5 energy-boosting tricks for your morning routine

Brianna Steinhilber
Updated ·2 min read

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After a night of restless sleep we all have those mornings where we have to drag ourselves out bed.

When hitting snooze isn't an option, there are some easy things you can do (beyond gulping coffee) to help boost your mood and energy levels.

TODAY show contributor and Peloton instructor Ally Love shared some of the simple energy-boosting tricks she uses to get herself going in the morning. Keep them in your back pocket for those days when you need a pick-me-up.

Wake up your body

If you're feeling foggy or fatigued, these habits can give you a boost of energy to make you feel more alert:

  • Start your day with a yoga pose. Getting your body moving first thing gets your blood pumping and can help wake you up. Love suggests easing into the day with a yoga pose like downward dog or forward fold to rush some blood to your head right when you wake up.

  • Add a shot of cold to your shower. You don’t have to give up your steamy shower, but Love recommends adding a cold splash at the end for a wake-up call. “Take a hot shower with a 15-second cold splash at the end — its shocking and reinvigorating!” she said. As previously reported by TODAY a cold shower may increase alertness and awakeness and decrease muscle tension. Love recommended keeping the water below 60 degrees and taking it slow, starting with just 15 seconds and working your way up to a minute.

Eat an energy-boosting breakfast

Instead of eggs and bacon for breakfast, try Love’s power breakfast: eggs with cottage cheese and either cayenne pepper or mustard pepper.

Having a protein-rich breakfast doesn’t spike your blood sugar and helps keep energy levels stable, preventing a crash later in the afternoon. To up the protein even more, Love likes adding 2% milk-fat, small curd cottage cheese to her eggs.

Get your mind right

You can help shift your mindset with some positive, mood-boosting morning habits.

  • Wear a bright outfit. Love likes to dress in colors that will boost her mood, think bright pink, red and yellow.

  • Get dressed to heart pumping music. While you’re putting on your bright attire, blast some mood-boosting tunes. Love put together a playlist of her favorite energizing tunes here:

  • Write down your intentions for the day. “Write down the one thing you want to get done or a word to carry you today, or even one thing you like about yourself,” Love said. “I have a notebook that I write mine in, but you can make it your screensaver on your phone, or put it in Instagram stories as a public commitment.”

This article was originally published on TODAY.com