How you begin your day can impact your mood, mindset, your hormones and adrenal health. 

The first 20 – 30 minutes after waking are so important. Our cortisol levels spike shortly after waking up so if you snooze your alarm (because you are exhausted from a night of poor sleep) and then get out of bed late, rushing about getting ready, grabbing a couple of cups of coffee to wake you up as you check your social media or emails with one hand, making the lunch with other whilst listening to the news and shovelling a bowl of something down your throat before you fly out of the door, your cortisol levels will go through the roof. Each of these things produce more and more cortisol, raising your levels up and up and up.

A morning routine doesn’t need to be long and complicated. It does, however, need to allow the naturally raised cortisol levels the chance to settle, before you get caught up into your day and face more of your hidden stressors (situations, activities and emotions). That’s those situations that cause the stress response in you. 

Your cortisol may still build up through the day BUT it will build from a low base line rather than on top of an already elevated level.