2. Do 5-10 minutes of exercise before you go into the shower

You can do this but it has to be done consistently. Sleep is great you see; it helps our bodies and our minds repair themselves. We all need about 8 hours a night of deep sleep that helps recharge our batteries. The problems begin when we have a love of sleep or when we sleep to escape, therein lies the problem. Sometimes we have to ask ourselves are we tired or depressed. No amount of sleep will help with diagnosed depression, as a matter of fact getting up and moving around might be a better approach. So how do you get up early when the spirit is willing but the flesh might be a bit week? My approach would be to set your alarm earlier than you normal do. When it goes off the first thing you should do is put your feet on the floor. You don’t have to stand yet. Sit there for a minute or two, take some deep breaths, say a short prayer or state a positive affirmation either verbally or mentally and then stand up. See there you did it. Now just keep doing it and you will discover the benefits of rising early.

2. Do 5-10 minutes of exercise before you go into the shower

Let me share an interesting workout with you: Micro Workouts. To be very honest up until recently I never heard of this before. Basically it’s doing 5-10 minutes of exercise throughout the day. Oh, you can do a more general workout say for 30-45 minutes for sure. But often after these long workouts we tend to revel in the fact that our workout is done for the day and rest on our laurels. My 5 minutes in the morning starts with a short stretch and then 50 air squats and 20 pushups off of the back of the footboard of my bed. Research supports the fact that these 5-10 minutes of exercise throughout the day lowers blood sugar

and helps fight against obesity. I would say from experience that it does.

Now, why do this? It creates the habit and when done consistently you will always be aware of the fact that even if you did nothing else you did a few minutes of structured exercise for the day. There is something called NEAT. This stands for Non Exercise Activity Thermogenics. That is the amount of calories you burn just by moving. So the obvious point is you will burn more calories when you have opportunities to walk more or do a few squats during the day

It’s all about consistency and the ability to sustain something. You may decide that exercise is better for you in the morning and begin to schedule an exercise routine that you can stick to. I know folks who have tried to exercise for an hour 3-4 days a week. They discovered that this wasn’t sustainable and abandoned the program. By exercising a few minutes in the morning, at lunch hour, and then later in the day you can get 30 minutes of exercise (remember I am talking about 50 squats and 20 pushups which you can do off of a desk). Do a little bit more walking and you will lower your blood sugar and burn a bit more fat than if you remained sedentary.

By the way if you find yourself sitting for more than one hour at a time set a timer for yourself or invest in a watch with a timer and one that counts your steps to give you reminders on when it’s time to start moving.

It all starts with that morning mindset. Get up and get moving. This becomes more important with age because as you age you should be looking for the most bang for your buck; the least amount of exercise which nets the greatest benefit.