Morning routines
Starting your day off on the right foot
Morning routines are a huge talk in the health bio-hacking world, this is because it sets you up for a successful day in many ways.
Once you have a morning routine, it becomes a good habit, you don’t have to think about it, it isn’t hard and it’s beneficial for your body to operate efficiently.
Starting your day off on the right foot leads to good decisions, more energy and self satisfaction.
This is very advisable for those that suffer from anxiety because for the people that do suffer from this, making decisions can spur on their anxiousness, so having a smooth routine each day is like a good habit, you do not have to overthink it, it’s just natural – just like brushing your teeth. Once you know it’s a daily practise it’s one less decision you need to make.
Here are some great ways to start your day for your health: mind, body and spirit.
Upon waking – drink water with himalayan salt, (I twist my salt shaker back and forth about 5 times). Himalayan helps with those that may be iron deficient, sea salt is good as well.
The reason for this is that when we are asleep we lose a lot of electrolytes such as sodium, magnesium, potassium, calcium and trace minerals. Replacing our body with salt water is very important as we are a salt water organism (think of when you’re sore you float or salt water/epsom salt bath).
While we sleep we breathe out moist air and breathe in drier air, losing water everytime we breathe.
So when we sleep we can lose up to 2kg of water (hence why you weigh in first thing in the morning as your body is at its lightest).
We are on the verge of dehydration which leads to fatigue, headaches, exhaustion and irritability (sound like some of you when you wake??) So you are borderline dehydrated when you wake up.
So not only do you need the water when you wake up, you need some salt in the water to help these electrolytes. Your body has been working very hard over night by repairing muscle, growing muscle, releasing toxins, growing hair and nails, repairing skin plus much more, so of course it will be thirsty.
However many people reach for a coffee first up, but coffee can cause more dehydration by wanting to flush more water through your system (like a drug passes through the system, your body will want to flush it out).
Try to make your morning routine include a big glass of water with gastric juices in it to help digestion for the day ahead – this will include either lemon, apple cider vinegar or salt in your morning glass of water.
Another morning routine is to have a glass water with magnesium powder or take magnesium capsules to help alleviate the stress levels of your day ahead. If you have a busy day with family, work, deadlines, school duties etc – you need to take the edge off your body and have a fantastic supplement such as magnesium to help you cope during the day, plus this helps cravings and many other health concerns as mentioned in this magnesium blog.
Mediation – yes the big talking point of late, but very needed. Even sitting still and listening to your breath for 2 minutes, to allow your prefrontal cortex in the brain be your focus, this will help your concentration for the day ahead. Stillness has been pushed to the side over years, and ‘to do lists’ have grown, unfortunately we need stillness more than more jobs for our health to be of an optimal level. Remember more jobs can create more stress, stress causes cortisol to stay elevated and elevated cortisol levels contribute to weight gain or stubborn weight loss, plus other health concerns.
Gratefulness – like meditation this has been overlooked. Our busy society now does not allow you to sit still for a few minutes, and after a couple of minutes of mediation, take the time to write down or just be mindful for a few things you can be grateful for the day.
We live in ‘what about me’ era, well to give back to your soul – how about being grateful for a couple of things each day.
If we all gave a little, we would live in a more peaceful world, with less stress and less chronic illnesses.
So maybe over the next week, get yourself a nice morning routine, keep it simple and therefore it will be more doable, once you get into this routine, note how your day and weeks can become more productive and less stressed.
: salt your water
: 2 mins of meditation
: be grateful
Your body will love the salt, your mind will be clear from the stillness of mediation and your spirit will love that fact you have been grateful to others or other things.
To your health
Kerrie
Professional health, fitness and wellness coach.
