How to Kick-Start Your Day With Healthy Habits

How you start the day shapes how you feel, eat and move for the rest of it. These morning habits are small, backed by evidence, and easy to stack.

1. Get up at a regular time

A consistent wake-up time — weekends included — stabilizes your body clock and improves sleep quality. It is more important than when you go to bed.

2. Get daylight early

10–20 minutes of outdoor light in the first hour after waking helps set your circadian rhythm, improves alertness and makes it easier to fall asleep at night. Even on cloudy days outdoor light is far brighter than indoor light.

3. Drink a glass of water

After a night without fluids, a glass of water is a simple start. Coffee or tea counts too — moderate coffee intake is linked to lower risk of several chronic diseases.

4. Move a little

A short walk, stretching, a few minutes of body-weight exercises or cycling to work. Morning exercise also makes it more likely you'll exercise consistently.

5. Eat a breakfast with protein and fiber

Eggs with vegetables, Greek yogurt with berries and nuts, or oatmeal with seeds keep you full longer and blood sugar steadier than sugary cereals or pastries.

6. Check your blood pressure (if you monitor it)

Morning is the recommended time for home blood pressure readings: after using the bathroom, before coffee, breakfast and medication, after 5 minutes of quiet sitting. See How to Check Your Blood Pressure at Home.

7. Take medications consistently

Linking medications to a morning routine (next to the toothbrush or coffee machine) helps you remember them.

8. Plan one healthy thing

A minute to plan when you'll move, what you'll eat for lunch, or when you'll take a break makes it far more likely to happen.

Start small

Pick one or two habits and attach them to something you already do. Once they stick, add the next one.