Checklist for a healthy start to your day

You listen to a song early in the morning

and that plays in your head throughout the

day. That is the power of morning. How you are going to end the day totally depends upon how you start your day, but most of us begin

the day totally in a wrong way. Here are a

few common morning mistakes that people do.

First, staying in dark. Do not stay in dark

for long once you wake up, slide open your

curtains and let the light fill your room.

Your biological clock is light sensitive.

For certain hormones to get you back into

your action, you need to have a bright and

morning light. You must expose yourself to

morning light immediately after you wake up.

Exposure to light in the morning and blue

green light in particular prompts the release

of hormone cortisol, which stimulates and

wakes you up and inhibits the release of melatonin,

which makes you feel drowsy. So, open your

windows, look up to bright blue sky and greenery

around or go for a quick walk and come back.

Second mistake, which we do is missing our

morning glass of warm water. Your body is

in need of water after 7 8 hours of sleep.

The first thing you should do after waking

up is to drink a glass of warm water. It would

rehydrate your body and also stimulates your

digestive system to action. Missing a glass

of water can put stress on the system because

of dehydration and also eating some solid

food directly will again put lots of stress

to your system. You must drink a glass of

warm water the moment you wake up, but after

15 minutes you can definitely take water with

lemon, with little haldi inside, with little

honey inside. That would be beautiful. Third

mistake we do is rushing to work. Being in

hurry is a very big mistake which we do early

in the morning and this restlessness will

continue throughout the day. Your state of

mind in morning can decide your energy and

your state of being for the whole day. Hence

you plan your morning well in advance in previous

night so that you can at least spend one hour

for yourself and practice Yoga, walking, meditation,

pranayama, etc and spending time with nature.

The calmness and focus will prevail throughout

the day's work. You will be energetic, more

joyful and more peaceful. The fourth mistake,

which we do early in the morning, is to check

our mobile phone. 80% of smartphone users

check their mobile phones within 15 minutes

of waking up. This habit can disturb the peace

of mind which you have attained through sleep.

We are exposing ourselves to overload of information

the moment we wake up. This could cause more

stress to your mind. Also, the exposure to

bright light of phone can affect your eyes

because of the darkness of the atmosphere.

The blue light of mobile phone can cause reddening

of your eyes and dryness, so avoid using your

phone at least for one hour after waking up.

The fifth mistake that we do is skipping our

breakfast. Consuming more calorie early in

the morning may reduce the risk of heart attack,

diabetes, and more circulatory problems. Skipping

the breakfast can also make you eat more throughout

the day and also can put your system under

stress. Your body has high absorbing capacity

early in the morning. Hence, having breakfast

within two hours of waking up can help your

body absorb all the nutrients efficiently.

And don't forget to include proteins in every

meal including breakfast as protein is linked

to having less body fat, but has lots of other

benefits. Greek yogurt and cottage cheese

are very good source of breakfast protein.

Morning makes a foundation of your day. Make

sure that you build your foundation strong.

Avoid all these silly mistakes which we do

early in the morning and begin your day with

happiness and peace.

Namaskar