Six bad morning habits that we should stop doing

Whether we wake up at 5 a.m. or 10 a.m., there are certain bad habits in the morning that we all might be guilty of.

Do you quickly check your phone and browse on social media after waking up? This is just one, and this could not be the right way to start your day. Well, it is never too late to change it.

Here are the six bad habits in the morning that we should start ditching:

After having about seven to eight hours of sleep without any water consumption, our body needs to be hydrated. So it means, we need to drink lots of water first thing in the morning.

Water does not only keep us hydrated, but it also helps us to stay alert. One of the main reasons for exhaustion and tiredness is being dehydrated. Drinking lots of water can boost your alertness and energy which makes your body ready for work or school.

Admit it, we usually do this when we want to get a few minutes of sleep before finally getting up. However, the Director of Sleep Disorders Research at Cleveland Clinic Reena Mehra, MD, MS said that "snoozing isn't helping our bodies get the restorative sleep that we need."

According to Dr. Mehra, the short sleep that we have in hitting the snooze button is not acknowledged as restorative sleep, and doing it may increase our blood pressure and heartbeat. Dr. Mehra said that for us to avoid snoozing the button make sure that we always have seven to eight hours of sleep and good quality sleep.

However, if it happens that we had already a good amount of sleep at night and still find the need to hit the snooze button, then it is recommended to see a doctor to check if there is "no undiagnosed sleep disorder that could be contributing to their need to hit the snooze."

Most of us use our smartphones as our alarm clock, so it is usually automatic for us to check our phones after waking up.

However, we will also have the tendency to check our social media notifications. Doing this is not good because it does not give our brain the moment to slowly wake up and it can be also toxic since we can be quickly welcomed with work-related emails and posts that are negative and stressful.

Also, a studyshowed that social media can be harmful to our mental health, and checking our newsfeed first thing in the morning is not healthy for us.
It is recommended to leave this type of habit in the afternoon or on your work break so that you can start your morning or your day with a positive outlook.

We are always told by our parents to always brush our teeth after having breakfast or a meal. However, Dr. Peter Alldritt, chairman of the Australian Dental Association's oral health committee said that brushing our teeth right after we eat could damage our teeth especially if we ate something that is acidic such as sugary drinks, wine, citrus fruits, or juice.

"Fruits, particularly orange or lemon juice, vinegar, sports drinks, and soft drinks, all have a very high level of acidity in them and what they do is soften the enamel," Dr. Alldritt said. "If you then go and brush your teeth straight away you're going to damage the softened enamel," he added.

It is recommended to wait at least 30 minutes before brushing our teeth to give enough period for our mouth to produce saliva to neutralize acidity, said Dr. Alldritt.

Yes, this is weird but according to a study conducted by researchers from Kingston University in London, it showed that "failing to make your bed in the morning may actually help keep you healthy."

The study said that "bugs cannot survive in the warm, dry conditions found in an unmade bed." Furthermore, researcher Dr. Stephen Pretlove Dr. Stephen Pretlove said that "mites can only survive by taking in water from the atmosphere using small glands on the outside of their body." Dr. Pretlove added that leaving a bed unmade during the day can remove moisture from the sheets and mattress so the mites will dehydrate and eventually die.

So better to eat your breakfast and take a bath first before making your bed.

Having a hot shower makes us relaxed. And doing this in the morning will make us want to go back to bed again. That is why it is recommended for us to take a cold shower so that it could make us feel more refreshed and it helps in stimulating our brain activity and makes our immune system progress better.

Doctor James Jackson, a psychology lecturer at Leeds Trinity University said that a cold shower can be good at helping us smile or laugh. 'When we laugh hard, and breathing is interrupted, the body is exposed to low-level stress, which triggers the release of our natural pain-killing endorphins,' Dr. Jackson said. He added that "a similar reaction will happen when you take an ice-cold shower."

It is always never too late to stop a bad habit, just think of the benefits that could happen once we start doing healthy practice in the morning.

So start your day with a hopeful prayer and a happy heart.