A Step-By-Step Guide To A Healthy Morning Routine

We all know what the quintessential influencer morning routines look like. They’re aspirational, showing you a calm and gentle start to your day that would ideally set you up for success. But are those aesthetically pleasing routines a good blueprint for how you should live your life? Or is there a big difference between a trendy morning routine and a healthy morning routine?

There are endless “buts” when it comes to morning routines. You’d ideally make the bed first thing, but your husband is in law enforcement and after his graveyard shift he prefers to sleep in longer than you. You’d love to jet out to a pilates class right away, but you’ve got morning classes or a job that you have to commute to. The perfect morning routine does not exist, but healthy morning routines are attainable if you can find a good balance between what you absolutely need to do and what you could be doing to feel on top of the world.

Take a look at our recommended tips and tricks for what constitutes a healthy morning routine. With your personal responsibilities in mind, pick and choose a few of our wellness-boosting habits to incorporate into your day-to-day life. As a precursor, you should know that these steps are not meant to be followed in any specific order; rather, you should figure out how each of these fits best into your life.

What Should I Start With?

Self-help and psychological experts alike agree that cleaning up the environment around you is one of the simplest wins you can make each and every day to work toward personal growth and success. 

As Confucious once said, “To put the world in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must first put the family in order; to put the family in order; we must first cultivate our personal life; we must first set our hearts right.”

What Might This Look Like in a Morning Routine?

• Make your bed. Again, this can happen right away, or once everyone is awake.

• Open up your curtains, blinds, or shutters, and welcome in a new day. Giving your body a physical cue that it’s morning through exposure to sunlight can help you feel refreshed throughout the day and even sleep better at night.

• Tend to any plants you may have. Think indoor and outdoor if you have time to factor in both.

• Give dedicated attention to any pets you may have. You’re self-sufficient for the most part, but they rely on you!

• Cuddle up with someone you love, whether that’s your cat, dog, husband, or children.

What Should I Eat?

I’m getting this out of the way first. You need to stop skipping breakfast and relying on caffeine. Whether you’re sipping black coffee or grabbing a latte from your local coffee shop, skipping breakfast and going straight for caffeine and sugar is a bad practice for a healthy start.

Intermittent fasting is all the rage, but did you know that those flashy studies that tout endless benefits were primarily done on men? As you know, our bodies function very differently from the male body, so we might actually be doing ourselves a disservice by fasting.

Intermittent fasting has its pros, but one of its cons is that fasting can throw your hormones out of whack, depending on what phase you’re in during your menstrual cycle. Hormonal specialists believe it's best to fast during the late follicular phase, but any other time? You should probably not restrict your food intake, which means make sure to break that fast in the morning!

While fasting isn’t always a bad idea, more often than not it should be avoided for your best health outcomes. Instead, try to eat within an hour to an hour and a half of waking up. 

Now That You Know When To Eat, What Should You Eat?

• Prioritize protein. It keeps you fuller longer, and it keeps you stronger. We have seven great recipes right here.

• Consider fertility-friendly foods. Eggs are your BFF, but leafy greens, avocados, citrus fruits, seeds, full-fat dairy, nuts, real butter, and omega-3-rich fish such as salmon are other great options. 

• Don’t stress over recipes. Breakfast is your first meal of the day, and if you’re low on time or resources, you might want smart solutions to optimize mealtime. Our app 28 has new recipe and grocery list features tailored to your hormonal cycle!

What Should I Drink?

Hydration is easily one of the most overlooked beauty tips and is a must in your healthy morning routine. Before you even consider any other beverage, drink a full glass of water to get your insides going after a night of rest and to replenish any hydration you lost overnight.

Our Favorite Sunrise Sips:

• Lemon water: Some ladies choose to sip lemon water first thing because it ticks off box No. 1, but it also aids digestion, can help prevent kidney stones, is weight-loss friendly, and gives you extra vitamin C and potassium.

• Chlorophyll water: This one can be combined with lemon water! Chlorophyll can not only help your skin quality, gut microbiome, digestion, cholesterol levels, and hormone levels, but it could also help aid in weight loss.

• ACV: Apple cider vinegar could also help with digestion and is pretty tasty in things like the iconic pink detox drink.

