The importance of mornings
How you start your day sets the tone for the rest of it. Most of us rely on our habits in the morning to get going before we are fully awake. Your morning habits can either set you up for success or they can sabotage you. If you wake up late and have to rush out the door you are going to begin your workday frazzled. If you get a leisurely start and have time for a good breakfast you will bounce in to work full of energy and ready to take on the world!Here are 5 bad habits to consider changing.
Snoozing your alarm You know the story, your alarm goes off but you don’t want to get up yet – so you snooze it. The problem is going back to sleep messes up your REM sleep by starting a new sleep cycle and then having to wake up 10 minutes in to it. This leads to grogginess that can take hours to get rid of.
Get in to the habit of getting up as soon as your alarm goes off.
Get in to the habit of getting up as soon as your alarm goes off.
Skipping water
What is the first thing you drink in the morning? If you are like most people its probably a cup of coffee. The problem is your body wakes up dehydrated after a night of sleep. Dehydration slows you down and can put you in a bad mood. Drinking water has a host of benefits.
It’s actually a good idea to hold off drinking your first cup of coffee until 10am! Your body creates the largest amounts of the energizing hormone cortisol between 6 and 10 a.m. If it gets used to getting coffee it will start producing less of it – and you’ll end needing to drink more coffee!
Make it a habit to drink a glass of water as soon as you get up.
It’s actually a good idea to hold off drinking your first cup of coffee until 10am! Your body creates the largest amounts of the energizing hormone cortisol between 6 and 10 a.m. If it gets used to getting coffee it will start producing less of it – and you’ll end needing to drink more coffee!
Make it a habit to drink a glass of water as soon as you get up.
Checking social media
You might just think you’re “catching up” but according to Business Insider it actually makes you worry that you have missed something. This actually puts you in a negative mindset for the day. Other studies have shown that social media can lead to increased anxiety and decreased feelings of overall well-being.
Replace your habit of checking social media with reading a few pages from an inspiring book or blog instead.
Replace your habit of checking social media with reading a few pages from an inspiring book or blog instead.
Watching morning news
According to the Harvard Business Review watching just three minutes of negative news in the morning means you have a 27 percent greater chance of feeling unhappy for up to eight hours. This will result in a bad mood starting work which actually hinders your productivity. They also recommend turning off news alerts on your phone. Instead start the day with some good news.
Leaving your curtains closed
Sunlight is literally natures cue for your body stop producing the sleep hormone melatonin and that it is time for you to wake up and start your day. Being exposed to the sun between 6am and 8.30am resets your biological clock so you can function better during the day and fall asleep easier at night.
I suggest picking just one of these habits and see what a difference it can make!
I suggest picking just one of these habits and see what a difference it can make!