Living with RA: Five Fast Tips to Start Your Morning Right
1. Get Ahead the Night Before
The night before, write down important tasks that require your attention the next day. These items should not be an exhaustive list, but 5-6 key items that are a priority or items that you may forget. Writing things down allows you to get stressful thoughts out of your head and on paper. This practice can help to decrease mind racing at night, which can interfere with getting restful sleep.
2. Start Your Day with a Warm Shower
The opposite is often recommended. However, for individuals who often wake up feeling stiff, a warm shower provides an opportunity for passive warmth that can help ease stiff achy joints, making it easier to move more comfortably to do morning stretches or prepare for the workday.
3. Make Your Bed
Making your bed also helps to set the tone for the day. By maintaining a resting space that is tidy, making your bed provides a clean slate to start each day versus one that begins in disarray. Making the bed also creates a welcoming environment to rest when it is time to go to sleep.
4. Eat a Nourishing Breakfast
A good breakfast does not have to be time-consuming. Stock your fridge and pantry with items that are easy to prepare and nourishing. Breakfast foods such as hard-boiled eggs and overnight oats can be prepared ahead of time. Other easy go-to options include multigrain toast with sesame butter or nut butter, or fresh fruit and Greek yogurt.
5. Listen to Something Positive
While it’s important to know what’s going on in the world, our society tends to over-consume news, and a lot of it is negative and depressing. Break the cycle and start your morning listening to something uplifting and positive, like a podcast or music you enjoy.