6 Morning Routines to Reduce Anxiety
Everyone has a morning routine, whether it’s intentional or not. There may be a hot beverage involved, some basic hygiene requirements to take care of, and possibly some engagement with pets and people. These habits may seem insignificant, but how you start your morning sets the tone for the rest of your day. If you repeat healthy habits every morning, no matter how small, the impact on your overall health can be life-changing. Or at the very least, mood-changing.
On the flip side, there could be and likely are morning routines that aren’t contributing to your health in a positive way, and could even be setting your day up for stress and chaos. If you’re someone who struggles with anxiety or even worry, it’s important to prime your mind for success the moment you open your eyes.
Anxiety is experienced differently by everyone but it typically involves compulsive thoughts of anticipation and worry. Implementing steps at the beginning of your day to help subdue feelings of worry can make it easier to manage anxiety better throughout your day, increasing your odds of happiness and success.
First, it helps to take a step back and assess what factors might be contributing to your anxiety. Your nervous system, hormones, sleep, nutrition, and mind are most likely the most significant contributors to how your anxiety shows up. If your nervous system is having difficulty staying in your parasympathetic state of rest and digest, you’ll need to find ways to support it. If your hormones aren’t balanced, and you’re low on hormones that help regulate your emotional state, you’ll want to balance them.
Here are 6 simple routines you can add to your morning that address the five major contributors to anxiety-related symptoms. By implementing these routines, you’ll help weed out any suboptimal habits and replace them with ones that will help keep anxiety at bay. While there’s never a quick fix for anxiety, it certainly helps to start somewhere, so why not start at the beginning of your day?
1. Drink water
Let’s start by going back to the basics. In my opinion, the most important basic health hack that’s often overlooked is you guessed it, H20 BABY!
At some point or another, you’ve probably been encouraged by someone with your best interest to drink more water, but do you know why hydration is so important? Proper hydration is not only essential for healthy digestion and brain function but also mental health. We can draw the crucial connection between anxiety symptoms and gut health when looking at dehydration and anxiety. When we’re dehydrated, it’s difficult for us to digest food properly since our intestines need lubrication to function. This also makes it difficult for our gut to absorb the nutrients that we need, particularly from the fiber in the food we eat. Fiber is what feeds healthy gut bacteria and is responsible for producing neurotransmitters like GABA, serotonin, and dopamine. These neurotransmitters play a crucial role in our mood and regulating symptoms of anxiety. GABA has an important calming effect, serotonin produces a feel-good effect, and dopamine produces feelings of pleasure. Without these key players in the game, other not-so-helpful hormones, like our stress hormone, cortisol, start to trickle in. Cortisol is also triggered to overproduce when dehydrated, making it impossible for us to feel calm.
On the contrary, when you’re properly hydrated, you support your gut, neurotransmitters, and hormone production. This will only set you up for feelings of ease, pleasure, and even focus. Not bad, right?
So the next time you wake up just think to yourself “I”m one glass of water away from pleasure”.
Experts suggest at least 500ml (16oz) before ingesting anything else. (I’m looking at you, coffee.)
2. Avoid your phone
The second step you can take to create some distance between you and your anxiety is to create some distance between you and your phone. I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, as I’m sure this isn’t what you wanted to hear, and I feel you. As someone who suffers from anxiety, it sounds counter-intuitive for someone with an anxious mind to not immediately pick up their phone when they wake up to make sure nothing is forgotten and that everyone is alive and well. But this actually sends your brain into planning and problem-solving mode right away, which is all about anticipating. And unfortunately for us, the core root of all anxious thoughts is, you guessed it, anticipation. By looking at your phone to check messages, e-mails, and social media, you remind your brain of all your responsibilities. This simple act tells your brain to start to detect any obstacles you may need to overcome during your day ahead.
Not to mention that every time you look at your phone, your brain releases dopamine which sounds wonderful, but your brain is smart. It makes the connection that looking at your phone releases this terrific feeling, making you want more. It’s the perfect storm as this compulsion primes your brain for distraction and lack of focus moving forward. The feeling of anticipation coupled with the inability to focus makes your mind a breeding ground for anxiety.
Instead, skip all that and get outside to reward your eyes with some natural sunlight, bringing us to our next order of business.
3. Get outside and absorb the sun
Even if it’s a cloudy day, acknowledging the solar cycle and the start of a new day through your retinas will promote a healthy circadian rhythm, which will help you sleep better. A good night’s sleep is crucial when it comes to addressing anxiety and can drastically decrease the severity of anxiety symptoms.
Your circadian rhythm is your body's 24-hour cycle and is responsible for releasing hormones that help you wake up and fall asleep. These hormones include Cortisol and Melatonin and are heavily influenced by sunlight and darkness. Cortisol is what begins the cycle of your circadian rhythm and is the hormone that helps you wake up and feel alert. It’s also your stress hormone, making it very important for your body to release it soon after you wake up instead of later in the day or even at night.
Studies show that those who suffer from depression and anxiety experience a surge of Cortisol late in the day or even at night as part of their typical hormonal rhythm. This delays the production of Melatonin, your sleepy hormone, making it near impossible to wind down and sleep. Because the circadian rhythm is most affected by light and darkness (light activating cortisol and darkness triggering melatonin), it only makes sense that you would prioritize exposure to sunlight early in your day.
