These Habits in Your Morning Routine Will Change Your Life

Studies suggest that your willpower is the strongest in the morning, so why not kickstart the day with a healthy morning routine?

By simply adding some healthier habits to your morning routine, you can pave the way to a more productive & energetic day.

Many successful people like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Tim Cook & Howard D. Schultz swear by a healthy morning routine to build more focus & clarity on what they wish to accomplish for the day.

There’s no denying that morning people are successful people, but what actually does healthy morning habits & routine look like?

Worry not, this article has got you covered:

Wake Up Early

Waking up early is an important skill to master in life, and when it comes to mastering a healthy morning routine, early rising becomes mandatory. 

Tim Cook (Apple CEO) starts his morning at 3:45 a.m & Howard Schultz (Starbucks) at 4:30. By 7 a.m, Elon Musk kick starts his day – starting with critical emails.

Those who wake up early tend to have healthy morning habits – early risers are more likely to have a healthy breakfast, while the late risers often rush for anything or they would skip the breakfast many times.

The extra hours you get by waking up early are peaceful & quiet – which you can leverage to your own advantage – you can exercise, meditate or go for a walk.

Below are some more reasons why you should wake up early – 

• Improves productivity
• You get more time to structure your day
• Brain tends to be more active in the morning & you can brainstorm better 
• Waking up early makes you stick to a routine, which in turns benefits your quality of sleep
• Early risers are more likely to exercise in the morning
• You make better decisions early in the day

Waking up early isn’t easy for everyone, but if you win this job, things will change significantly in your life – physically & mentally.

Wake Up Naturally & Don’t Snooze The Alarm Clock

To have an energetic kickstart in the morning, you should not be dependent on the alarm clock to wake up, and if you are – don’t be a “snooze” button user.

Snoozing the clock is not good & if you’re an avid clock snoozer, science is not by your side.

You should wake up as soon you hear the first alarm sound. Hitting the snooze button not only disrupts your energy levels but also leaves you with a low feeling for the rest of day.

A healthier morning routine would be:

• to not be dependent on alarms & wake up naturally instead – can be achieved by going to bed on time.
• If you can’t wake up without an alarm clock even after trying, don’t hit the snooze button

The idea behind “waking up naturally”, without an alarm clock, is to get enough sleep your body needs. Getting sufficient sleep improves the functioning of your brain.

However, sleep is a beautiful thing & you must value it – neither sleep less nor oversleep.

Sleeping hours vary from person to person, and an average healthy adult sleeps for 7 – 9 hours per night.

Try waking up without an alarm clock – and don’t forget to have an emergency alarm time set on the clock – just in case you fail to wake up on time on your own.

Over time, if you stick to a consistent sleeping time (going to bed on time & waking up early), your body & brain will adapt to the natural tendency to wake up on time – without an alarm clock.

Make Your Bed – a tiny but effective morning routine habit

You might consider this as silly advice but people who make their bed every morning after they wake up are more likely to benefit their psychological well-being. 

Making your bed is a healthy morning routine habit – and some parents encourage their children to adopt this.

Many believe that making your bed after you wake up leaves you with a less cluttered room – when you make your bed, you’re more likely to make the rest of the room as well – which obviously has a positive impact on your mental health & mood. 

Not only do you eliminate the room clutter, but making your bed also gives you a sense of satisfaction & freshness – paving the way to a productive day.

“If you make your bed every morning, you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride, and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another. And by the end of the day, that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed.”

– William H. McRaven, retired navy admiral, author of the book “Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life…And Maybe the World”

Are you in the favor of bed-making or skipping this chore? It’s up to you, but this tiny morning habit would surely make you feel better for yourself & your sleeping hygiene. 

Hydrate Yourself

Your body is dehydrated when you wake up – no water consumption for 8 hours while you sleep. Also, not many of us drink enough water daily during the daytime.

To improve the functioning of your body, it is suggested to hydrate your body by drinking water once you wake up.

Water is the best beverage, and for flavor, you could try drinking lemon water or cucumber drink.

According to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (United States)

an adequate daily fluid intake is: About 15.5 cups (3.7 liters) of fluids a day for men. About 11.5 cups (2.7 liters) of fluids a day for women

– U.S National Academies of Science, Engineering & Medicine

As a part of your daily morning routine, make it a habit to consume water or hydrate your body in the morning, preferably, soon after waking up.

It would make you one step closer to keeping your body hydrated & prepared for the tough day.

Stretch Your Body – Yoga, Workout or simple exercises

While stretching & exercising has numerous health benefits, a body stretching routine in the morning should not be ignored.

When we sleep for hours, our body muscles relax, heart rate slows down & blood flow decreases. Lying down in bed for hours also tightens up our muscles.

In order to quickly wake up the muscles, do a few simple stretches after you wake up – this will make you feel good on all parts of the body.

If you make body stretching your morning routine habit, you’re more likely to adapt towards a healthy lifestyle by being health conscious – which will in long term help you be more flexible & fit.

There are various ways you can do body stretching – Yoga, Gym, Exercising, Running.

Do a child’s pose or bring in the knees into your chest before even getting out of bed, this helps to stretch out your lower to upper back, and release any tension from the hips.

Inderjot Sandhar, a yoga instructor based in Mississauga

Meditation is Powerful

Before you give yourself to the day, it is good to give some time to yourself in the morning by meditating for few a minutes.

The truth is that meditation is very powerful & beneficial, and to reap the rewards, you don’t need to be a monk or sacrifice your lifestyle.

Two popular benefits of meditation are: it enhances your awareness & eases stress levels (preventing stress & anxiety).

Meditation can be done anywhere, anytime & for any amount of time – it’s up to you.

Morning is considered the best time to meditate because our mind is free from negative thoughts in the morning.

While meditating, you can affirm in mind what you wish to accomplish today – identifying the tasks you should focus on, decreases your brain clutter.

Make meditation a part of your morning routine & you won’t be disappointed by the results.

Structure Your Day

Planning is great for productivity, and so, making a to-do list for the day should be a part of your morning routine.

It helps you brainstorm the tasks you need to accomplish & prioritize them accordingly – which means, you’re strategizing your day by choosing where to focus your energy & time.

Creating a to-do list for the day would help you affirm the tasks & you’re more likely to get the things done before the end of the day – not getting trapped by procastination.

When we don’t purposely and deliberately choose where to focus our energies and time, other people—our bosses, our colleagues, our clients, and even our families—will choose for us, and before long we’ll have lost sight of everything that is meaningful and important.

– From the book Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by author Greg McKeown, Author at

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• Top Personal Habits To Improve Your Mental & Physical Well Being
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