Let’s be honest: university can be hard. Between essays, assignments and exams, plus extracurricular activities, hanging out with friends, sleeping and everything else, it’s easy to lose balance and feel like your overall mental health and wellness is slowly deteriorating. According to the Huffington Post, a morning routine can help you set the tone for the entire day, making you feel less overwhelmed and disorganized. Many super successful women like Jennifer Anniston and Oprah Winfrey carefully structure their routines to get the most out of their mornings.
To feel better and become a little more successful and balanced, here are nine things to add to your morning routine.
1. Unplug from technology
While it’s easy to roll out of bed and scroll through Instagram for a few minutes, try to resist the urge. According to Business Insider, checking your phone before getting out of bed in the morning can cause unhappiness and trigger stress. Rather than starting your morning off with tragic news articles and perfect pictures of your friends on social media, spend a few minutes in the morning unplugging and resisting the desire to scroll through your news feeds. It may be challenging at first, but chances are good that you will feel so much better.
2. Meditate
Now you might be thinking, “Meditating? Seriously? Who’s got time for that?” But honestly, adding meditation to your morning routine as a university student can have lots of benefits. This article explains how meditation has been shown to reduce stress, control anxiety and improve sleep. Whether you download an app like Calm or Headspace or watch meditation videos on YouTube, start your day off on the right note with meditation.
3. Make your bed
Ugh. Make your bed. What am I, your mom? No, I’m definitely not, but trust me, taking two minutes and adding bed-making to your morning routine is really beneficial. In fact, this article explains how making your bed in the morning has been shown to lower stress, improve mood and increase productivity. If you just take a little time in the morning to make your bed, you’ll feel better in the long run.
4. Eat a healthy breakfast
While it is so much easier to just run out the door and get going on your studying, eating a healthy breakfast is such an important thing to include in your morning routine. Eating a healthy breakfast every morning has lots of benefits, as it gives you the energy to start the day and increases your ability to learn and focus. Whether you like scrambled eggs or granola and fruit, begin the day with some healthy, delicious food.
5. Write in a journal
Why journal? Honestly, why not? Adding journaling to your morning routine has a bunch of benefits like getting rid of mental clutter, improving productivity and starting the day on a positive note. Honestly, I personally love journaling because it helps me get all of my ideas, thoughts and worries down on paper. So, grab a journal and a pen and get writing!
6. Listen to music
While it can be great to get ready in silence, why not add some upbeat tunes to your morning routine? Studies have shown that music increases happiness, strengthens memory, decreases stress and reduces depression. So, no matter what kind of music you listen to, make a fun playlist and start your day off with some great tunes.
7. Drink some coffee or tea
Whichever side of the debate you fall on, having a warm drink in the morning is a great addition to your routine. While coffee and tea are often seen as toxic and addictive drinks (coffee especially), according to Inc, tea can help enhance creativity and even coffee (without sweetener) can be pretty good for you, as it has several physical health benefits.
8. Exercise
Now this one I personally refuse to do because I am a night owl who hates getting up early, but if you’re an early bird, why not add exercise to your morning routine? Whether you make your way to the gym or just do a few crunches in your room, according to Total Wellness, exercising in the morning gives you more energy, increases your mood and reduces your stress.
9. Do something you love
Is there something you love to do but feel like you don’t have enough time for? Whether it’s blogging, painting, reading or something else, commit to getting up a little bit earlier every morning so you can work on a hobby or an activity you love. From my experience of trying out new hobbies like baking and playing the cello, I honestly feel so amazing and fulfilled afterwards because not only am I doing an activity that I enjoy, but I am also learning something new.
The bottom line
While it is easy to get overwhelmed and stressed out at university, establishing a consistent morning routine can definitely reduce your stress and help you start your day off right. You might think that you’re too busy to have a morning routine, but if you commit to doing small things for yourself every morning, it can make it easier to tackle any problem or challenge you experience throughout your day.
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