Tips For Joyful Mornings

Are you an early-to-bed, early-to-rise type of person? Or do your habits fall on the opposite end of the spectrum—still wide-awake at one o’clock in the morning, still melted into your pillow at 9 a.m.?

Listed below are five tips to help your morning become less of a nuisance and more of a joy!

1) Watch what you consume before bed. Sometimes you must think ahead. As tempting as that extra glass of wine, cup of coffee or sugary scone might be, food and beverages can affect your sleep. For example, alcohol may help you fall asleep faster but will disrupt your sleep during the night; it also prevents you from getting into the deeper stages of sleep.

2) Eat right. It’s not just the foods you eat the night before, but eating to power up your energy at breakfast will set you on a good path for the rest of the day. The Mayo Clinic lists these things as the core of a healthy breakfast: whole grains, lean proteins, low-fat dairy and fruits and vegetables.

3) Exercise—or just move. You might not have time to exercise in the morning, but just five to seven minutes of exercise in the morning can help pump out endorphins and boost your mood. So can stretching—and you can even stretch while you’re still in bed (if you’re a bed malingerer, like me).

4) Pump up the music. Calm music makes you relaxed (that’s why it’s so nice to fall asleep to it), so wouldn’t the opposite be true? Upbeat music can help elevate your emotions (in a good way), increase your energy and reduce your stress levels, all to help you get off on the right foot in the morning.

5) Put your clock across the room. This one is obvious but may be so obvious that you haven’t considered it: Placing your alarm clock on the opposite side of the room is a not-so-subtle “trick” to get you to leave your bed. And, by the time you get there, it’s likely you’ll forget all about hitting the snooze button!