2025-05-08
10 Minutes in the Morning: How to Use Them Healthily and Productively
Discover how to make the most of your first 10 minutes after waking up, drawing inspiration from centenarians' habits for vitality, circulation, and muscle strength.

10 Minutes in the Morning: How to Use Them Healthily and Productively

It's said that the first 10 minutes after waking up are crucial for a healthy and long life.
Today, we're going to explore the morning habits of healthy centenarians.
Keisa Hitamoto, a Japanese woman who is 103 years old this year and listed in the Guinness Book of World Records,
attributes her longevity to four key factors: about 7 and a half hours of sound sleep, a protein-rich breakfast including boiled beans and eggs,
frequent physical activity, and enjoying what she loves.
Notably, as a pharmacist, she opened her pharmacy at age 30 and has been running it for over 70 years.
Even now, she works six days a week from 10 AM to 6 PM in Tokyo, Japan, demonstrating her remarkable health.

She emphasized that a 10-minute exercise routine immediately after waking up helps maintain vitality, blood circulation, muscle strength, and flexibility.
Let's look at the details: 1. Lying in bed, shake your legs up and down 10 times.
2. Slightly lift your legs and alternately cross them, repeating the motion.
3. Pedal an imaginary bicycle in the air with both feet.
4. While lying down, stretch one arm across to the opposite side.
She mentioned that these exercises make it easier to get out of bed and walk,
and also noted that regularly lifting fairly heavy medicine containers is very helpful.

Many healthy and active centenarians engage in morning exercises like these.
They massage their arms or legs in their own way while still in bed to stimulate stagnant blood circulation,
and perform light stretching for flexibility without overly aggressive full-body stretches or twisting their bodies.

Their breakfast diet also includes eggs.
Eggs are rich in protein, which is good for muscle maintenance,
and contain choline, which aids brain activity.
Milk is high in calcium, beneficial for bone health.
However, if you have digestive issues, yogurt or cultured milk might be better than milk for calcium intake.

To be active in the morning, it's also good to consume carbohydrates, which are an energy source.
The pharmacist mentioned above eats whole wheat bread, a vegetable salad, and yogurt with raisins for breakfast,
underscoring that diet and exercise are indeed crucial for a healthy lifespan.
Source: Kormedi.com