The power of morning movement
One Minute For Your Health #5
A few weeks ago I asked you “Are you living your day or is your day living you?”
I hope that since then you’ve spent some time envisioning your perfect morning routine and putting it into practice.
In fact, I would love to have an update on how that’s been going. Send me an email or write to me on Instagram or Facebook. If you weren’t part of our tribe back then have a look at the archives to see what you missed.
Is movement part of your morning routine?
Today I’d like to share a little about the power of morning movement and hopefully convince you to start incorporating it into your mornings.
Our bodies are regulated by an internal “clock” which should up and down-regulate the function of different bodily organs dependent on the time of day.
This is known as our circadian rhythm or sleep-wake cycle.
Decades of research have shown that a dysregulated body clock is linked with all sorts of health problems like heart disease, diabetes and increased inflammation.
Exercise or movement is a stimulus we can use to regulate this internal clock.
Movement signals to the clock that it is time to be ‘awake’ and to up-regulate all the day time functions.
This means that moving first thing in the morning can help us get over the sluggish
‘I can’t keep my eyes open, where is my coffee’ state.
It doesn't even have to be anything intense. In fact, I’m pretty sure planning a mega morning workout won’t motivate you to get out of bed.
So here is your #1M4YH challenge for this week:
Find a nice 5-10 minute morning stretching routine that you can do first thing after getting out of bed.
Nice, enjoyable and gentle is the way to go here.
Try this guided video to start. Or just go for a morning walk if you’re able to.
Here’s the thing. In the beginning, it might not feel great-
-and it might not seem very convenient-
- but I promise after about a month it will start to feel amazing. You’ll miss it when you don’t do it. Trust me*.
So let’s keep each other motivated and share our morning stretch selfies this week!
Tag them with #1M4YH so we can see what we’re all up to and support each other. Tag me @efias_kitchen on Insta or @insideefiaskitchen on Facebook so I don’t miss a thing!
That’s all for this week - looking forward to seeing your photos 🤩
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P.s. If you want to learn more about the benefits of movement read this article.
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*I know this because my husband used to have to ‘force’ me to exercise every morning. Now I willingly and happily do it - because I know how good it feels.
Links and References:
Hower, I.M., Harper, S.A. and Buford, T.W., 2018. Circadian rhythms, exercise, and cardiovascular health. Journal of circadian rhythms, 16.
Taheri, M. and Irandoust, K., 2020. Morning exercise improves cognitive performance decrements induced by partial sleep deprivation in elite athletes. Biological Rhythm Research, 51(4), pp.644-653.
Kumar, A. and Jhajharia, B., 2018. Effect of morning exercise on immunity.
Images from www.canva.com
Learn more about me at www.efiaskitchen.com