• Morning spa water: Another Skinny Confidential fave is this lemon, mint, ginger, and spicy hot water beverage.

• Coffee: Some swear off coffee entirely, while others cite that moderate coffee consumption can lower your risk for type 2 diabetes, heart disease, certain cancers, and other neurological conditions.

• Tea: Tea on an empty stomach might make you nauseous, but different types of teas can provide many health benefits.

What Else Should I Take?

Your body is unique from anyone else’s, and because of that, you likely benefit from different vitamins and supplements. Before you choose to start any new supplements, you should do your own personal vetting and, if need be, speak with a trusted expert in medicine or nutrition. Additionally, before you start any new supplements, you should consider if you’re going overboard with vitamins because, yes, you can overdose on them. What's more, certain vitamins could actually make you gain weight.

In general, if you’re making smart dietary choices, then you’ll need fewer supplements. It’s not always so straightforward, however, as many of us live busy lives and may struggle with proper nutrition through dietary choices alone.

What Supplements Are Worth Taking, Though? 

• Prenatal vitamins: For starters, every woman in her childbearing years should be taking prenatal multivitamins, no matter if you’re planning to conceive a kid today, tomorrow, or in two years. The right prenatal vitamin could help replenish nutrients that birth control and other endocrine disruptors deplete, as well as make your hair shinier, skin clearer, energy levels higher, mind sharper, and nails stronger.

• Whole food supplements: Then there are whole food supplements like powdered oyster pills and beef liver pills which, when third-party tested for quality control, could help support your metabolism, immune system, energy levels, skin health, and even your sexual health.

• Inositol: Another favorite of naturopaths and hormonal experts alike, Inositol tackles fertility problems like PCOS by regulating insulin levels. If you’re experiencing irregular (or no) cycles, acne, unwanted hair growth, want to improve your egg health, or want better ovulation, you should look into inositol! It’s worth noting that you can find inositol in foods like grapefruit, orange, cantaloupe, beans, almonds, and organ meats, but you can’t get a therapeutic dose to tackle symptoms from just food alone.

• Magnesium: If appropriate, you should also consider supplementing magnesium daily. Some people claim that all people are magnesium deficient, while others think it’s rarer. That said, research shows that magnesium supplementation has major benefits to a variety of conditions like PMS, PCOS, pregnancy, menopause, and more.

• Collagen: Collagen is another supplement you should look into. There are a number of vitamins or powders you can take to get extra collagen beyond incorporating it into your diet, for example through bone broth. Getting more collagen into your body can help slow down the aging process and even prevent against cellulite.

• Greens: Do you need to supplement greens? The verdict isn’t quite clear on this one. You don’t necessarily need to take greens if you’re eating at least one cup of vegetables with every meal (or more than a cup at a single sitting), but if you’re lacking on veg then you might want to add this supplement.

• Other beneficial vitamins and supplements you may want to consider taking upon research and discovering if they’re right for you would include vitamin C/acerola C, calcium, maca, fenugreek, b12, omegas, and probiotics.

How Should I Tend to My Physical Beauty?

Yes, beauty may be in the eye of the beholder to an extent, but good hygiene practices are a must. Furthermore, you can add in extra habits to your morning routine that elevate your beauty to the next level.

• Hop in the shower. Whether you choose to shower first thing or not is entirely up to you, but just think this one through for a second. You’ve been in bed for anywhere from a couple of hours to the full eight, or more! You may sweat throughout the night too, so getting up and rinsing off right away is a logically sound step in your healthy morning routine. That said, you might want to reconsider a daily morning hair wash as it could strip your hair of its natural oils.

• Do your morning skincare routine. Again, this looks very different for everyone because we’ve all got unique skin that requires unique combinations of products.

  • We curated skincare regimens based on the climate you live in.

  • We curated affordable clean beauty swaps for the perfect, penny-friendly skincare routine.

  • We curated the best products for a woman who is pregnant or nursing.

  • We curated a great guide for eczema-prone skin.

  • We curated a full how-to on how to skin cycle, a dermatologist-backed skincare trend.

• Consider face rolling, gua sha, or face yoga.

