Healthy Morning Routine for a Productive Day

Mornings are meant for planning, fitness, motivation, positivity, and happiness. A good morning routine can give you the kickstart for a productive day.

In our hectic schedule, many of us find it difficult to get up early in the morning and spare some minutes for ourselves which may affect our physical and mental health in the long run.

People who wake up early have more organized thought processes, more productive time, fewer distractions, and better concentration.

Many of the world’s top leaders and CEOs are early risers who follow their morning rituals for a healthy mind and body and emphasize their importance.

Initially, it may seem difficult to have a morning routine. However, following some simple, easy steps can do wonders and will not take more than 30 minutes. Gradually, these morning rituals will become your habit and start transforming your life in all aspects, whether physically, mentally, spiritually, or financially.

This article will discuss the simple morning steps that are easy to adopt and will boost your productivity, health, and happiness.

Table of Contents

1. Sleep Early to Wake up Early

2. Practice Gratitude

3. Hydrate Yourself

4. Do some Exercise

5. Take a Bath

6. Have a Healthy Breakfast

7. Conclusion

· Sleep Early to Wake up Early

How you feel in the morning depends on the night before. Waking up early doesn’t mean you have to compromise your sleep quality. A good sound sleep is necessary to keep you energized throughout the day.

The following night routine will help you wake up early and feel fresh.

1. Have an Early Dinner

It is recommended to eat your dinner at least 4 hours before sleep. So, if sleep at 11 PM, you should have your dinner by 7 PM.

An early dinner has many health benefits including good digestion and sleep quality. The dinner should be light and should not include deep-fried foods, alcohol, and coffee.

2. The Room should be sleep-friendly

The bed’s mattress and cushions should be comfortable. The room should be dark and noise-free. The room temperature should be adjusted as per convenience.

There should not be any foul smell in the room and room fresheners should be used to make it smell good.

3. Keep away the Phones and other Screens

Blue light emitting from mobiles, laptops, and televisions suppresses melatonin production (the sleep hormone). Avoid using mobiles and laptops during bedtime.

Reading a book before bed can make you feel relaxed and help you sleep faster.

4. Meditate for better sleep

A simple meditation of 10 minutes before sleep can calm your mind, remove negative thoughts, and help you sleep better.

Sit and just focus on your breath, watch the air going into the body and coming out, and don’t bother about the thoughts coming into the mind during the meditation. Gradually all the thoughts will stop and you will start feeling relaxed.

5. Make a To-do list for the next day

Make a short to-do note for the next day. Writing down the next day’s important work will help you organize the work, manage time efficiently, avoid the ruckus, and make you more productive.

· Practice Gratitude

As soon as you wake up don’t immediately check your mobile phone, sit quietly on the bed recite any prayer you like, and try to memorize all the good things in your life; your relationships, health, nature, etc.

Be thankful to God for waking you up and providing a new day to fulfill your dreams and enjoy life, ask for support and guidance to do good deeds for yourself and society.

Relax and sit for 5 to 10 minutes with your eyes closed and breathe deeply, it will fill you with positivity and energize you for the day.

· Hydrate Yourself

Your body doesn’t get water during the sleeping hours which makes it dehydrated, drinking a glass of water after waking hydrates and replenishes the water deficiency.

Morning saliva present in your mouth has several health benefits, drinking water puts the saliva in your stomach and promotes gut health.

Drinking water in the morning can help kick-start your metabolism which has been lying idle at night.

Water can help remove toxins from the body and ease bowel movement. Moreover, it will make you feel energized and enhance your mood.

· Do some Exercise

After getting fresh, perform some light stretching, a cardio workout, and some bodyweight exercises. The whole workout will not take more than 20 minutes and will exponentially boost your physical and mental health.

The following is a quick workout plan to energize you and keep you active throughout the day.

1. Stretching

Stretching relaxes your muscles and provides flexibility. Staying idle overnight makes muscles stiff, stretching helps loosen them and allows them to perform better.

Major muscle groups should be properly stretched before any workout. Doing exercises without proper stretching may cause injury.

You can perform these light stretching exercises to loosen up your body.

· Calf Stretch

· Hamstring Stretch

· Shoulder Stretch

· Neck Stretch

· Quadriceps Stretch

· Knee to chest stretch

A set of each with 10 reps will be enough and not take more than 5 minutes.

2. Cardio Workout

Any workout that increases your heart rate is considered a cardiovascular workout. Many benefits of cardio workouts include increased stamina, better mood, good heart health, weight loss, etc.

You can do any of the following workouts for 5 to 10 minutes at your convenience.

· Skipping

· Jogging in Place

· Jumping Jack

· Stair Climbing

· Burpee

· Butt Kicks

Slowly perform the exercise for a couple of minutes and increase the intensity gradually. Don’t over-push yourself; if you feel uncomfortable or exhausted, take a rest and start when you are comfortable.

3. Resistance workout

When we put stress on the muscles, they undergo microscopic damage which the body repairs leading to muscle growth and strength.

Resistance workouts strengthen your muscles, improve bone density and joint health, and reduce the risk of injury.

A pair of dumbbells is enough to target all major muscle groups. You can also use your body weight to work out your major muscle groups. A few effective bodyweight exercises are:

· Push-ups

· Pull-ups

· Sit-ups

· Squats

· Planks

· Lunges

You can take any two of the above workouts and perform 2 sets of 10 reps each. It is generally recommended to do upper and lower body workouts on alternate days.

4. Relax and cool down

After the workout lay down on the floor with your hands and legs relaxed. Close your eyes and take deep breaths. Stay in this position for at least 5 minutes.

Keep the workout area ventilated so that you can get enough oxygen to rejuvenate your body.

· Take a Bath

Bathing not only cleanses your body but also helps remove negative thoughts from your mind and boosts your productivity.

Take around 20 minutes of rest to let your body cool down. Do your miscellaneous activities during this time like reading a newspaper, brushing your teeth, watering the plants, etc.

Avoid using extreme cold and hot water for bathing as it can remove natural oils from the body, use lukewarm water to rinse your body properly.

Use body wash or gels that are gentle on the skin, traditional soaps can sometimes be harsh.

· Have a Healthy Breakfast

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. We often take breakfast for granted and head to work with tea, coffee, or an empty stomach which may affect our productivity.

Our metabolism is at its peak in the morning, so breakfast should be healthy and full of nutrients. Skipping breakfast may hamper your metabolism and can make you feel lethargic for the rest of the day.

A proper breakfast should consist of protein, complex carbohydrates, healthy fats, and fiber. You can include eggs, seeds, nuts, oats, whole wheat bread, milk, yogurt, etc.

Consume seasonal fruits instead of fruit juices. Fruits contain fiber which is good for your gut health and doesn’t cause blood sugar spikes.

· Conclusion

“Habits are not made in a day”, simple lifestyle changes day by day can lead to a healthy lifestyle. You need not change your morning routine drastically, go slow and let your body take time to adjust to the new routine.

There is a popular saying “Do what you can with what you have from where you are”. It's not about intensity, it's all about consistency. You can customize your morning routine according to your goals, just remember it covers all three aspects: physical, mental, and spiritual wellness.

Don’t try to achieve perfection in the beginning, it will come with time; all you need is to stick with the process and the results will follow.

Sometimes a monotonous morning routine may cause boredom, to avoid this keep switching types of workouts and healthy foods. It is okay to take a rest day on the weekend, it will rejuvenate you to follow the healthy routine on the weekdays and help increase your productivity.