The most effective way to promote Cortisol activation is to expose your eyes to natural sunlight right when you wake up. Since it’s 50 times more potent for your retinas to absorb sunlight outdoors than through a window, it’s best to get yourself outside. Research shows that 30-40 minutes of sun exposure (even if it’s rainy or overcast) in the morning will be enough to activate your circadian rhythm and help balance Cortisol levels for the rest of your day.
While you’re outside enjoying the fresh air, this is a wonderful time to harness your energy and move your body which leads us to our next step.
4. Move your body
Now that you’re outside and are activating your circadian rhythm, it’s an excellent opportunity to strike while the iron’s hot and move your body. Cortisol will encourage your body’s fight or flight response, increasing glucose (sugar) in the bloodstream, making this a perfect time to squeeze in your daily movement.
If you’re not someone who typically enjoys exercise of higher intensity in the morning, then no sweat(pun intended). Instead, you may prefer to ease into your day with moderate activities like walking, bike riding, swimming, skiing, or yoga.
Studies show a drastic decrease in anxiety and depression in people who elevate their heart rate for at least 30 minutes daily, and you’ll get to enjoy a little reward in the process; endorphins! Endorphins are marvelous little hormones that help relieve pain, reduce stress, and put you in a better mood, making them a delightful treat at the start of your day.
You’ll also be making yet another step toward sleeping better, given that 30 minutes of daily exercise helps you fall asleep faster and increases the amount of slow-wave sleep you get. Slow-wave sleep refers to a deep sleep where your brain and body can recover more efficiently, giving you a better chance of warding off anxious feelings.
Exercising in the morning also boosts your energy and encourages you to eat healthier throughout the day, leading us to our next anti-anxiety hack.
5. Eat a balanced breakfast
It’s a tale as old as time, and it starts with the phrase, “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” If your mom was anything like mine and repeated this phrase like her own personal mantra to try and get me to eat in the mornings, then you’re well acquainted with its weight and meaning. And guess what? Mom was right. Your first meal is crucial to your overall health. But it turns out that it’s less important WHEN you eat your breakfast (or your “first meal”) and much more important WHAT you eat.
Would you believe it if I told you that, more often than not, chronic anxiety results from poor gut health? You may be eating all of the “right” “healthy” foods according to diet culture or #cleaneating blogs, but is your digestion healthy? The truth is, as long as your gut is in distress, your brain will continue to fire off alarm bells in the form of anxious feelings.
If you choose to ingest nutrient-dense foods for your first meal of the day, you will be priming your gut and your mind for success. To get the most out of your first meal, you'll want to include three essential things: Fiber, Fat, and Protein.
Fiber
Fiber helps feed your gut bugs so that they can break down the nutrients in your food and help build happy hormones and neurotransmitters like serotonin.
Fun fact: Did you know that 90% of serotonin comes from our food?
Aim for 25-35g of fiber daily to keep your body running like a well-oiled machine. Increasing your fiber intake during your first meal will help you stay on track. Think fruit, veggies, beans/legumes, and avocados.
Fat
Your brain is made up of 60% fat and relies on fatty acids to perform. Your nervous system also heavily depends on healthy fats to run smoothly. Think nuts, fish, and again avocados.
Fun Fact #2: Not only do avocados contain healthy fat and fiber, but they also contain micronutrients like vitamin B6 (which helps create serotonin) and magnesium (which helps regulate the body’s stress response).
Protein
Finally, protein! Protein breaks down into amino acids, the building blocks for neurotransmitters and hormones. As we’ve already learned, keeping neurotransmitters and hormones balanced and encouraging their production is what keeps us happy and healthy. Protein also decreases cravings helping us avoid sugar and other processed foods that lead to disrupting the microbiome of a healthy gut.
Including this power-trio in your first meal of the day will give your body the best shot at leveling out your hormones as your day moves along. If you happen to substantially include this trio in ALL of your meals, then I reward you 3 gold stars.
6. Write in a gratitude journal or meditate
No anti-anxiety list would be complete without including a MindfulnessPrractice, and for a good reason. A mindfulness practice, specifically one that includes gratitude, boosts neurotransmitters, dopamine, and serotonin, which improve your mood and give you positive feelings of pleasure, happiness, and well-being. During a gratitude practice of either journaling or meditating, you’ll learn to separate yourself from anxious thoughts instead of identifying with them. This makes it easier to observe anxiety when it comes up. By observing anxiety you’re more likely to let it move through you instead of opting to spiral or panic.
Try to find a quiet space, and make a list on paper or in your head of everything you feel grateful for that day. Allow yourself to sit with these feelings of gratitude. Identify where in your body you feel it and breathe into it. This simple act that only takes 5 minutes can leave you feeling lighter and more hopeful, and may even encourage you to take a more positive approach to any obstacles you may face.
Pro tip: You don’t need to feel grateful for your parents, partner, or career every day. I find it helps to think smaller. Think of a delicious meal you ate, a smile from a stranger, or a new shirt. The little things add up, and I find that it helps to steer clear of the expectation of never being upset with big-picture things in my life.
I think that we can all agree that anxiety is no fun and that it can really get in the way of us enjoying this one precious life we have. Routines and habits are all about repetition and commitment but don’t feel like you need to implement every one of these steps into your morning right away. Take it slow. Try adding just one per week, one per month, or at whatever other pace feels right for you. The most important thing to remember is your why. Why do you want to implement a routine? How will that feel and what changes do you hope to see happen for yourself? Have hope that everything will fall into place, and try to enjoy the stages of healing along the way. Because why not?