Morning Water: Habits post #1
Habits.
Love them or hate them you are your habits.
Habits are what you do on autopilot. A trigger happens and boom you do your habit. An example is pulling your phone out in a waiting room. “Please have a seat and we will call you in a few minutes” is often a trigger for finding a seat, pulling out your phone, then opening your usual first open app (Instagram for me).
Habits are comforting and make our lives easier. But I feel like the interruption of our habits is what makes motherhood so difficult. With all the interruptions of having to help little people, moms are forced to move out of unconscious habits and into using their conscious minds all the time. It’s exhausting. That’s where the idea of mental load comes in along with keeping track of every one’s stuff and schedule.
So, What’s a mom to do? You want to have healthy habits so you feel well enough to do the crazy mom life with joy and spunk plus model good habits for your children, but it just feels like too much.
I certainly don’t have it all figured out, but after nearly 3 years of setting myself completely aside I have been forced to address some of the lifestyle factors that contribute to my physical and mental state. Tiny easy habits are the base of my healing proctol.
Morning Water
The first amazing, easy, tiny, but extremely healthful habit I want to discuss is drinking 16-32 ounces of water first thing in the morning.
Why?
Your cells have been taking out their trash all night and putting it in the dump aka your colon. If all those toxics and other waste products aren’t removed then you may reabsorb them. Ewww. Therefore it is extremely important to poop every morning ideally within 20 minutes of waking. Drinking a bunch of water first thing wakes up your guts and increases the likelihood of an early morning bowel movement. Shawn Stevenson calls this our “inner bath” and I love that term! It’s exactly what is happening. Washing out the large intestine.
But Caitlin, my mornings are CRAZY: Kids that won’t sleep, a zillion things to do first thing, trying to get everyone fed and out that door and you want me to do ANOTHER thing? No way.
How?
You can do this. Make it a habit. Pretty soon you will crave water first thing in the morning and you won’t even have to think about it even if you have not prepped. Finding a large glass of water will be on auto pilot.
Here are a few ideas to make it a habit:
Place a bottle (preferably glass) on your bedside table right by your alarm. The idea is you see/hit it while turning off the clock, then grab it and drink it.
Just start. Even if you don’t drink the whole bottle or you forget until you’ve been up for 15 minutes. Just drink some then. Messy imperfect action is better than waiting for the perfect morning.
Tack drinking water onto a morning habit. Maybe you already drink a sip or two in the morning. Just add in more!
Or maybe you go straight to the shower, keep a cup in the shower and fill and drink while in the shower (we have a whole house filter. You might not want to do that if you only have a counter or fridge filter.)
Keep a cup or bottle by the sink
If you write notes to yourself on your mirror “Drink A.M. Water!” would be a good note to add.
If you check your phone 1st thing in the morning, set a bottle of water by it the night before or simply set a reminder on the phone for a few minutes after your wake up time.
Additional information
Adding a tiny pinch of a good sea salt such as Real Salt can add minerals and help the water get into the bowel which will in turn increase the chance of a good bowel movement.
If after instilling the habit of morning water into your daily routine for a few weeks you are still struggling to poop each morning I encourage you to think about adding in some magnesium to your evening routine. Magnesium can help with sleep too. Bonus!
Do you drink water in the mornings? I would love to know your routine and results! Please join in the conversion over on Instagram: balance_w_caitlin and in my private Facebook group: De-Stress Re-Health. Hope to see ya there!
Disclaimer
This article is for informational purposes only. I am not a doctor and this is not medical advice. Please discuss all medical changes with your doctor.
