Your morning sets the tone for your day and your morning is dictated by the things you do and do not do. Establishing morning habits can make your mornings run a bit smoother and set you up for success (whatever that means to you) for the rest of the day. These 9 habits are simple enough that even tired busy moms can make them work into their morning.
1. Set the Tone the Night Before
Don’t worry here is where I will not be telling you to make sure you are getting a solid 8 hours of sleep. Listen, we all know sleep is important and we all wish we were getting more of it. If you are within your first year or two of mom life, this is just not that season ,and it is OK. I promise you, you will get through it. Surprisingly the amount of sleep you get (or don’t) maybe only one of the many reasons for feeling tired.
While ensuring the hours of sleep might be difficult right now there are a few things we can do to give ourselves the leg up. When you are in a season of night wakes, quality of sleep is extremely important. Perhaps as important as the hours. Get your body ready for bed by avoiding blue light for an hour before bed. While ideally this means all blue light TV and phones alike I’ll let the TV watching slide but do put away your phone, laptop ext.
Instead try some reading (again not on your phone) or writing before bed. Have a soothing bedtime routine for yourself and for your baby. Have some wind down time, set the mood. If you are able to make bedtime less stressful it is a win all around. You can read here about how to support your baby to sleep. And keep some of those take aways for yourself as well.
2. Hydrate First Thing in the Morning
Start your day with a large glass of water (add lemon or limes, mineral or tap, cold or room temp. whatever you will drink.) Getting caught up on “the right type” of water and therefore not getting any in is not the point.
We can have a net loss of water overnight (especially if breastfeeding) and drinking water first thing helps replenish it. It is a good way to ensure you are drinking enough throughout the day. Plus it can Boosts energy and arousal. A 2019 study showed that dehyradtion had a negative affect on mood, attention and short term memory and proper hydration improved that.
3. Make Making Your Bed a Morning Habit
No need to get fancy or make it military style perfect. Making your bed is a great morning habit. Simplify your task by just throwing the comforter back on and reorganizing your pillows and that’s it. Less than 30 seconds but get it done!
It can help set the tone for the day and on days where you feel like you didn’t “do” anything (oh I mean except for soothing, feeding, nurturing and generally caring for your baby – I see you mama) You can say well at least I made the bed today and that is something! Surprisingly it may also help you sleep better. A sleep study found that those who made their bed slept 19% better than those who didn’t.
4. Move Joyfully Each and Every Morning
The range here is wide it can be anything from a few sun salutations, a 3 minute full body range of motion and stretching, a 10 minute walk or just busting a move in your kitchen while you wait for your coffee! It’s all good and it all works. The goal is to get your body moving, blood flowing and to FEEL good
5. Start Your Morning Routine by Delaying Screen Time
Think sky before screens. Go ahead and place your phone in a different room and make time to get some daylight into your eyes before you pick up the phone, tablet or laptop. Natural light helps regulate your circadian rhythm. It allows for a gradual rise in cortisol which will help you feel more awake, focused and boost mood. Artificial light disrupts these natural rhythms and can affect quality of sleep.
A sleep health study demonstrates the importance of day light exposure to sleep health including sleep quality and a decrease in depression with increased day light. This can be a few minutes outside or even opening your blinds and staring out. Keep blinds open throughout the day to get as much natural light in as possible and take outdoor breaks when possible. Try ditching your black out curtains and allow the natural light to slowly seep into your room in the morning.
6. Deep Breathing as a Morning Practice
Get in the habit of taking 3-5 purposeful deep breaths in the morning, before you get out of bed.
You will start your morning connecting to your body. This can help you not only be present in the moment but help you stay present throughout the day. Deep breaths can boost the oxygen in your body and help you feel more awake. Deep breathing can also make you feel relaxed and ready to start your day from a calm place.
7. Add in a Gratitude Practice
Gratitude practice doesn’t need to take long. You can visualize what you are grateful for (picking one thing) before you get out of bed or keep a journal and jot down a list.
A gratitude practice can improve your mental well being as well as your physical health. It isn’t just hear-say a review of 70 studies demonstrated that there is an association between higher levels of gratitude and lower levels of depression.
8. Eat a Balanced Breakfast as Part of Your Morning Routine
They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day. The timing of when you have your breakfast may very well be just as important. There is lots of talk about intermittent fasting and alternate day fasting but there is no good evidence that the benefits are actual benefits for postpartum women. In fact it might do more harm than good for this population especially if breastfeeding.
Eat a balanced breakfast within the first hour or two of waking up and either before or with your coffee. Eating within the first few hours of waking up helps replenish your glucose supply and can lower your risk of type2 diabetes. Drinking coffee on an empty stomach can spike your cortisol and have a negative effect on your blood sugar. Eating (a balanced) breakfast can support good hormone health and that is something every new mama can benefit from.
9. Pump Yourself Up Every Morning
Now this morning habit can take almost no time at all. Pair saying a positive affirmation with an already established habit like brushing your teeth or simply take Mel Robbins advice on the high 5 habit. I know it may seem silly but from personal experience (and also all of the research Mel provides) it works!
Starting the high 5 habit was the simple step I needed to do to start pulling myself out of my postpartum depression. (Note – clearly that alone was not the cure but it was my first step and it was really helpful.)
Mama, regardless of if you are a working mom, stay at home mom, work from home mom or any number of combinations, you have busy day ahead and being prepared for it is important. See which of these habits fit best in your day. Be consistent and let me know (you can always send me a DM) how your day has changed because of it!