The power of morning routines is no secret anymore.
At the latest through the fame of amazing books like The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod, or Robin Sharma’s 5 AM Club, morning routines became very popular among those who are into personal growth and self–improvement.
Yet, that’s no coincidence. The world’s greatest minds and most successful people have been reporting to practice morning rituals for many decades.
Bill Gates, for example, starts his day on the treadmill, watching educational videos.
Benjamin Franklin woke up at 4 AM every day and scheduled his day.
Oprah starts her day with at least 20 minutes of meditation.
However, sadly, the majority of people spend their mornings in a rush. Instead of leading their days, they fight through them.
A continuous morning routine is the best way to start your day properly and improve your productivity and your wellbeing throughout your days. Through a morning routine, you let go of the stress and instead focus on things that are good for you.
While habits like meditation, sports, reading, and journaling are quite well-known, I want to introduce you to a few morning routines that are less known, yet incredibly effective.
Hydrate
I am not sure if that one is really exceptional, but I know that many people neglect to drink enough water.
You should take care of hydrating your body throughout the whole day, yet the mornings are especially important.
While sleeping, you spend many hours without hydrating your body. You wouldn’t do that throughout a typical day.
At least you shouldn’t.
Going through a day without drinking water for six hours or more would cause fatigue, headache, and a few other unpleasant symptoms. That’s precisely why you should extensively hydrate your body right after getting up.
Being dehydrated makes you feel tired and lowers your performance.
If you feel exhausted and low in the morning, the reason might not be a lack of sleep but dehydration.
For me personally, that means filling up my bottle with warm water and drinking 2–3 cups of tea right in the morning.
Most of the time, it’s warm water with lemon and turmeric.
That doesn’t only hydrate my body but also provides essential nutrients to my body.
When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive — to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.
— Marcus Aurelius
Go for a Walk
If you don’t like exercising the first thing in the morning, going for a walk might be a great choice.
I need to admit that I don’t stick to this during winter months, but in summer, I love it.
Going for a walk in the fresh air is a fantastic way to start your day. Especially if you have a little park and some nature around the corner.
A walk in the morning is meditative and yet energizing. It helps you to clear your mind and start your day with fresh energy.
Plus, walking itself comes with many more health benefits.
According to Harvard Medical School, a daily walk:
- counteracts the effects of weight-promoting genes
- helps tame a sweet tooth
- reduces the risk of developing breast cancer
- eases joint pain
- boosts immune function
You see, a little walk in the morning doesn’t only boost your daily mood and performance, but it also comes with many more long-term health benefits.
Scrape Your Tongue
Tongue scraping might sound too fancy, but it is actually an Ayuverdic self-care practice that is around for decades.
Even though you might brush and floss your teeth, without scraping your tongue, your mouth stays full of bacteria, fungi, toxins, and dead cells.
In addition, scraping your tongue promotes good oral and digestive health, improves your ability to taste, stimulates internal organs, and is a defense against bad breath.
You can get a tongue scraper for a few bucks, yet, it can be a massive gamechanger for your oral hygiene.
Dry Brush Your Skin
Brushing our teeth and hair is normal, but what about our skin?
Dry brushing is uncommon but highly effective in cleaning your body from the inside out. It helps to detoxify by increasing your blood circulation. It also unclogs your pores and stimulates the nervous system.
The best time to brush your skin is right before your morning shower so that you can wash off the dead skin cells.
However, dry brushing your skin is not something that you should practice every day. Once or twice per week is completely fine.
Listen to Binaural Beats
Binaural beats help you to bring your brain into the same state as when you are meditating. It’s a brainwave entertainment technology that helps you to hold the mind’s focus.
Listening to binaural beats helps you to get into a meditative state easily and quickly.
“It is possible that hormonally induced physiological behavior changes may be made apparent by measuring the binaural-beat spectrum.” — Dr. Gerald Oster
For those who struggle with meditation, but want to have a few calm minutes in the morning, binaural beats are a great alternative.
Additionally, binaural beats come with many more benefits, like reducing anxiety, increasing focus and concentration, lowering stress, fostering positive mood, and promoting creativity.
A morning ritual shouldn’t be complex or exhausting.
On the contrary, it should let you feel energized and well prepared for your day.
For me, journaling, breathing exercises, visualization, and hydration are inevitable parts of my morning routine.
Yet, what I experienced is that sometimes, if you are too versed in doing something, you are not mindful anymore.
While I appreciate the benefits of everything that I do in the morning, I don’t want to be in an automatic mode throughout my mornings.
I want to be mindful and present.
That’s why I try to mix my routine up every now and then.
And I believe that these five habits can also improve your life and wellbeing at least a little bit.
Just choose one of them (except hydration, that’s a must-have) and explore whether it works for you and makes you feel better throughout your mornings and days.