Healthy Morning Routine: 5 Habits to Start Your Day

A healthy morning routine is a habit to create positivity and fuel your wellbeing. It’s about starting your day off right to feed your soul and enhance your productivity throughout the day. When you take time just for yourself in the morning instead of rushing, you’ll boost your energy, improve your physical and mental health, and set your day up for success.

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Have you ever noticed that most successful people wake up early in the morning? And not just 6:30 am early… like 4:30 or 5:00 am before the sun even comes up!

Millionaires, successful business executives, and athletes, all seem to wake up early. And they say the benefits of starting the day sooner spread to their mindset, finances, performance, and success.

But you don’t necessarily have to wake up at 5:00 am to reap all the benefits of a morning routine. Even if you wake up just 30 minutes earlier, you may notice an improved mood, less stress, and more productive days.

If you have kids, you need a healthy morning routine

I don’t know about you, but if my kids wake me up, I feel like I’m already starting the day two steps behind. In the rush to get them dressed, fed, and out the door, I certainly don’t get any time for myself.

Suddenly the morning becomes a mad dash to get everyone and everything ready. I don’t have time to prioritize my day, my stress levels are heightened, and I’m left wondering when I’ll have time to fit in exercise during the day.

Back to school morning routine

With back-to-school season in high gear, now is the perfect time to implement these healthy habits and get into a routine. A healthy morning routine will help you start the day in a better mood, with more energy, and knowing you’re taking care of yourself so you can be a better parent.

Just 30 minutes of me-time can increase your daily productivity so you can do all the things.

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Set clear goals and priorities to use your time efficiently. Create productive routines and stop procrastinating. And find the energy to be productive all day instead of burning out.

Start the night before

Set yourself up for success by preparing the night before. Waking up at 5 am is hard enough, so don’t make it even harder by staying up late. Try to be in bed by 9:30 or 10:00 pm to avoid cutting your sleep time to less than 7 hours.

Make a morning plan

Plan for tomorrow morning so you don’t try to use the extra time in the morning to get things done around the house or searching for items.

Plan your meals and pack your lunch
Program your coffee maker or set out your coffee supplies
Tidy up the kitchen
Set your priorities for the day (personal and business)
Create a to-do list. Type it out or write it down so you won’t be worrying about all the things floating around in your mind.
Decide on a workout and gather all your equipment
Choose your clothes: set out your workout clothes (or wear them to sleep) and choose your outfit for the day.

Relax and wind down

Avoid blue light. Set your Night Shift on your phone to start at 4:00 pm. This will shift your screen display colors to the warmer end of the color spectrum
Set your alarm then put your phone away. Resist the urge to lay in bed reading emails, checking social media, or surfing the web.
Drink some Bedtime Tea that supports a good night’s sleep to help you wind down while reflecting on the day.
Read a good novel

Doing all of this the night before will ensure your morning routine is spent on self-care, and not household tasks or worrying about what needs to be done later in the day.

You have a limited amount of time in the morning, so keeping your morning routine on task maximizes the benefits and will help you be more productive.

Healthy Morning Routine Habits

1. Hydrate

Drink a large glass of water first thing in the morning. After 7-8+ hours without any fluid, your body is already dehydrated. A full glass of water will rehydrate and replenish your body to aid in digestion and metabolism for optimal function.

2. Silence

Sit in silence for a few minutes in a cozy spot. Do whatever feels natural: silence your thoughts to clear your mind, practice gratitude, meditate, or pray.

I love to curl up on the couch with a cup of black coffee and just sit in silence while allowing myself to wake up. Then I mentally list 2-3 things I’m grateful for while finishing the cup.

Don’t check your phone or start making your mental to-do list! This time is about reflection, deep breathing, and starting your morning peacefully.

3. Workout or physical activity

There’s no better feeling than knocking out a workout first thing in the morning and feeling accomplished before most people even wake up! And you won’t run the risk of being too tired after work or other obligations popping up throughout the day.

Moving your body and getting blood pumping through your can even increase mental clarity for up to 10 hours. Moreover, your energy, mood, and focus will be instantly improved.

Bodybuilding.com lists eight benefits to working out in the morning. Some of these include: hormonal advantage, improved focus and mood, and more time for other priorities.

Workouts

Go for a run, take a brisk walk, hit the gym, or lift weights at home.

My exercise recommendations:

Lean Fit Home Workout Guide (3x a week weight workouts and 2x week cardio)
10-Minute Fat Burning Workout (circuit style weights + core)
Lean Legs and Strong Back Workout (heavy weights + plyometric cardio bursts)
Chest, Shoulders, Triceps 20-Minute Workout (weights + bodyweight)
Barre for Sculpted Legs (low impact resistance)
Or any other home workout

Non-exercise physical activity

If you don’t like/want to exercise in the morning, do something good for your body to boost your energy and get your blood flowing. Even a short 10-minute yoga flow, stretching, foam rolling, or leisurely walk will invigorate your body

Aaptiv has some great morning yoga and stretching routines that are 10-20 minutes. All you have to do is put on your headphones, hit play, and a trainer coaches you through your workout with audio cues set to an awesome playlist. No thinking required, just follow along without ever needing to change out of your pajamas. Get a free 30-day trial here!

4. Fuel your body

Replenish your nutrients and refuel after your workout. Choose something with protein and carbs to refuel, replenish your glycogen stores, and help your muscles recover.

Eggs with whole grain or Ezekiel toast
Protein shake with fruit (I like Legion Whey+ Chocolate Peanut Butter with a banana)
Protein oatmeal (like Egg White Banana Peanut Butter Oatmeal or stir in 1/3 scoop of Legion Whey+ French Vanilla protein powder to a bowl oatmeal)
Green Smoothie (like this anti-inflammatory pineapple green smoothie)

On the other hand, you can continue your intermittent fast. There’s a lot of conflicting evidence, so do whatever feels right to YOU and help you feel your best.

Personally, I skip breakfast and continue my fast if I do a light workout like yoga or walking. But if I do a more intense workout, I’ll drink 1/2 a protein shake (followed by a more substantial breakfast of egg whites and protein oatmeal within an hour).

5. Personal Development

Read a few pages of personal development book on any topic that interests you or an area of your life you’d like to improve.

Choose something that inspires you and teaches you how to develop a skill or enhance an aspect of your life.

Personal development is one of the most impactful parts of a morning routine because it stretches your mind, motivates, and inspires.

My personal development book recommendations

If you’re short on time, listen to an audiobook while you get ready after your shower, during breakfast, or on your morning commute.

Amazon Audible is great for this! You can listen to two books for free during their 30-day free trial.

I caution against choosing a fiction novel for the morning. I love a good suspense or thriller, but those books are hard to put down and can suck you in for much longer than you anticipate. And a good personal development book can inspire and impact your life.

Plan for the rest of the day

Hopefully, you planned and prioritized your day last night, but inevitably you’ll remember something else during your morning so now is the time to add it to your list.

After your plan is in place for the day, prepare for any meetings that you have scheduled for the day.

In short, a healthy morning routine not only prioritizes healthy habits, but it also positively impacts your mood, energy, and productivity for the entire day!

So give it a try! I challenge you to wake up 30 minutes earlier tomorrow and see how you feel.

What else do you do during your healthy morning routine to positively impact your life?

Healthy Morning Routine: 5 Habits to Start Your Day