5 Ways to Feel Good When You Wake Up in the Morning

Curtain up! 

Natural blue light, which sets your body clock, kicks off at sunrise. So, throw open the curtains and have breakfast, exercise or meditate near the window. Better still, get outside and start moving – ideally in the hour after sun-up; if not, before noon.

Make your bed

“Consider this your first success of the day,” enthuses feng shui expert Amanda Gibby Peters. “Making your bed creates order out of chaos. This ripples into the day and its expectations.” It’s simple, but can make you feel in control and energised.

Get going

“Exercise makes you feel more physically and mentally alert,” says personal trainer Mel Rutherford. “Also, getting into the light helps wake your body up naturally.” Best routine? Walk briskly for 20–40 minutes.

You should be able to talk, but not in full sentences. “To increase the intensity, find a bench or low wall and do a minute of step-ups every five minutes, alternating legs,” she says. No access to a clear bench or wall? Keep walking, but with high knees.

Find brain energy

Foggy mind? Try energy expert Madison King’s clever routine: Stand up and stretch your right hand up as high as you can. Repeat on other side. With an open palm, randomly pat all over your body.

Smile to activate endorphins. Hum or sing to stimulate the vagus nerve, which runs from the gut and other organs to the brain. Breathe to get oxygen into the body.

Take in some rays

Your natural uptake of vitamin D, a must for good energy and immunity, comes from sun exposure. But with one in three Aussies deficient in it, you need to up the ante. And it’s so easy – just a few minutes of exposing your face, hands and arms to sunlight in the morning is sufficient for most people at this time of year