Starting your mornings with the right habits help you prepare for a happy, positive and a productive day.
Here are 6 morning habits you need to build for a healthy lifestyle.
Hydrate
The first thing that you should do upon waking up is drink plenty of water to rehydrate your body. Drinking water first thing in the morning activates your brain and gets you ready for the day. In Ayurveda, ‘ushapan’ which is drinking warm water about 90 minutes before sunrise, is considered beneficial for the digestive system. It also purifies your kidneys and urinary tracts by flushing out the toxins from the body.
Exercise
Any form of physical exercise has innumerable benefits on our overall health. Study shows that people who exercise everyday lead a happier, healthier and more successful life than people who don’t. Though there are different types of exercises meant to achieve different health benefits, one should try to incorporate all in their routine. You can kickstart your day by:
- Stretching your body activates your muscles and improves the blood flow in the body. It also help prevent injuries during more vigorous workouts and day-to-day activities.
- Running/ Jogging helps in building stamina, burning calories and managing blood pressure levels.
- Yogasanas (Yoga poses) not only helps in practicing balance and improving flexibility, but also has several physical and spiritual benefits. Different types of yoga and yoga asanas are practiced to cure certain ailments.
- Strength training helps build muscular strength, burns fat and tones your body. It helps in relieving stress, enhancing sleep quality and also promotes cardiovascular health.
Meditate
A fresh day starts with a fresh and focused mind. Meditating each morning alleviates your stress levels by letting you focus on the present rather than anticipating and worrying about the future or past. Sitting in a quiet place, with your entire focus turned inwards on your breath and bodily sensations helps you relax your mind and also cultivate self-awareness.
Say Positive affirmations
Clear away all the negativity and self-doubt in your mind with positive and mindful affirmations. Affirming means that whatever you say, you believe it to be absolutely true. When you repeat certain phrases everyday, the negative thinking patterns in your brain start to dissipate. New patterns of positive thinking are developed in the brain with the help of affirmations, and this leads to a mindset shift.
Saying positive affirmations in the morning reduces anxiety, boost your self-esteem and allows you to approach the day with optimism.
Eat a healthy breakfast
Eating healthy foods like fresh fruits, green juices, soaked nuts and seeds, herbal tea, in the morning is crucial as it impacts your mental and physical performance for the entire day. You need to feel energized and happy in order to be productive at work. So, make a wise choice to eat a healthy and nutritious breakfast everyday!
Plan your day
Making a to-do list or simply planning your day beforehand helps you become more organized and focused. It saves you a lot of time by assigning specific time-frame to each task. Planning your day also means that you prioritize your tasks which can help you remain focused until their completion. Completion of a task leaves you with a sense of accomplishment and you feel productive.