Morning Movement

Getting up in the morning can be difficult, especially if you have to be up early for work or had a very late night. It's easy to hit the snooze and wait until the last possible second to rush out of bed and into your day. However, starting your day with some movement can have multiple benefits to your mental and physical health.

(Extra tip: hitting the snooze button can actually decrease your quality of sleep, as the fragmented minutes of on-and-off consciousness can throw off your natural rhythym. This can affect metabolism, energy, and future sleep schedules.)

1. Morning movement can improve focus and mood. Starting your day with some sort of activity will jumpstart your brain, avoiding the morning fog so many of us feel and helping to stay on-task throughout the day. Checking off the first item on your list combined with movement creates a sense of accomplishment and releases feel-good chemicals (dopamine, seratonin, endorphins). This will improve your overall mood and prevent those little irritants like traffic from bringing you down.

2. More energy and better sleep. Movement causes oxygen and nutrients to travel to your heart and lungs, improving your blood flow, cardiovascular system, and stamina, resulting in more consistent energy throughout the day. Moving in the morning is also a better alternative to pre-bedtime exercise because the increased heart rate and core temperature can tamper with quality and quantity of sleep.

3. Less Stress. Beyond the benefits on focus and mood, exercise has physiological effects as well. It will lower cortisol levels (stress hormones), and decrease tension in your muscles, which is part of the body's physical response to stress. This will not only reduce/eliminate small aches and pains that may plague you, but also allow you to release some frustration and stress that have been affecting your mental and physical health.

It may seem like getting enough sleep should be priority number 1, but the sleep you're getting from the snooze button isn't helping you, it's actually causing more problems. Instead, get out of bed to that first alarm and get moving. It doesn't have to be a full 10/10 intensity workout, but anything that gets your muscles working and heart rate increased will have numerous benefits to improve your quality of life.