These simple morning habits could boost your wellbeing
Don’t hit snooze
When you wake, the sleep hormone melatonin begins to decrease while the body’s levels of cortisol rise. The increase in cortisol encourages the body to wake and feel energetic for the day and sparks the release of serotonin, adrenaline, and dopamine.
When you hit snooze, you are postponing your wake window. Delaying the release of serotonin, dopamine and adrenaline will ensure that we feel tired for longer.
Leave your phone alone
Grabbing your phone first thing may seem like a way to get ahead of the day, however it often throws your hormones off balance.
As you read your emails, the body reacts by initiating its flight or fight response. This is because adrenaline passes through to the blood stream. As adrenaline makes its way around the body, blood pressure rises, anxiety increases and a person often feels drained, even after a good quality night’s sleep.
Eat something
A cup of coffee in the morning is standard, but consuming caffeine on an empty stomach can cause a spike in cortisol, the body’s stress hormone. Creating an additional spike in cortisol first thing in the morning is a sure-fire way to throw your hormones out of whack.
See the light
When we wake, it is vital that we expose ourselves to as much light as possible. When you wake in darkness, the body continues to produce melatonin, leading the body to continually feel tired.
Expose the body to a minimum of 15 minutes of natural sunlight, to encourage the release of the wake hormones dopamine and serotonin.
• From Mike Kocsis at balancemyhormones.co.uk