  • A face roller that has been chilled in the fridge feels amazing first thing in the morning when you’re fresh out of the shower.

  • Face rollers, gua sha tools, and face yoga techniques are tools to improve your face’s lymphatic drainage. Additionally, they may improve your blood flow, reduce puffiness and inflammation, help you de-stress, brighten your complexion, and enhance your skincare product absorption.

• Take care of your oral hygiene.

  • Your dentist probably drilled into your brain enough times that brushing your teeth and flossing is important, but they probably failed to inform you that the fluoride in your toothpaste is a chemical waste byproduct. Instead, try non-toxic swaps like hydroxyapatite-based brands or the multitude of fluoride-free brands out there.

  • Get into the habit of tongue scraping. This is the dermaplaning for your oral health which can help fix bad breath, improve your sense of taste, and even help your overall health.

• Take your basal body temperature.

  • If checking on your hormones is important to you, you should check your basal body temperature (BBT) first thing every morning. Tracking your BBT can show if you’re ovulating and when (but only after the fact) and additionally can identify luteal phase defect and check on your thyroid function. 

  • Best practice: Take your basal body temperature immediately after you wake up but before you get out of bed.

How Can I Tend to My Physical Body?

Before you sit down on the sofa and even consider loafing about, you need to move your body. The best part about this one is that there’s no right or wrong way to do it!

Here’s How You Can Get Your Blood Flowing:

• Get some fresh air. Though you can certainly strive for longer durations, you should prioritize getting around a half hour of outdoor exposure on a walk every day. Sunlight first thing in the morning is ideal, but fresh air does wonders for you even if it’s cloudy out. 

  • Here’s a challenge: Zinc sunscreens can be great, but your typical chemical sunscreen may include hormone disruptors. During your walk, skip the sunblock and instead wear a wide-brimmed hat and shield your exposed skin with clothing. You can work your way up to safer sun exposure sans chemical sunscreen, not risking wrinkles, sun damage, or hormonal disruptors.

• Go to the gym if you can.

  • Fasted cardio could be a recipe for disaster for your hormonal health, but if an outdoor walk is out of the picture for you, then getting some morning treadmill cardio (like the viral “hot girl walk”), a bit of biking, or a Stairmaster session can get your heart pumping and wake up your muscles.

  • Like with cardio, you probably shouldn’t do weight lifting fasted, so make sure you’ve supplied your body with a bit of food before you take on any resistance or strength training. What’s amazing about strength training is that post-workout, you’ve boosted your metabolism for the next day or so and will actually burn more calories while building sexy muscle at rest than if you were to just do cardio.

  • The mornings could also be a great time to squeeze in a group workout, whether you like to do yoga, pilates, martial arts, water sports, barre, or anything in between.

• Loosen up your muscles. Got a foam roller? How about a theragun? Spend a few moments massaging your muscles after a long night of stationary sleep to increase blood flow and improve your range of motion for the rest of the day.

• No time for dedicated exercise? Household chores will do! One of the many reasons why people believe mid-century housewives had a trimmer dress size than the average today is that they burnt a lot of calories while doing household chores. This is because non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) boosts metabolism. Vacuuming carpet and floors (if everyone is awake), tending to your lawn and garden, making and changing bedding, tidying the kitchen, organizing the house, and general cleaning can help you be less sedentary right away.

How Do I Tend to My Mental Health? 

How you go about grounding yourself in the morning looks different for everyone. For some, this means opening up your Bible and doing a morning study. For others, this might mean journaling out some morning mantras and meditating.

Here Are a Few Other Grounding Activities To Start Your Morning Mindfully:

• Say goodbye to yesterday. This could also take place the night before, but crossing off yesterday on your calendar is a great practice to send signals to your brain that a new day has begun. While you’re reminding yourself that another day has come and gone, introspectively evaluate how you feel about time passing and how you think you’re progressing in life. What went well yesterday? Can you replicate that today?

• Try productive meditation. Sometimes it may feel like there’s a barrier to entry for deep meditation because you have to clear your mind. In Cal Newport’s book Deep Work, he suggests productive meditation. First, you ask yourself a question and don’t immediately try to find an answer. Then, you shift your focus to being mindful and present in the moment and allow thoughts to come toward you.

