How to make mornings less stressful: A simple routine can set you up for the day

Win the morning, win the day

If your day starts bargaining with the snooze button, rehearsing a spat with a colleague or hunting for a missing sock, it can feel like you are already losing. “A good morning routine will set you up for the day, it can change how you think and feel,” says psychologist and neuroscientist Dr Brian Pennie. “When you win the morning, you win the day,” says Pennie.

Keep it simple

The first thing to do is set your intention for a morning routine, commit to taking a few moments for yourself before the day begins, says Pennie. You are more likely to stick to this new routine if it’s a simple one. “One of the things I do, personally, is a three-minute routine. Keep it simple and easy,” says Pennie. “My morning routine is the acronym ‘bag’: breathwork, affirmations and gratitude.”

And breathe

We can’t stop ourselves feeling anxiety and stress, but using our breath can change the impact of these emotions on our body. “We can’t tell our heartbeat to slow down or our liver to stop producing glycogen, that is part of the stress response, but we can use our breath as a lever to slow down our heart rate and reduce stress and anxiety at a biological level,” says Pennie.

“For one minute, take six breaths – three seconds in and six seconds out. Because it is a longer out breath, you are actually slowing down your system. You are creating that space for being present,” he says.

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Affirmative action

Sure, reciting positive affirmations can feel a bit woo-woo, but try it for a minute. “Language is a vehicle for emotion. If you tell yourself you feel like crap, you are going to feel like crap,” says Pennie. Try repeating a positive affirmation 10 or 15 times for the second minute of your morning routine. “I keep mine simple, I say: ‘I’m happy, positive, energetic and carefree’. But I embody it, I focus on it and I feel it,” he says. “You might say, well I’m not happy or carefree, but saying it has a placebo effect. You are priming yourself into the action you are going to take throughout the day.”

If your day is challenging, let your affirmation reflect that, says Pennie. “If I have a challenging day, I will say something like, ‘Adversity doesn’t stop me, it fuels my ability to thrive’. I am priming myself to lean into the challenge and to look for growth within the challenge.”

Gratitude attitude

The trick with gratitude is to visualise the person or thing for which you are grateful in order to really feel a connection with it. “I pick one specific person in my life that I am grateful for, I focus on them and I am grateful for what they bring into my life,” says Pennie. “For example, my nephew gives everyone hugs, and when I visualise him giving me and family members hugs, I can feel myself smiling from the inside. I’m visualising a connection with another person.”

“From a neuroscientific perspective, this is firing serotonin neurons and firing dopamine because I am visualising a good thing in my life and I am feeling connected with it,” he says.

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Practice makes perfect

Mornings are busy. Taking three minutes for yourself can feel impossible. The trick is to make it a habit. “We can all say, ‘I feel like hitting the snooze button’; ‘I feel like staying cosy in bed’, but those are ‘feeling’ statements,” says Pennie. “What you want to be making is a ‘values’ statement: ‘I value my mental health’ or ‘I value my energy’.”

“Motion drives emotion. Mood follows action. If you don’t feel great, make a values-based decision to do your morning routine. It will change how you feel.”

“It’s like the story about the bird – she is not singing because she is happy, she is happy because she is singing.”