3 Ways to Supercharge your Morning.

What if I told you there is a better way to kick off your day? We all wake up in the morning. We all have our rituals. If you’re like me, you’ll hit the snooze button one more time or avoid putting that to-do list together. There is a better way to feel more alive and I’ll show you how.

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Do you feel like the image above? If you’re like me, I am not a morning person. Just ask my wife, Kari. In-fact I don’t like them at all. But we all have to wake up and begin our day at some point. Yet, creating a morning routine is daunting to some and near impossible to others.

Here is my list of 3 things I do for my morning routine.

1. Stretch.

You know that feeling you get when you arch your back and stretch before getting out of bed? That feeling is a release of toxins that have been stored in your muscles during the night hours. If we don’t allow our muscles to activate before we begin our day, it takes longer to get moving because of atrophy.

To release these toxins and allow the body to flush them out, we have to stretch. I push out my chest, raise my arms, arch my back and allow my weight to rest on the balls of my feet. This simple action releases the atrophy, energizes the muscles and allows your body to know it’s time to prepare for oxygen and hydration. Plus, you’ll just plain feel better.

2. Oxygenate.

This is what helps for most mild to moderate headaches. I usually wake up with one. This simply takes breathing. Take a breath in, hold for 4 seconds and exhale for a couple of seconds.

When we learn to breathe deep our bodies will take that oxygen and put it right to our brain. It energizes the now stretched muscles and gives them strength. It enriches the blood to pull oxygen to the parts of your body that needs it.

How do you breathe deep? As you draw air in through both mouth and nose, allow your belly to fill with air. This means the lower part of your lungs are getting filled. When you hold your breath for a few seconds, your body draws all the oxygen into the blood stream. Then exhale the carbon dioxide. If you feel light headed, that’s a good sign, because you’re body is drawing in oxygen and releasing toxins.

3. Hydrate.

This is the third most crucial part of my morning routine. I drink close to 16 oz of water almost every morning. Now, you can drink only 8 – 10 oz, which is the average glass size. When we hydrate, we’re telling our body it’s time to wake up and get ready for the day. When we sleep, we are depriving our body of water, which it needs to function.

In sleep, toxins fill our body and we have to flush them out. By drinking a tall glass of water every morning, your body begins to replace toxins with good old water. Then you’ll simply flush those toxins after your body has replaced them.

These three things will create a more alert mind, cause headaches to dissipate, toxins to be flushed away and give you the strength you need to begin your day. But more importantly, you’ll find you are more ready to conquer your day. So, go ahead give these three things a try, I guarantee you’ll find it worth your while and you’ll want to get out of bed just to have that feeling of a clear mind.

[reminder]What is your morning routine like? If you could add one thing to this list, what would it be?[/reminder]