This Morning Routine Will Improve Your Mood

How do you feel when you wake up in the morning? Groggy? Filled with dread? Well rested? Excited? Regardless of the first emotions you feel of the day, a proper morning routine tailored to your unique energy and personality can mean the difference between an uplifted, productive day and just going through the motions.

The most important part of a solid morning routine that helps you feel more at ease and makes your day more manageable is consistency. It can expend a lot of energy struggling to make decisions, especially first thing in the morning. In a groggy waking state, having a set plan can prevent missing key activities and, even worse, decision fatigue.

Creating a morning routine that vibes with your unique personality can increase productivity, create more positive emotions throughout your day, and generate momentum for greater functioning in the late morning — the peak time for cognitive work.

One Size Doesn’t Fit All

Everyone seems to have their own opinion of “the best” morning routine, but only you can discover the perfect routine for your mind and body. What feels right could even change as you move through the life stages. We all have different biological rhythms, various preferences, and our own unique way of being. One person may love to kick off their day with a five-mile run while another experiences greater satisfaction from gentle yoga, and a third can’t even think without a shot of espresso and a long, hot shower.

The suggestions that follow can be played with as an ongoing experiment until you find the routine that fits your lifestyle. Creating a plan that you can sustain through the seasons of your life, tweaking when necessary, is usually the most effective design for lasting change

Take Your Time

The way you wake up sets the tone for the entire day. It’s easier to move into the day with positivity when you aren’t rushing to be somewhere. We tend to feel greater motivation to wake up when we can acclimate to the day by gently rising, allowing the body to adjust to the waking state before getting out of bed.

Keep your phone on its charger until you’re ready to get to work. Research indicates that tuning into screens first thing in the morning, although a common habit, is correlated with greater feelings of depression. Wait to check email, texts, and social media until later in your day.

Instead, try opening the blinds first thing to let in sunlight, increasing alertness and energy. By playing uplifting or upbeat music, the entire brain becomes further stimulated. Stretching and self massage or foam rolling can get the blood flowing, waking up the circulatory system to bring even more energy into the body. Finally, make your bed! Keeping an orderly space and caring for the details helps us carry that order into our day. Just these simple steps can improve your mood before you ever leave your bedroom.

Feed Your Body

Research indicates that eating a light breakfast fuels the body and mind, creating greater energy in the late morning hours. While caffeine may help spring you into your day, that morning coffee won’t get you far, and may lead to a late morning crash. Eating first thing wakes up the metabolism and digestive system. Overeating or consuming refined sugars in the morning can also lead to an energetic crash, so a healthy snack like oatmeal or fruit with tea and water may be the best way to break your fast.

Stimulate Your Mind

Stimulating your brain in the morning helps us orient to higher brain functions, and one of the most recommended methods is reading. Reading something inspirational or motivational, such as a spiritual or self-help book, can remind us of our purpose and cultivate intentionality throughout the day.

Reading is actually considered a “mental break,” because we’re actually focused on one activity rather than the fifty things our brains are accustomed to juggling. You simply can’t multitask while reading, and this focused attention requires creativity and imagination, which actually stimulates the physical senses. This type of focus that exercises our minds so they become stronger and more creative.

Writing, such as “morning pages,” popularized by The Artist’s Way author Julia Cameron, is another great way of stimulating focus and creativity. Cameron recommends stream of consciousness writing first thing in the morning. Another option supported by research is listing gratitudes upon waking, which has been shown to lead to more positivity throughout the day.

Try following reading or writing with five minutes of quiet and stillness. Noticing the internal dialogue and consistently returning to sensations of the body and breath — also known as mindfulness, or meditation — tunes us into a center of awareness that we can return to throughout the day. A brief period of meditation in the morning has been shown to decrease reactivity and stress all day long.

Stimulate Your Body

Moving the body first thing in the morning creates a cascade of neurochemical reactions that help improve mood all day long. Exercise stimulates production and release of neurotransmitters such as serotonin and norepinephrine, increasing your capacity to manage stress and creating a state of euphoria. Studies indicate that people who exercise in the morning are more creative and productive the next two hours. Additionally, research shows that those who work out regularly, whether it’s aerobics, swimming, or a brisk walk, report lower stress levels and a more satisfying work-life balance.

Exercise stimulates production and release of neurotransmitters such as serotonin and norepinephrine, increasing your capacity to manage stress and creating a state of euphoria.

Create a Plan

The typical start to the work day involves checking email, following up on questions or listening to voicemails, a routine psychologists have coined as “cognitively expensive.” This way of beginning the day exemplifies a “reactive” mindset, and even though it’s easy to switch from a proactive mindset to a reactive mindset, reverse is incredibly difficult. Research suggests the most effective start to the workday is a brief planning session in which the day is broken up into manageable chunks.

Following these research-based suggestions, your morning routine may look something like the following itinerary, with adjustments for your personal preferences:

6:30-6:35 – Gently wake up, moving fingers and toes and sitting up
6:35-6:45 – Open your blinds, playing uplifting music to gentle stretching or self massage
6:45-7:00 – Eat fruit or oatmeal and drink a glass of water
7:00-7:30 – Read or write and drink tea to stimulate mind and body, followed by a brief period of stillness
7:30-8:00 – Go for a walk or practice yoga/aerobics
8:00- 9:00 – Shower and get ready; travel to work
9:00-9:15 – Start working by strategizing what you want to accomplish during each chunk of your day

This routine takes just over two hours and can be adjusted to fit your personal needs. While it can be challenging to wake up a bit earlier to start the day right, you will soon experience the benefits as you begin enjoying your mornings and find yourself feeling more alert, uplifted, and energized all day long.

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