Sig Nordal

If you are not a morning person, you’d agree that there is no better time for you to murder someone than in the morning when they force you to wake up. That feeling when you are roughly ripped from your unconsciousness, either by screaming alarm, violent shake, or glaring sunlight is painful and disorienting. You never get used to it even after a whole lifetime of practice. It turns you into a cranky and dissatisfied individual – not a very attractive nor appealing individual, by the way.

Sadly, no matter how much you’d rather put your middle finger to the world, duty still calls. Works need to be done, dreams need to be chased, bills need to be paid. Thankfully, there are some hacks to make you feel better, happier, and more productive in the morning. Here are some morning mood boosters to make your morning less miserable.

1. Get Enough Sleep

Do you know that inside our body, there is a built in clock called Circadian Rythm – or better known as biological clock? It means our body can understand the best daily schedule for itself. It knows when to eat, when to rest, and most importantly, when to wake. Our body has needs and biological clocks ensure that it gets what it needs on time. In the morning, our body is scheduled to already have enough rest and it needs to wake up to get breakfast. But, if our body somehow didn’t get enough rest for the night, the biological clock will start to mess up. We won’t be able to wake up naturally in the morning.

Everybody has sleep quota, but the number vary from each person. Normally, people need 6-9 hours of night sleep. Track your own sleeping quota, make notes at what number of hours of sleep you feel the most energized during the day. Then, make commitment to fulfill that quota every night. Following regular schedule for sleeping can be hard for modern lifestyle with shift work and frequent business travel to different time zone. For that, aim to increase your productivity during work hour instead of working for longer hour. Get quality sleep so you can get the most benefit of sleeping in the shortest time.

2. Wake Up Slowly

I used to set my alarm ALAP, or as late as possible. I thought the extra minutes of sleep will make me feel more satisfied. I was wrong. Big time.

Is there any worse way to wake up than have an alarm blasted right near your ears? Yes, there is. It is when I look at said alarm and notice that I have just enough time to brush my teeth, dress up, and chew my breakfast. That makes me jump from my bed, right away! For me, it feels as if I’m ‘warping’ from one dimension (my dream) to another (my reality), and ‘warping’ takes energy. So, I just wake up for several seconds and I feel tired and offended already. Not a good way to start a day.

The best way to wake up is to do it slowly. After you realize you’re awake, don’t move suddenly. Let your consciousness slowly build up and give time for your body to start their ‘waking mode’. Then, sit on your bed before you rise and start the morning routine. Take around 3-5 minutes for the whole process. This will makes you feel less disoriented, less tired, and more content.

3. Avoid Looking at Your Phone

Many people automatically reach their phone the moment they wake up. Partly because most of them use their phone as their alarm. I personally prefer a separate alarm, because once I lay my hand on my phone to dismiss my alarm, I automatically tempted to do more. For example, checking messages and email and group chat. Before I know it, I’ve spend 20 minutes trying to connect myself to the world mere seconds after I wake up.
I think, before I try to connect with outside world, it’s important to connect to myself first. That’s why I prefer to put my phone away from my arm reach in bed.

4. Five Minutes Meditation

When you sleep, you part with your consciousness for a while. Now, after you wake up, you will need to reconnect with your own self. Take five more minutes after you wake up to stay still. Focus your thought to remember who you are, where you are, and what your life purposes are. For example, if you are Frodo of The Lord of The Rings, you can think like this: “I am Frodo, I’m in the middle of my journey to Mordor, and I have to destroy this evil ring, whatever it takes, to save the world”. This easy practice will make you focused, motivated, and determined in the morning.

5. Greet the Morning

Now, it’s time to move out of the bed. What awaits you? A fresh, cool, and crisp morning air that is good for your health and your alertness. Stand up in front of the window and open it, let the morning air caress your face. Observe the morning with all your senses. Look at the color of the sky. Listen to the birds chirping.

As you start using your senses, you’ll be gently pulled from your unconsciousness into full awareness. Not only your mind has completely awake, but your senses are too.

6. Ten Minutes Exercise

Now, when you’re already focused, motivated, and determined, getting those limbs to move is easier. Do simple warming up exercise like nodding your head rythmically, lifting your shoulder up and down, twisting your waist left and right, and walking in place. This will stretch your muscle after a whole night of lying down. Believe me, the muscle burn you’ll feel is satisfying and makes you feel accomplished.

7. Cold Shower

Now, after you exercise, take a cold shower. Now, the thought of dumping cold water to your entire body seems horrifying. In fact, it makes you more averse to waking up than the thought of hot shower. But, believe me, it is not that bad. If it makes you feel better, James Bond takes this kind of shower everyday.

It is actually refreshing and brings you into full alertness. When the water comes into contact with our skin, the shock prompts our body to seek warmth. It will take a deep breath and pump a rush of blood to our entire body – giving it a natural boost of energy. That energy is perfect for amunition for the rest of the day. A moist and healthy skin and hair is just side benefit.

