Drinking 1 liter of Water, right after I wake up.

Imagine not drinking any water, tea, or any other liquids for the next eight hours.

Well, that’s essentially what you do while you sleep. While you sleep, your body slowly becomes dehydrated because it needs fluid to operate. Naturally, you don’t drink water while you sleep because, well, you’re sleeping!

Most sources I’ve read recommend drinking 500mL of water right after you wake up, and I’d recommend even more (depending on your weight; I drink 1-2L every morning and weigh 85kg). Here are five solid reasons to drink a big glass of water right when you wake up.

• It fires up your metabolism. Drinking a large, cool glass of water after you wake up has been shown to fire up your metabolism by a whopping 24% for 90 minutes!
• You’re dehydrated when you wake up. You just went 7-8 hours without drinking any water! Even if your body isn’t telling you that it’s thirsty, it probably is.
• Water helps your body flush out toxins. “Your kidneys do an amazing job of cleansing and ridding your body of toxins as long as your intake of fluids is adequate”, according to Kenneth Ellner, an Atlanta-based dermatologist. Getting fluids into your body right after your wake up will help your body flush out toxins first thing in the morning.
• Your brain tissue is 75% water. When you’re not properly hydrated, your brain operates on less fuel, and you can feel drained, or experience fatigue or mood fluctuations.
• You’ll eat less. One study showed that people who drink a glass of water before every meal lost 4.5 pounds over a three-month period, because “it fills up the stomach with a substance that has zero calories”, and people “feel full as a result”. Especially after I’ve eaten a big breakfast, drinking a lot of water in the morning has also helped me avoid the temptation of snacking before lunch.

Your body is 72% water, and you don’t have enough water in you when you wake up. Drinking a big glass of water first thing in the morning is a great way to re-hydrate, andstart kicking ass from the moment you wake up.

Training my brain to focus really early in the morning on what I need to do that particular day.

Instead of:

• waking up to immediately grab my phone and scroll through emails
• brainstorming everything I need to accomplish and by what time
• letting random thoughts take over how I feel about the day

I now can:

• open my eyes and feel calm about the day ahead
• enjoy every part of my morning routine, from doing yoga to making the first cup of coffee, without feeling overwhelmed by the plan for the day
• feel more optimistic about getting things done and getting closer to my goals
• rely on my daily habit to keep me on track with what is most important

So what is this daily habit I’ve started practicing in the past year that helps me focus and set the tone for the day?

It’s asking myself one question in the first 5 minutes after I wake up:

What is the one thing I am committed to completing today?

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What are the benefits to starting the day with this question?

• It snaps me into reality: When I ask the question, I immediately have to think what’s important for that particular day. It forces me to “zoom into” my priorities.
• It’s less overwhelming: Even though I may be juggling a dozen or more responsibilities during that day, I know that actually finishing one thing is doable and realistic.
• It keeps one thing top of mind: There’s absolutely no way I can forget my top priority if I start my day thinking about it. It’s always there as a reminder.
• It takes me away from distractions: As a result of having this one question in mind, I’ve noticed that I’m less likely to pay attention to things that aren’t related to my number one priority.
• It encourages better planning: I start working on my one thing early, then I work on it again in the afternoon, and keep going until I’m done. Usually, by evening it’s finished and I can focus on other things like chilling out and unwinding.

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How can you start your day this way?

• First, write it down: take a large sheet of paper and write the question in big bold letters with a thick marker.
• Next, put it somewhere where you’re most likely to look at it: it can be on your bedroom or the bathroom wall, next to the mirror for example.
• Then, look at the question and ask it out loud as you’re brushing your teeth or getting dressed.
• Take a minute to think what’s on your agenda for the day, then pick one thing that has top priority for you and give an answer out loud to yourself.
• Tip: Start working on your one thing early. Why? Your brain is more capable of tackling analytical and complex problem-solving tasks in the first few hours of the day; for most people, this is how your circadian rhythm works. Make the most of those first hours and get the hardest work out of the way so that you can move on to other (including fun) things later.
• I started drinking “Warm Water-Lemon-Honey’.
  This change came after I understood I am gaining extra pounds and getting lazy at everything. I wasn't like this before. I was overweight and pretty much worried about it.
  Then came the time when I was close to 90kg with my belly peaking outside through my shirt. I felt embarrassed about it. I searched for home remedies and found “Lemon-honey-warm water” the easiest. I started taking it everyday morning and results were significant.
  These are the benefits I observed.
  1. I got habitual of getting up early. That meant I stopped spending (read wasting) time on social network at night.
  2. My body fat and weight plunged by good margin, making me happy.
  3. Since I get up early, I exercise at my room, which relived my belly fat and I have flat stomach now(some abs too :) ).
  4. My face glows, it helps me in digestion.
  I look little better now, weighing 74kgs. (Yes, a loss of 16kgs straight within months). I barely start my day without This.
  I surely can't say the biggest impact but it was a significant one.
• I keep a bunch of post-it notes by my bed. Every morning when I wake, I immediately think of three things I’m grateful for…I force myself to come up with three new things everyday. It’s more difficult than it sounds when you are doing it every day. Sometimes, it’s as simple as being alive in 2016 and getting to witness all the changes which are constantly occurring.
  I take these post it notes with the three things I’m grateful for and attach them to my laptop. Whenever I get angry, irritated or frustrated during my work day, I force myself to pause and look at the post-it notes. My troubles no longer seem insurmountable afterwards.
  I feel this little exercise in resilience has made me more appreciative of my life.
• Life is complicated, life is messy, life is never perfect and no matter how hard you try, you never get everything done!
  So I try to get at least one thing (part of something) accomplished every day that is outside of my “normal” routine; no matter how hard, difficult or less time that I have to do it in.
  Most times we see ourselves getting bogged down with life, feeling helpless, unable to move forward, chained down to even accomplish the most remote task. This ends up putting ourselves in an endless cycle of failure.
  But… If you accomplish at least one thing in your life everyday, no matter how small, eventually one day you will accomplish them all!
  Even if you only remove a couple handfuls of dirt every day, eventually you will move the whole mountain…
• I gave up junk food,white salt,tea,refined and white sugar.
  • I was a junkie foodie. Mc D and KFC were my second home. Street vendors selling those delicious junk food knew me by my name!. It was difficult in the beginning with a lot of with drawl symptoms. But in only ten days, my bio chemistry for food changed. I stopped craving. Now I cannot eat oily food. If I eat too much junk at any time, I start to feel like vomiting.Even after looking at those old pals of mine give me upset stomach and disgusting feelings.
  • My skin quality (blush!) improved.
  • I have fewer (close to zero) fever,cold and flu.
  • My energy sky rocketed (I am still very lazy though!).
  • Sleep quality improved.
  • Quality of thoughts and clarity of mind increased manifold.
  • I became less vulnerable to ‘In love with every good girl’ phenomenon!
  • Leaving other products mentioned and replacing them by honey,black or pink salt, mustard oil (unrefined) etc. my health improved significantly (proof coming). My blood test report is near perfect now.
  • Right now I am missing my gym due to a mild nerve pull, but exercising at least half an hour a day integrates all those benefits mentioned earlier, 2X better.