5 simple ways to make your mornings better

SALT LAKE CITY — For many people, mornings are the worst part of the day. They are a routine of mundane things that need to be done.

Why can't mornings be a great start to a great day? Transform your mornings from boring and mundane to what they should be with these five steps.

1. Wake up right

According to contributing doctors and researchers at Helpguide.org, waking up at the right point in your sleep cycle makes getting up easier:

"Even if you’ve enjoyed a full night’s sleep, getting out of bed can be difficult if your alarm goes off when you’re in the middle of deep sleep (stage N3). If you want to make mornings less painful — or if you know you only have a limited time for sleep — try setting a wake-up time that’s a multiple of 90 minutes, the length of the average sleep cycle."

While it's not hard to use the multiple of 90 method to calculate the best time to set your alarm, there are many apps available to help. Most popular among Apple users is Sleep Cycle, and among Android users is Sleep Time.

These apps, and those similar to them, monitor your sleep and wake you within a set time range at the time that best fits within your sleep cycle. They require you to sleep with the phone on your bed, tucked under the sheet at a top corner of your mattress, and use your phone's sensors to calculate where you are in your sleep cycle, and wake you in between cycles.

These smart alarm apps can make a difference in daily well-being. Brandt Swensen, a student at BYU, has been using the Sleep Cycle app and has noticed a difference in his well-being. "All of the stats that it shows helps me understand how to improve my sleep habits," Swensen said. "I enjoy it because it wakes me up gradually. With (Sleep Cycle) I handle stress better and have more energy throughout the day."

2. Jump start your day with a workout

Working out in the morning has many advantages over working out in the evening. While exercise at any point in the day is advantageous to your health, there are many reasons you may want to fit in a morning workout routine.

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Cedric X. Bryant, chief exercise physiologist at the American Council on Exercise has said, "It is possible that by exercising in the morning — instead of evening — the exercise affects the body's circadian rhythm (your internal body clock) so you get better-quality sleep."

Quality of sleep is important, as it regulates hormones that control appetite, and is directly linked with weight loss. Good sleep will also give you energy that can be used to exercise.

Another advantage to morning exercise is the likelihood of maintaining your workout schedule. "Morning exercisers tend to stick with their exercise habit," Bryant says. "By doing the bulk of exercise first thing in the morning, you get your exercise in before other distractions can intrude."

Many medical journals and health guides promote morning exercise because of its metabolism-boosting effects. As you exercise, your body increases the rate at which your body creates energy. By exercising in the morning, this process starts off early, creating more time during the day for this process to occur.

3. Keep your bathroom mirror fog-free

Coming out of the shower to a nice, clear, mirror is one of the simple pleasures of life. So why not start your day out right using one of these tips for a fog-free mirror.

There are two common methods used to obtain fog-free mirrors. One is to coat the mirror with something that will not allow fog to form on the surface of the mirror, and the other is to clear the fog off after it has already formed.

The best method for clearing fog is to blast it with a blow-dryer set on hot.

For fog prevention, WonderHowTo.com suggests coating your mirror with one of four items that you probably already have hanging around your house. They include shaving cream, a 50-50 vinegar and water solution, dish soap, and car-window defogger.

The application of these materials is quite simple. For shaving cream, just lather the mirror with your hand as a man would lather his face. For vinegar use the 50-50 solution in a spray bottle; spray on, wipe off. For dish soap, use your hand to spread dish soap across the mirror, then wipe clean with a paper towel. More detailed instructions, as well as videos, can be found in the WonderHowTo post.

4. Eat your already-made breakfast

"Breakfast is the most important meal of the day." And no, it's not just something your mom told you as a kid, that's a statement published by Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.

While many of us would like to include a light, balanced meal at the beginning of the day, it can be hard to find the time needed for breakfast. The secret to encouraging yourself to eat in the mornings is to make your meal before hand.

Breakfast foods can be prepared in the evenings, before you retire, or you can make a week's worth of great breakfast meals all at once.

There are many healthy and delicious meals that can be prepared a week in advance. Some can even be easily taken to work and eaten there.

TheKitchn.com has a nice list of ten make-ahead breakfasts, with recipes and instructions for each. Making your own fruit-on-the-bottom yogurt cups in small mason jars or preparing your own blend of instant oatmeal and flavoring are not only nutritious, but can also save you money compared to buying the pre-made products from the store.

5. Make the most of your commute

Some see the morning commute to work as a dreaded twenty minutes of fighting traffic and worrying about work. Instead, look at your commute as twenty minutes (or five, or whatever) of you time. Time you have to enrich yourself and to enjoy.

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Use your commute to listen to that book you have always wanted to read, but for which you haven't found time. Audio books are easily available online. There are now many smartphone apps that allow streaming of purchased audio books, such as Audible.

If buying audio books isn't you thing, the internet is full of free books. Librivox and Internet Archive are two sites with many free audio books. The books you tend to find there are mostly old classics that are now part of the public domain.

To find new releases of audio books check with your local library. Most libraries have access to large online catalogs of audio books, and allow you to check them out from home and even from your smartphone.

Podcasts are another great resource for commutes. There are many instructional and informative podcasts available online that are easy to sync with any smartphone. Pick a topic you would like to learn about and you are sure to find a few podcasts.

If you feel like getting a little work done during your commute, try doing some dictation. Most smartphones have built-in dictation capabilities, which will work fine for small jobs. If you want to do a lot of dictation, you may want to look into professional dictation software.

Hopefully, with these tips you can better enjoy your mornings. A healthy, productive and efficient morning can lead you into a great day.

What tips do you have for making the most out of your morning? Share them with us in the comment section.

Taylor Wilson is an IT professional at a small Utah company. He has a passion for helping people with technology. Email: taylorwilson@testonetwo.com Online: www.testonetwo.com or twitter.com/twil6

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