How to reduce your stress and anger before breakfast
Train your morning brain to help you feel better all day
Let me guess…the first thing you do when you wake up is check your phone.
I mean, a lot probably went on in your world while you were sleeping and, for goodness sakes, you need to find out the latest happenings.
Are you waking up with an anxious fear of missing out? For you, it’s like a kind of me-world FOMO.
Other than checking your phone while still sleepy-eyed, there may be other somewhat stress-inducing things you do first thing in the morning.
You need to stop that. Whether you realize it or not, your brain and body are responding in stress-impacted ways.
There’s an entirely better way to spend your early mornings that will require small adjustments in you morning routine, but help you feel so much better throughout your day (and help you sleep better at night, too).
Here are six (6) things to do first thing in the morning, even before you have breakfast, to reduce your stress and anger throughout the day..
Find a way to wake up that pleases and relaxes your senses. The first thing you hear, see, smell, and touch will begin to set your stress baseline for your day. You can use soothing music, soft lighting, essential oils or other relaxing aromas and more to calmly wake up your senses each day. Ditch the blaring alarm, bright overhead lights, and the stank of your dirty laundry in the corner of your room and be more intentional about your sensory wake up routine.
Stay away from your phone and other screens. The onslaught of non-stop information 24/7 is an assault on your brain and body’s good health. Whether it’s the news of the world, last night’s sports score or exciting ending to your favorite TV show, or reading your personal text messages and emails, what seems like normal behavior for most is extremely unhealthy for the brain and body. All of your important life information will still be there waiting for you later.
Exercise before breakfast. This may be a challenging change in routine for you, but if you’re able to exercise for at least 45 minutes before eating breakfast, your body will burn more fat and you will reduce your stress. Your brain and body produce a lot of cortisol (the stress hormone) in the morning and when you exercise, your cortisol levels spike even higher, but then reduce significantly when your exercise is over. This brain and body regulation will last all day.
Add mindfulness to your wake-up and morning routine. You can be mindful with small daily wake-up tasks. You can mindfully wake-up with a “sensory audit” and body muscle scan. As you lay in bed while waking, notice your sensory stimulation (what do you see, smell, hear, feel, taste?) and slowly focus on the muscles of your body from your toes to your nose. If you take a shower or bath in the morning, you can focus on clearing your thoughts while enjoying the warm water on your skin. You can exercise mindfully, eat mindfully and communicate with those around you more mindfully, as well.
Mediation and Yoga - Some of the best strategies for your morning routine are those that will help release pleasurable brain chemicals - like dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin. Most mindful and sensory strategies will activate these neurotransmitters. Meditation and yoga both will help the release of these positive hormones, as well as provide a change in brain states and thinking patterns. Even meditating for short periods of time each morning (literally you can start with just one or two minutes of daily meditation) will help reduce your overall stress and anger.
Daily Morning Journaling - Journaling first thing in the morning will be a refreshing experience. Your mind can be very reflective and creative first thing in the morning and journaling is a proven effective way to work out emotional issues and challenges. Whether it’s full sentences and paragraphs, random thoughts or just doodling, the tool of journaling will have surprising impact on your mood throughout your day.
By being more intentional about your wake-up and morning routines, you can get your brain and body to be much more regulated and resilient. This will help you when you’re feeling stressed or someone or something is pushing your buttons and you feel the emotion building inside you.
You’ll find that your anger, anxiety and other emotional confusion won’t seem so overwhelming and cause you to feel out of control.
Your wake-up and morning routines will establish your emotional foundation for the day. There are lots of things you can do - even before breakfast!
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