• Consider a “miracle morning.” From his book The Miracle Morning, author Hal Elrod crafted a combination of several morning rituals he believes make up a perfect meditative routine. It begins with silence (through meditation or prayer), affirmations, visualizations, exercises, reading, and then scribing (through writing or journaling).

• Breathe it out. Deep breathing is an easy habit to incorporate in your daily life that could help reduce stress and manage your mental health. The simplest practice would be dedicating anywhere from five to 10 minutes of mindful, deep belly breathing without any distraction. Some people like to engage in more rigorous breathwork, like the “psychotherapy” style class I tested out, or the Wim Hof method, which includes intense rounds of power breathing, breath holding, and then a cold shower.

How Can I Keep My Brain Sharp?

Some believe that checking on technology right away is among the worst cardinal sins you could do right after waking up, while others (like Elon Musk) prefer to check their emails right away. Whichever side of the argument you’re on, there are plenty of great ways to sharpen up your brain early in the a.m. 

Before you even get started, let’s not forget that a lot of these productive practices can actually be “stacked” in what Atomic Habits author James Clear coined as “habit stacking.” A method that even IRL boss babe Lauryn Bosstick of The Skinny Confidential swears by, habit stacking means that you incorporate new habits before and after old ones. How might this look for you? You might say to yourself, before I brew my morning coffee, I will do a five-minute deep breathing exercise. Or, after I finish my daily shower, I’ll do my new skincare routine.

No Desire For A Slow Start? Let’s Get Productive:

• Read positive news or magazine content. If you can’t stay away from the world (like me), you’re likely to start reading negative headlines in the morning. Tailor a news feed or only read from sources that have positive stories because research has shown that even five minutes of exposure to negative stories can impact your mood for the rest of the day.

• Listen to a podcast. This is one I habit stack on the daily. While I make breakfast, I listen to my favorite podcasts, like Modern Wisdom by Chris Williamson. Turning on a podcast is a great way to expand your brain while you’re doing otherwise monotonous tasks.

• Listen to music. Your morning playlist can make or break your mood just as easily as the news you consume. One of my personal favorite choices is classical music. Studies have shown that classical music can enhance your brain activity, inspire you to improve your health and wellness, help you problem-solve, and can get you to complete tasks more efficiently. You might not love classical, however, and that’s OK! Anything that puts you in a fresh, positive mindset is great to turn on in the morning, especially if the music follows 50 and 80 beats per minute. Studies show that this beat range actually heightens your brain-wave activity and induces what some consider “an alpha state.”

• Do a crossword puzzle. Whether you still get a physical newspaper, have a book of puzzle games, or play them digitally, things like crossword puzzles are a great way to bump your brain into motion during the morning hours.

• Check your emails. Like I mentioned before, some people consider early morning email checking a major taboo. There are many high-achievers who ignore this advice and flourish. If you find that checking your emails in the morning doesn’t deplete your energy or derail your routine, have at it!

• Work on your side hustle or creative passions. If you’re about to clock in (physically or not!) for a work day, you might feel like you’re missing out on the opportunity to have a fun side hustle or creative hobby. The early mornings are a great time to chip away at some non-career work. For example, I love to do research for my articles during or after breakfast. In your life, this might look like making some progress on a sewing project or whipping up a new recipe that can simmer in your slow cooker all day or bake in your oven during the next couple of hours.

Closing Thoughts

Let’s be real, there’s no simple formula for the healthiest morning routine because healthy practices look very different for every single one of us. There’s also no proof that an idyllic, Insta-worthy morning routine will make you feel more fulfilled! What’s healthy for me might be unproductive for you based on your own body, your career, your marital status, whether you have kids, or any other number of compounding responsibilities.

Your step-by-step guide to a healthy morning routine should look like taking a little bit of guidance from each category and making sure that the habits match your motivation and bring you actual joy. If you’re forcing yourself to do things you hate, you might not feel emotionally satisfied and instead resent the mornings for forcing you into an unsustainable lifestyle. Choose habits that promote your best health outcomes without becoming addicted or obsessed with the process. And beyond all else, make sure that you’re choosing habits that keep you happy.

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