Want to make mornings a little less wacky, which will then reduce stress throughout your entire day? These healthy morning hacks that wellness experts swear by can help.
From mindfulness practices to the fastest healthy breakfast, none of these tweaks to your routine require more than five minutes. Actually, you can even do a few of them while you do other required activities (like teeth brushing) or pair them up for a two-for-one wellness boost.
Ready for calmer, more sane mornings? Start doing these smart things before you go to bed, first, and then choose a few of these morning hacks for the a.m.
Don’t worry, none of this interferes with your coffee routine.
5-Minute Healthy Morning Hacks
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1. Stretch before you step
Before your feet even hit the floor, give yourself some time to breathe and stretch, recommends yoga teacher Lindsey Valdez. “Anytime that you can focus on breathing and stretching into your body, even if it’s just literally arms up overhead, interlace your palms, flip them inside out, breathe into your ribs, take a few head circles…that, to me, is everything. It could be two minutes or a full morning practice.”
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2. Change your morning phone habits
Nutritious Life-certified superstar Jill Anenberg Lawrence puts her phone on Airplane mode around 8:00 or 9:00 p.m. The key to having it really impact your life, she says, is to then resist reaching for it as soon as you wake up. “I don’t turn it back on until I’ve brushed my teeth, thought about my dreams, spent time with the animals, and gone through my gratitude list in the morning,” she says. “YOU ARE IN CHARGE OF YOUR MORNING. You eliminate everyone wanting things from you or social media playing with your emotions.”
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3. Make smoothies for breakfast
Okay, this may seem obvious, but it’s worth reiterating: Smoothies are amazing because you can cram maximum nutrients into the blender, make it taste delicious, and have breakfast ready in three minutes—for you and your kids. Nutritious Life founder Keri Glassman, MS, RD makes nearly the same one every day for her son. “I throw in chocolate milk (either organic cow’s milk or almond), spinach or whatever other green is in the fridge, a heaping tablespoon of natural peanut butter, half a scoop of chocolate Life’s Abundance Protein Powder, a banana, and sometimes a quarter or half of an avocado. And, then I chat with him (I definitely do most of the talking here, since he’s still half asleep) as he sucks it down. It’s a high-calorie jam packed nutrient dense breakfast that isn’t right for every kid, but I like to load him up with protein and healthy fat in the morning and it works for him.”
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4. Practice mindfulness while you brush your teeth
Okay, maybe you don’t have time to sit on a pillow and Om, but it’s possible to practice meditative techniques while doing the things you have to do, like brushing your teeth or blow-drying your hair. “When I’m brushing, I make it a point to look deeply into my left eye, take deep breaths in and out through my nose, and say ‘I love you’ to myself,” says meditation teacher Tejal V. Patel.
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5. Do a “found moment” workout
Another thing you can do while brushing your teeth, doing your hair, or, better yet, making a smoothie? Work out! Celebrity yoga teacher Hilaria Baldwin creates “found moment” workouts she can do in just a few minutes while multi-tasking nearly every day, and she shares them with her followers so they can do them, too.
