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Why is becoming a morning person so important and what does it do for our lives?
Well nothing expresses the importance of rising early quite like this quote:
“Every morning you have two choices: continue to sleep with your dreams or wake up and chase them.”
Tell me that doesn’t strike a nerve!
The bottom line is waking up earlier is the best oppurtunity to start your day in the most productive way possible.
Think about it for a second, who do you think would live a happier and healthier life?
The person that crawls out of bed after hitting the snooze three or four times with barely a minute to spare before rushing out the door, only to jump into their car and fight traffic, arriving at work in barely enough time.
OR
The person that wakes up one to two hours earlier than they have to, takes time to meditate, spends a few minutes in gratitude, exercises, and has a leisure cup of coffee and a light meal before heading off to work for the day?
I’m sure this is a no brainer.
We all know the impact of these very different scenarios.
Yet, why do most of us do the exact thing that causes us to begin every single day filled with anxiety and stress?
The answer comes down to discipline and routine.
Routine and rituals are what you need to prime your body and mind to do the things it doesn’t always feel like doing.
The truth is, nobody really loves to wake up before the sun rises. It’s not easy getting out of a nice warm and cozy bed.
In the same way that it’s not easy going to the gym consistently and tearing down our muscles.
But it is incredibly rewarding once we establish the habit.
Not only is it rewarding, it’s absolutely life-changing!
Here are six steps you can put into place to create this life-changing habit of rising early.
STEP 1 - GO TO BED EARLIER
Of course this one is obvious right, but why is it so overlooked?
I can still remember the first night I looked at the clock and it was 830pm and I made the conscious decision to head upstairs to begin my nighttime routine, rather than sit on the couch and watch my favorite show.
It was an odd feeling as a voice in my head said, if you want to create a different life you have to do things differently.
I knew in that moment that the old me that loved staying up late watching reality TV was slowly dying.
It’s not that I didn’t want to stay up, of course I did, but I knew if I stayed up late I would be miserable when my 430AM alarm went off the next morning.
I kept envisioning the type of person I wanted to become and I had to get real with myself.
Would the ideal version of me stay up late, snacking on the couch, filling my brain with nonsense TV?
Or
Would she have a nice nighttime routine that includes reading before bed and setting a positive intention for the next day?
The answer was clear and my new habit of going to bed early and ditching my late night TV was born.
STEP 2 - HAVE A NIGHTIME ROUTINE
Part of going to bed earlier includes taking the time to wind down before bed.
This includes no cell phones or devices at least thirty to sixty minutes before bed.
Rather than scrolling through your phone checking all your social media feeds before you doze off to sleep, how about reading for twenty to thirty minutes instead?
The evidence is clear that the blue light emitted from our devices suppresses the body’s secretion of melatonin, which is the hormone that influences our circadian rhythms.
Not to mention taking the time to feed our brains with rich knowledge from a book far outweighs the benefits of mindless scrolling.
Studies show that reading before bed allows our muscles to relax, slows breathing and produces a calming effect on the brain and body resulting in better sleep.
A great tip for this is to put time limits on your apps.
Under settings you can go to screen time and there is an option for downtime. I like to put mine on from 9pm-7am.
This is a great reminder to put your phone down during these times.
STEP 3 - PUT PHONE ACROSS THE ROOM at night
I recently decided to keep my phone outside my bedroom and in my master bath while I sleep.
I realized that keeping it next to my bed made it too easy for me to reach over and hit the snooze when the alarm went off bright and early.
I can hear the alarm going off from the bathroom and I am forced to actually get up which prevents me from rolling over, hitting the snooze, and dozing back off to sleep.
Dozing back to sleep for ten minutes or so has a negative effect on our brains and leaves us feeling groggy and disoriented when we actually do get out of bed.
Hitting the snooze and falling back to sleep confuses the body and its internal clock.
A much more effective routine is to set your alarm for the exact time you want to get out of bed and leave the alarm at a far enough distance that you are forced to get up.
STEP 4 - DO NOT CHECK PHONE WHEN YOU WAKE UP
Most people have gotten into the terrible habit of picking up their phones almost immediately after waking and diving into emails or social media feeds.
This is not the way we want to start off our morning for a productive day.
Make a habit of NOT checking your phone for at least sixty minutes after waking up.
Spend that first hour of your day doing habits that allow you to go inward and to connect with your soul.
Rather than flooding your brain with tons of information from the outside world.
RELATED: IS SOCIAL MEDIA HIJACKING YOUR LIFE?
STEP 5 - DRINK LEMON WATER
The first thing I have trained myself to do in the morning is to drink a full glass of warm or room temperature lemon water.
Our bodies are dehydrated after sleeping for 7-8 hours so the best thing we can do immediately after waking is hydrate.
The vitamin C from the lemon boosts the immune system while helping maintain the pH balance of the body. It also acts as a detoxifying agent and helps maintain proper digestive health.
These are just a few of the benefits of this incredibly simple, but powerful habit.
STEP 6 - COLD SHOWERS
Ok I know what you’re thinking! This one sounds terrible, but hear me out.
This is one of the habits that I put off for the longest time, but have become absolutely obsessed with.
I’m not suggesting you take a freezing cold shower for the entire duration.
Take a regular shower with your normal temperature, but then right before getting out turn the water to cold for one to two minutes.
There are so many benefits to this practice.
The cold water increases blood circulation leaving you feeling alive and energized. It also increases your metabolic rate and white blood cells.
I hope these steps have been useful in helping you become a morning person even if you’re currently a night owl. In a future post I‘ll go into exactly what my morning routine looks like!
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