7 Good Morning Habits To Start Now

Instead of lying in bed worrying about what’s to come, you can roll right into your routine of healthy morning habits—whatever that means to you. Whether you want more time to eat breakfast or give meditation a try, these healthy morning habits can help you feel more zen and accomplished before you even leave the house.

Of course, good morning habits don’t just happen overnight. Here are some morning routine ideas with suggestions on how to adapt them easily into your natural AM flow.

Drink More Water

Perhaps the easiest item on the list, all you need to do is keep your water bottle within arm’s reach of your bed. Sleep can be super dehydrating and if you put off drinking water all morning, you’re bound to feel more irritable later on in the day. Ideally, you should be drinking water throughout the morning, even after you leave the house. Make sure your backpack has a water bottle sleeve like the Right Pack’s, which is located on the outside for grab-and-go hydration purposes. Don’t find water that fun to drink? Add a slice of lemon, lime, or cucumber to your glass for natural flavor.

Make Your Bed

One of the most commonly-listed morning habits of successful people is that they make their bed first thing in the morning (and no, your mom didn’t pay us to write this). Making your bed is an easy task that feels like a real accomplishment and is entirely under your control. Even if nothing else on your to-do list goes according to plan that day, at least your bed is made. Not to mention, there’s nothing better than coming home to a nice, neat bed. You can think of it as wiping the slate clean from all of yesterday’s worries each morning.

Work in a Mini-Meditation Session

Don’t let anyone tell you that you need fancy pillows or a serene ocean view to meditate. The secret to meditation is that you can do it anywhere and at any time for however long you want, even if it’s just one minute. All you need to do to get started is set a timer and focus on your breathing. You can meditate lying down before you get out of bed, or work it into your morning routine. For example, one of the best times to meditate is when you’re waiting for your coffee to brew.

Stretch or Exercise

Physical activity is the best way to wake up your groggy brain, but how much exercise you want to work into your morning routine in the morning is entirely up to you. You’re the best judge on how to spend your time, but you don’t need to rule out exercise entirely just because you have a tight schedule. If you don’t have time to run a mile, maybe you can run down the end of the block and back. If you don’t have time for a full yoga flow, maybe you can get your stretch in while you’re tying your shoes or brushing your teeth. 

If you can walk or cycle to school in the morning, this is a good way to get in some movement too. But if your walk is more like a hike, you may want to invest in a daypack like the Gnarly Gnapsack 25, which is designed with special straps and an adjustable sternum strap to distribute your bag’s weight more evenly.

Eat Breakfast or Pack a Snack

Your body and brain need fuel to keep you going throughout the day, so if you’re skipping breakfast you’re more likely to feel more tired and irritable until you get to lunch  time. It’s natural for people to not feel hungry first thing in the morning, so if you can’t even manage to eat a banana or piece of toast, at least make time to pack something away for later. A granola bar, protein shake, fruit, or even a small sandwich are good late breakfast options and you can keep them cold in a bag like the Lunch Tote.

Pack Your Backpack the Night Before

We’re willing to bet that you already know what you’ll need for school the next day before you go to bed, so why not pack your backpack ahead of time? If you’re dealing with morning laziness, it’s much easier to forget essential items like that flash drive for the big project or the video game your friend let you borrow. Before going to bed, take a few minutes to take stock of what’s in your backpack. If it has a lot of pockets and compartments like the Main Campus Backpack, make sure you check through all of these and remove any unneeded items, like gum wrappers and old homework assignments. Tidy bag, tidy mind. 

Keep It Simple and Realistic

The most important trick for creating a good morning routine for yourself is to keep it simple and stay true to yourself. You don’t need to adopt all of these habits all at once to be a successful morning person, but one or two can help. Try to work them into your natural morning rhythm and if you forget or miss a day, you can always try again tomorrow.

Making time for a hobby is another good way to check off an accomplishment in the morning. Get some inspo from these passion project ideas.