Do you find yourself hitting snooze a few times before finally forcing your eyes open? Is it hard to start your day before chugging a cup of coffee? Is your morning a chaotic rush fest? How we begin our day each morning sets the tone for the entire day. Have you ever noticed the difference between a morning when you wake up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed ready to begin your day before your alarm goes off and a morning when you hit the snooze button three times before dragging yourself out of bed only to stub your toe on your way to the bathroom? The tone of your day is best set first thing in the morning which truly begins the night before, no more worrying about waking up on the wrong side of the bed.
To set a positive tone for each day you want to focus your attention on these three areas: nutrition, fitness, and mindset. Making even minor adjustments to your routine can impact your day faster than you may think.
How Food Impacts Your Morning
The food we fuel our body with impacts more than our weight and energy. What we choose to eat has the power to heal and fuel both the mind and body, create and reduce disease (dis-ease), change the chemical makeup within the body, and so much more.
First, breakfast is important don’t skip it! When your hormones are balanced functioning like they should, when you wake up in the morning you will be hungry. Do your very best to eat breakfast within an hour of waking up. Hormones have a daily rhythm. I won’t bore you by going into too much detail on the science of hormones in the human body. The hormones leptin and cortisol directly impact your morning each day. Since we don’t normally eat while we are sleeping leptin is low in the morning sending a signal it’s time to eat when you wake up in the morning. But when we eat before bed or sneak out to the fridge for a midnight snack (not usually the good kind) we mess with the rhythm throwing our levels off balance. Bottom line is, make dinner your last meal of the day, you can hold out until breakfast I promise!
Breakfast truly is the most important meal of the day, not only because it triggers leptin’s cycle each day. A good breakfast first thing in the morning sets you up to make good food choices during the day, provides consistent energy, and reduces cravings. Start your day off with 1-2 palm size portions of protein plus a heaping serving of veggies. Bagels and pastries set you up for a mid-morning crash, the last thing you want on a busy day. Breakfast should keep you satisfied and energized until your next meal. Breakfast is just another meal, thinking outside the norm can be helpful when brainstorming new meals to support a great day. Steak and mashed sweet potatoes for breakfast YES PLEASE!
How Fitness Impacts Your Morning
Research has shown exercising in the morning provides different benefits than exercise in the afternoon. Notice the words different benefits, exercise at any time of day is still beneficial! If you are just starting out on your journey, I would not worry about the timing too much. Adding exercise to your schedule whenever convenient for you is an amazing accomplishment!
Exercise burns fat, builds lean muscle, strengthens our skeletal system, increases energy, releases feel-good endorphins, and more. I think it’s safe to say we all agree exercise is beneficial to our health. Exercise in the morning reduces stress levels, improves brain function (ability to make decisions, plans, and prioritize), gives your metabolism boost, and even helps you sleep better at night (it’s all about hormones). Try taking a brisk walk in the morning before getting ready for the day or even adding a short 10–15-minute HIIT circuit a few days a week. You will experience the benefits right away while supporting your long-term goals ~ 2 birds, 1 stone and all that jazz.
How Mindset Impacts Your Morning
This is bigger than you might think, our minds are freaking powerful. Let me say that one more time OUR MINDS ARE FREAKIN POWERFUL! Stay with me for a bit longer this is good stuff, not just woo woo hippy shit.
Our thoughts create our emotions, emotions dictate the actions we take, and the actions we take add up to the results we experience. Here is an example, tomorrow morning you wake up to the sun starting to shine in through the window. Your alarm hasn’t gone off just yet, but you had a good night sleep ready to start the day. Before you begin your morning routine you take a moment to look outside and focus on gratitude thinking about how good you feel this morning and what a beautiful day it will be. Thinking such pleasant thoughts bring up emotions like joy, excitement, and gratitude. You feel relaxed as you begin your morning routine having plenty of time prepare for your morning meeting arriving a few minutes early to set up and greet everyone as they arrive.
What about after a night of tossing and turning waking up in cold sweats struggling to sleep until the early morning hours. Instead of hopping out of bed ready to tackle the day ahead you’ve hit the snooze a few times before finally deciding to get up because you are now going to be late for your first meeting. The thoughts you are probably thinking are more like I’m tired, I wish I could go back to sleep, I’m not ready for this meeting which in turn trigger not so pleasant emotions. After rushing to get ready and out the door, traffic is crazy which frustrates you further finally arriving to your meeting almost 10 minutes late aggravating everyone waiting for you.
Your thoughts and emotions create your perception of your experiences during each day as well as your interactions with the world and everyone you meet. Do your best to focus on gratitude each morning especially when you feel like you woke up on the wrong side of the bed. When life feels hard find a few things you can be thankful for, focus on those things for a few minutes. Your thoughts of gratitude will shift your emotions which will change the actions you take, and the results you experience.
So just remember a good morning sets the tone for your entire day. Making small positive shifts now creates incredible transformation over time. You are capable of more than you have ever imagined! No matter where you are on your journey, the most important part is getting started! Start small, gradually making lifestyle changes to support your overall goals. Change can be difficult and scary if you haven’t been able to achieve the results on your own don’t be afraid to reach out to a friend, family member, or coach for accountability and guidance. Prevention is the best medicine, making positive changes now will have a life-changing impact on you and your family’s future.