Morning routine – arguably as important as your bedtime routine for quality sleep. Why? Like your bedtime routine, which prepares you for the night, your best morning routine will prepare you for the day ahead. Specifically, this will help you feel fresh and fired up, rather than foggy and fatigued. It will help you feel more alert naturally, without having to rely on cup after cup of coffee. And third, it will biochemically suppress your levels of melatonin, the sleeping hormone that otherwise makes you tired. Note that by doing so, you actually become tired earlier at night, which facilities an earlier bedtime – for many Bear and Wolves – the sleep chronotypes, not the real life animals – this is great news! 

Alas, incorporate these morning routine ideas into your daily habits and experience the gift of the best morning routine – ever. Make it easy for yourself by downloading my free sleep goal tracker – just adjust the metrics for your morning routine!

What’s included in your morning routine: 

1: Waking in light sleep
2. Sunlight
3. Meditation 
4. Exercise 

What’s not:

1. Checking your phone
2. Checking your social media pages
3. Procrastinating in bed pressing snooze 

Alas, your best morning routine…

Step 1: Wake in stage 1 NREM sleep – not deep sleep.

Waking up groggy, exhausted and unable to think straight? This may be simply because you’ve woken from deep REM sleep, and are experiencing ‘sleep inertia’ – the feeling of being drunk upon waking. Avoid this by having an alarm which detects your sleep stages, and then awakens you (within a certain timeframe) while you’re in a lighter sleep stage. 

Step 2 of your best morning routine: expose yourself to sunlight 

Particularly in the first hour, when the circadian clock is most sensitive to light – as noted by National Institute of Occupational Health and Safety – you need to get outside and soak in that sunshine. 

Second to that, light helps us produce vitamin D – a co-factor in melatonin synthesis. which is Especially as 68% of adults are deficient in this key micronutrient, it’s vital to get your daily dose.

Finally, sunlight is also a natural stress protector: it enhances the production of happiness hormones serotonin and dopamine, so you feel more upbeat. In addition, these hormones support the production of melatonin at night, so it aids your quest to sleep well too.

Step 3 of your best morning routine:  meditate

Starting the morning with meditation is principal: it makes you more resilient against stress, which can otherwise cause sleeplessness in the evening. Meditation’s anti-stress effects are so significant that a clinical study found can reduce symptoms of PTSD – chronic and overwhelming stress – by 73%.

Further research shows long term meditators have lower levels of cortisol – a stress hormone that can leave you feeling anxious. But don’t worry – even if you’re not an experienced meditator, even one session can benefit you: research shows a single session of mindfulness meditation can lower stress and anxiety too.

4. Exercise

Exercise is in your best morning routine for a few reasons. 

First, it boosts energy naturally – as it stimulates the production of awakening hormones like serotonin, Research shows just 15 minutes of stair climbing can enhance energy more than an espresso. Similarly, by improving youir sleep, you’ll automatically feel more energised – a survey of 155,000 adults found those who had exercised – even something simple like gardening or walking – were 1/3 less likely to report sleep problems. Further, a 2018 study in Sleep Medicine Research found exercise can increase SWS – slow wave sleep – by 73%.

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See, by knowing some versatile and valuable morning routine ideas, you can be certain of the answer to this prickly question: how to build a good morning routine? Wonder no more my friend – this article, my advice, I’ve got you. 

Reach out, anytime.