How to Start a Healthy Morning Routine - And Stick With It

Do you often lie in bed in the morning, not wanting to put your feet on the floor? You're tired and feel stressed before you even start the day. It doesn't have to be that way! Keep reading to learn five things you can do to develop a healthy morning routine and stick with it!

Rule Out Physical and Mental Health Problems

Starting and sticking with a healthy morning routine can't happen unless you're in good health. Not all illnesses or injuries are immediately apparent. The first step to take to get a healthier start in the morning is to heal underlying health issues as much as possible. Adverse health conditions can affect your sleep patterns, thought processes and general disposition. It's hard to get a healthy start in the morning if you wake up feeling like you haven't slept at all or your first thoughts are stressful and unpleasant. Ask yourself why you're having trouble sleeping; it might have something to do with a sleep disorder. By addressing these issues first, you can improve your overall health, which makes it easier to develop healthy morning habits.

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Discover What Helps Awaken Your Energy

You might have a friend who swears by drinking copious amounts of coffee each morning to get a jump on the day but you don't like coffee so that option doesn't work for you. That's okay because there are many things you can try to spark morning energy and transform feelings of dread to peaceful anticipation when it's time to start a new day. The following list includes several helpful ideas for tapping into your morning energy:

• Start the day with stretching and whole body movements.
  
• Spend 10 to 15 minutes in quiet time for prayer or meditation.
  
• Take a brisk walk or short jog.
  
• Take a shower first thing in the morning.
  
• Choose the sound of your alarm carefully.
  
• Drink water, preferably with freshly squeezed lemon in it.
  

Incorporating any or all of these ideas into your morning routine may help you get a healthier start on the day and stick with it. Not all habits are bad. If you put forth conscious effort to make some of these ideas part of your morning habit, you might just find that you start looking forward to morning time instead of dreading it. As for the sound of your alarm, are your frightening yourself awake each day? Try using pleasant music that makes you want to "get up and go" or, at least, a sound that doesn't make you feel like there's an emergency and you need to evacuate your bed!

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Essential Oils Might Be the Key to a Healthy Morning Routine

There are typically three categories of people when it comes to use of essential oils: Those who have no clue what they are or how to use them, those who think they're quackery and those who adamantly believe that they are valuable, natural tools that can help improve overall health, as well as treat specific injuries or illnesses. Several types of essential oils are used to help increase alertness and energy. Whether you apply them topically or use a diffuser to send a mist into the air around you, the oils included in the following list may help increase morning energy levels:

• Try citrus oils, such as lemon, lemongrass, grapefruit or sweet orange.
  
• Mints, such as peppermint, spearmint or eucalyptus may boost clarity and rid your body of fatigue.
  
• Clary sage, lavender and frankincense have also been shown to help improve focus and energy.
  

Learn more about how to use essential oils safely if you've never tried them before because there may be several risks involved in certain circumstances.

Eat a Healthy Breakfast Whether You Want To or Not

You might not be a "breakfast person," but it's worth trying if your goal is to develop a healthy morning routine and stick with it. Grabbing a doughnut at the office is not going to cut it. Check out trending healthy breakfast foods, such as overnight oats or try your hand at making morning smoothies if you'd rather drink something than eat a big meal at the start of the day.

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A Healthy Morning Routine Starts the Night Before

If you've been reading these ideas while thinking that you simply don't have time to do all of this each morning, this last idea will solve the problem for you! You can get a jump start on your day by doing a lot of prep work the night before. For instance, add essential oil drops to your diffuser before you go to bed so that it's ready to go in the morning. Overnight oats are obviously prepped the night before, and you can have all of your meditation supplies, exercise clothes or other "morning equipment" laid out and ready before your head hits the pillow at night. Each of these ideas can help you start a healthy morning routine. Sticking with it, on the other hand, is mostly up to you! You can ask a friend to start a new routine with you and check in with each other to see how it's going. Set achievable goals and reward yourself when you accomplish them for a week straight. If you experience a set back, don't fret -- just adjust your plan and try again!

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