It’s hard enough to get up while hearing the alarm clock buzzing loudly at 7 a.m., so why not prepare the body with a healthy morning routine to take on those lasting schedules?

Morning stretches

Did you know that one benefits more by stretching in the morning due to an increase in blood flow to the muscles? While sleeping, individuals are usually in a specific position for several of hours which could lead to poor circulation. By doing some early morning stretches, individuals are able to feel lighter on their feet and are able to execute many activities to start off their days. Finish the morning stretches with some breathing exercises to extend blood flow throughout the body.

Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate

Instead of starting the day with coffee or an energy drink, refresh your body by drinking a large glass of water. The human body is constantly running on water, which makes up more than half it.

“It’s all because of the kidney system so you want that to be really hydrated because it helps with blood flow,” said James Shi, junior in biology. “More hemoglobin gets transferred throughout the body at a quicker rate, so your cells are more oxygenated as well, which is still on the premises of getting a higher metabolism.”

By keeping hydrated, water will help improve muscle function, carry more oxygen throughout the system, provide energy, and will benefit mental stability for those who have long schedules ahead of them.

Never skip the most important meal.

Skipping a meal is never healthy, especially with breakfast. Individuals usually sleep 8 hours per night, which means that the body is left with no source of nutrition to feed off when the morning comes around. Not only is skipping breakfast a risk to weight loss, but the body will not have the proper nourishment to stay active on long-lasting days.

“When you go to bed your liver has stocked up glycogen and then during that interval of sleep you’re not consuming any form of nutrition, so those glycogen stores actually deplete after a duration of sleep,” Shi said. “So when you wake up, your glycogen stores are all depleted, so what you need to do is to eat breakfast, so you can deplete those glycogen stores, so [you have] have [an] energy reservoir throughout the day.”

Breakfast is needed to be taken seriously for better performance and learning skills. Start the day with some healthy fruits and a whole grain meal to kick off a wonderful morning.

Light exercise

Doing some light exercise can really boost energy that the body needs to jump-start the day. Consider going on a light 15-minute jog or doing 15 jumping jacks. Morning exercise will help warm-up working muscles, improve body stability and create long elasticity for energy throughout the day.

Be mentally prepared

With so many things to do and so little time, it is best to be mentally prepared when finishing up some important errands. Before leaving the house, write a collective list to help mentally prepare the brain for what has to be tackled for the day.

Pack a healthy snack

Hear a rumbling stomach? The body is low on nutrition and needs food. Pack a small healthy snack to avoid that mid-afternoon crash. Think about preparing a small meal that consists of green vegetables, such as raw broccoli or celery, or slices of apples or oranges for sweet cravings.