The Blessings of a Morning Mental Health Routine
“What you do every day matters more than what you do once in a while,” Gretchen Rubin proclaims in her book, The Happiness Project. Some mornings I don’t want to do my morning routine of tapping, meditation, prayer, and Bible study. It’s a routine that helps rewire my brain and starts my day off in positivity. It is on those mornings that I make myself do my routine.
Why do I make myself tap, meditate, pray, and read my Bible? Each of those practices helps my brain, heal the after-effects of childhood trauma, and improve my spirituality.
Tapping reduces PTSD symptoms
A morning routine of any kind will bring benefits. A mental health morning routine will improve your brain and help you heal from trauma. I begin my routine with tapping, also known as emotional freedom technique, which combines acupressure with modern psychology. Studies show that tapping reduces post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms:
- Researchers examined the effects of six sessions of tapping on seven war veterans just returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. They found that the severity of PTSD symptoms decreased by 40 percent, while depression decreased by 49 percent, anxiety by 46, and PTSD itself by 50 percent. That is after just six sessions.
- In one study, researchers looked at the effects of tapping in veterans and found that PTSD symptoms declined by 53 percent.
- In another study, researchers found that tapping significantly improved depression and anxiety symptoms.
The benefits of observing your breath
Meditation is a time when I sit very sit and observe my breath for 10 minutes. I start by praying the Jesus Prayer: Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me. I then observe my breath for a count of 15. On the in-breath, I think, “one,” and on the out-breath, I think, “out.” I take each section of the prayer and do a count of 15. I do this three times.
Observing our breath activates certain regions in the brain, including one linked to emotion, according to a study. Another study looked at how meditative practices that involve breathing techniques such as breath observance affect the brain. What researchers discovered is that breathing affects noradrenaline, a hormone that functions as a neurotransmitter, levels.
Prayer rewires the brain
Prayer not only brings spiritual benefits but can rewire our brains. Centering prayer is a type of prayer where a word or phrase is used throughout the prayer when the mind wanders. What researchers found is that centering prayer is a “suitable treatment alternative for many Christians in remission from depressive episodes.” In other words, centering prayer can be used to help heal trauma.
Researchers studied centering prayer and found is that centering prayer is a “suitable treatment alternative for many Christians in remission from depressive episodes.”
Bible reading reduces PTSD symptoms
Daily Bible reading doesn’t only benefit the soul but aids in trauma recovery. A recently published study on the effectiveness of a Bible-based trauma healing ministry found that it significantly reduced symptoms of PTSD among participating inmates. Positive outcomes for additional trauma effects were still evident one to three months after completing the program.
Ready for a mental health morning routine?
Now that you know about the benefits of a morning mental health routine, here are apps that can aid you in developing one:
Do you have a morning mental health routine?
