s face it, if you can force yourself to endure cold water first thing in the morning, you can endure the various annoyances you face throughout your day. Many who endure this ritual on a daily basis report losing weight and/or overcoming various addictions as well.
• Crank the tunes while you begin your day and make sure those tunes are your favorite, upbeat songs. Your favorite songs can be potent performance enhancers as they release the pleasure chemical, dopamine, within your brain. It can also improve your mood, decrease anxiety, improve exercise performance and memory.
• Finish with some meditation during which you list off all the things you’re grateful for in your life and visualize the day ahead. Meditation has been shown to improve empathy, reduce aggression and stress, reduce depression, improve sleep quality and improve self-confidence.

Remember, you don’t need to use every tip listed above. You’d be busy through lunchtime. Pick a few and make them part of your morning routine and you’ll be amazed how it affects the rest of your day.