Healthy Morning Routine

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When you start each day with a healthy morning routine, you feel better and you are able to accomplish more. These more than 15 tips and ideas will help you create a morning routine that works for you.

What is the first thing you do in the morning? Are you just bumbling through the morning or have you established a healthy morning routine? Evaluate your personal routine to determine what you need to improve and what changes will work for you.

Add as many of these 15+ tips as works for you and your lifestyle. You can add them one or two at a time and slowly start building a healthy morning routine that you can sustain and that will start your day off right.

What is a good healthy morning routine?

1. A routine that works for your unique schedule, lifestyle, personality and living situation.
   • There isn’t one routine that works for everyone. You need to find the options that work best for you.
2. A routine that is focused on a healthy body, mind and spirit because your overall health is built on all three aspects.
3. A routine that energizes your body, calms your mind and helps you feel ready to face the day.
4. A routine that is actually doable for you and your lifestyle.
   • Don’t chose a routine that just won’t fit into your life.
   • Instead, add the individual healthy morning routine habits that you can.
5. A routine that is sustainable throughout the year.
   • As the weather changes, you may have to adapt your morning routine.
   • As your schedule and your family’s schedule change, you need a routine that can adapt with you.
6. A routine that supports your individual goals.

Consider adding reading motivational books to your morning routine. It’s a great way to set your focus for the day.

Healthy Morning Routine

Regular Wake-Up Time

I’m sure you already know, but having a regular sleep schedule is key to your overall health. Having a regular wake-up schedule is the foundation of a healthy morning routine.

Use an Alarm Clock

You may not want to hear this, and I’m pretty sure you have a bunch of excuses why you just have to use your phone, but studies have shown the negative effects of having your cell phone in your bedroom.

• You’ll be tempted to look at it “to fall asleep” and it’ll keep you awake longer, reducing the amount of sleep you’ll get.
• If you wake up in the middle of the night, you’ll be tempted to “just check” your phone, further impacting your sleep.
• The sounds and screen lighting up will distract you from sleep.
• You won’t be able to resist the urge to “just check” your phone when you wake up.

Keep your phone in another room to charge overnight and rely on an alarm clock to wake up.

Prepare the Night Before

• Layout your clothes.
• Set out breakfast items.
• Pack your briefcase or backpack.
• Check your schedule for the next day so you can prepare for anything out of the ordinary in your morning routine.
• Be sure to check your children’s schedules so you can prepare their morning routine for school.

Do anything you can the night before to make your mornings easier and less stressful.

Sunlight

Not only do you know from experience, but studies have shown that it’s easier and better for you to wake up to sunlight. Sunlight suppresses the melatonin that helps you sleep at night. Lowering the amount of melatonin in your body in the morning helps you not feel so groggy when you wake up.

While your schedule or geography may not allow to wake up to sunlight every day, there are things you can do to help.

• Open the curtains immediately if there is sunlight available. And even better, leave them open overnight so that sunlight will help you wake up naturally.
• Use a wake-up alarm clock that simulates the increase of sunlight that occurs naturally in the morning.
• Use a sunlight therapy lamp after you get up.

Stretching

Stretching first thing in the morning is a healthy morning routine that has been around since our grandparents’ time. Stretching helps increase blood flow, posture and flexibility.

It is important to stretch gently and when your muscles are warmed up. You might find this morning wake stretch Amazon Prime video or this AM and PM Stretch dvd helpful.

Pray, Meditate or Journal

Caring for your spiritual and emotional health is a key part of a healthy morning routine. No matter what you do in the morning, make sure you make praying, meditating or journaling part of your routine.

• Gratitude Challenge
• 365 Pocket Morning Prayers
• Shorter Morning and Evening Prayers
• Morning Prayer MP3
• 100 Yoga Meditations
• Morning Meditations: Daily Reflections to Awaken Your Power to Change 
• Morning Meditation for Gratitude Amazon Prime Video
• Meditation Sidekick Journal

Drink Water

You should drink a glass of water first thing in the morning with your meal. You’ve been sleeping (and not drinking water) for six or more hours. Your body is most likely dehydrated and dehydration causes lethargy. Drinking water when you wake up will help you wake up sooner and better.

Your body needs water to:

• Eliminate waste
• Regulate body temperature
• Lubricate joints
• Protect your spinal column
• Maintain the health of your cells
• Stabilize the heart and normalize blood pressure

Drinking lemon water as part of your healthy morning routine is a good idea for its multiple health benefits:

• Helps boost your immune system
• Aids your digestion
• Can help with anxiety
• Reduce inflammation
• Naturally freshen breath

Exercise

I know it can be tough to feel like exercising in the morning, but the benefits of exercise make it a key part of a healthy morning routine.

• Exercise has been found to increase productivity and
• Make you feel more energized.
• Exercise can boost your mood and relieve stress.
• Exercise can decrease your risk of illness and
• Improve your overall appearance.
• Studies have shown that morning exercise helps students do better on math tests and help them feel more confident and positive and ready to learn.

Healthy Breakfast

Breakfast is called that because you break the fast of not eating while you were asleep. Eating a healthy breakfast is important to your overall health and energy level for the day. Whatever you do, don’t skip a healthy breakfast.

Be sure your breakfast contains at least 20-30 grams of protein. This is an area that most adults neglect in their breakfasts.

Check out these small changes you can make to your breakfast for a better healthy morning routine.

Smoothies are an easy way to eat a healthier breakfast and can even be taken as a breakfast-on-the-go.

• Easy Pineapple Breakfast Smoothie
• Chocolate Plus Breakfast Smoothie
• Keto Smoothie
• 10 Smoothies for Good Health

Set Goals for the Day

Take the time to look over your calendar and planner for the day. This allows you to know where you’re going and what your priorities are.

The pervious tips were important to the morning part of your day, setting your daily goals is important for your entire day.

• Planner – Find a planner that works well for your personality and unique needs. Some of my favorites (and ones I’ve used myself) are:
  • The Erin Condren LifePlanner
  • Clever Fox Journal
  • Mom Agenda
  • Happy Planner

• Bullet Journal – I love the way you can design your bullet journal to fit your unique and specific needs. To learn more about bullet journaling:
  • Bullet Journal What You Need to Know
  • Bullet Journal How to Make It Work for You
  • Benefits of Using a Bullet Journal
• To Do List – I use To Do Lists to keep my day focused and prioritize my tasks each day. I’ve created several different styles of To Do lists, so there’s sure to be one that will work for you.
  • To Dos Managed with a Running To Do List
  • Monthly To Do List Set
  • Running To Do List Set
  • Daily To Do List for the Happy Planner or A5 planner
  • Daily To Do Cards

Make Changes Slowly

If you’re going from a chaotic morning to a healthy morning routine, you may need to slowly make changes so they will stick. Don’t feel discouraged if it takes a while to establish the morning routine that you want. Every single improvement made to your morning routine is one step closer to your ideal healthy morning routine.

It takes repetition, commitment and about 30 days for a new habit to be formed. Allow yourself the time you need to create and adopt the morning routine that works best for you.

Take time today to plan and prepare for starting your healthy morning routine tomorrow. What are you waiting for?

Be sure to pin now so you can find these tips again later.

For more simple and powerful productivity tips, hacks and printables, see the table below. You can scroll though the table and look for ideas or search for specific ideas with the magnifying glass in the upper right-hand corner (on desktop). Click on the topic and then click through the specific article.