8. Mood Boosting Music

As you exit the shower and make way to your room to dress up, turn on your music player. Make a ‘morning mood’ playlist beforehand, contains songs with uplifting melody and lyric you find motivating. It doesn’t have to be an obvious motivation song, like Mariah Carey’s Hero or Bruno Mars’ Today My Life Begin. Every song you personally found motivating should be included to the list.

9. Apply Essential Oil

After dressing up and putting up some make up, don’t worry to apply a sheer magic of mood booster: aromatherapy. There are various type of aromatherapy, each with their own effect. For your purpose, I’d recommed aromatherapy with mood boosting and energizing effect. Those are the scents of orange, lemon, mint, and bergamot.
Pick an organic essential oil for this to minimize skin irritation. You can apply them in certain part of your body like a perfume – on your wrist, your neck, or behind your ear.

10. Hug Your Loved One

Now, smelling nice and looking impeccable, show up on the living room to meet your loved one for breakfast. They can be your parents if you’re still living with them, your spouse, your kids, or even your housemate if you’re still single. Hugging people you love has this grounding effect. It reminds you that you have to do your best today for the sake of your loved one. You will do awesome thing today at work and at night you’ll come back accomplished to your loved one.

If you live alone, simply send a ‘Good morning, I love you’ to your girlfriend or boyfriend or parents. It can serves as a morning mood buster as well as a hug.

11. Light, Tasty, Nutritious Breakfast

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, period. When you sleep, you’re essentially fasting because there is no nutrition intake. This makes your blood sugar especially low. Meanwhile, blood sugar gives you energy to do your activity later in the day – whether muscle work or brain work. Not replenishing this needs will make you tired and feeling dull in the morning.

Your breakfast should be light, so you can easily chew it and your body can easily digest it. Tasty, so you will feel ‘worth it’ to make time for breakfast. Nutritious, because it’s the point of having breakfast – to get the nutrition. Ideally, your breakfast should contain protein, calcium, a little fat, a little fiber, and a little sugar. It means variety of choices, like eggs, fish, fruit or vegetables, whole wheat cereal, yogurt, and many other tasty choices.

See Also: 5 New Ways To Eat Breakfast And Skip Mid-Morning Slump

12. Hot Chocolate

Are you thinking of snatching a cup of Starbucks later on your way to work? While coffee is definitely the most popular morning beverage for office workers, cocoa is maybe the best. Coffee will help you focus during your work, but cocoa with its flavonoid can do the same while improving your mood in the process.

So, after a well balanced meal, make sure to sip a nice cup of hot chocolate. The sugar in it is also enough to keep you going through the day.

13. Smile

Smile is really an effortless yet powerful act. Smile comes naturally when you’re happy, but it goes backward too. Meaning, even if you only fake a smile, your brain will think that you’re happy. Neat, isn’t it? And when you feel happy, then your mood will skyrocket and you’re ready for the world.

Make sure to put your best smile before you open the door to go to work. To make sure you won’t forget this, put a reminder to smile in your door.

14. Sunlight

Now, it’s time to get out of the house. But, it doesn’t mean that the mood boosting ritual is complete. It needs a finishing touch, which is available outside your house. It is a poweful light that can warm you and make you feel better about the world. It improves your mood and makes you healthy. It is completely free and abundant, It’s not futuristic at all, it’s completely basic and natural: sunlight.

Our biological clock also runs based on the availability of sunlight. When the sunlight goes out, it knows that it’s time for your body to rest and sleep, so you become sleepy. When it feels the sunlight, it knows that it’s time for your body to work, so you’ll find yourself alert and energized.
Spend several minutes to stand under the morning sun before you go into your car, into your bus, or into your subway station. Recharge yourself by going out and basking in the warm morning sunlight.

15. Do One Kindness Act

Now, you are outside. Complete your day by performing one kindness act during your way to work. Human is naturally kind, and being able to act according to their nature will give you happiness. As you feel happy and accomplished, your mood will be at its peak.

Get creative with the kindness act. Find easy way to perform kindness while you’re commuting. For example, giving away your subway seat to an elderly or smiling at strangers. You can also drop a dollar or two on the street – who knows someone who desperately need it will be lucky enough to pick it.

16. Do Something that Makes You Happy

Now, your day is officially start! You’ve gone through the most positive morning routine ever. For that, feel free to reward yourself. Allow yourself to do something that makes you happy today. Is it a quick visit to nearest cafe for its smoothie? Is it a quick read of a chapter of your favorite novel before work? Your pick.

See Also: 10 Secrets To A Happy and Fulfilled Life

Doing this will make you feel accomplished. It boost your mood and confidence. What a perfect way to start the rest of your day.

The list above is totally customizable. You can pick which one is most suitable and effective for you. But, I found out that doing all nine makes the best morning mood boosters combo – they’re easy anyway. So, are you ready to conquer the day?

The post 16 Easy and Effective Morning Mood Boosters for Non-Morning Person appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

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