Mornings are one of the most underestimated aspects of a relationship. For many working couples, they’re something to rush through on the way to the day ahead. Alarms go off, phones come out, coffee is gulped down, and before either partner is fully awake, they’re already headed into separate days.

But as a psychologist who studies couples, and as a husband, I’ve seen that the happiest couples use their mornings productively to make sure they leave the house knowing they’re on the same team.

Here’s what they do differently that most neglect.

Your partner shouldn’t be seen as an obstacle you have to get around in the morning. Even on busy days, happy couples make a point to acknowledge one another before shifting into work mode.

That often means making eye contact when saying “good morning” or sharing coffee or tea together without distractions. These moments may seem mundane, but research shows relationships thrive on small “bids” for attention that signal recognition and care.

Skipping them entirely can leave partners feeling emotionally invisible before the day has even begun.

Mornings aren’t ideal for heavy conversations. Cortisol levels are naturally elevated upon waking, meaning your body is already primed for stress. Trying to tackle nuance or conflict too early can activate that response even more.

The happiest couples understand this intuitively. Before diving into logistics or complaints, they take a moment to sync: sitting quietly together, sharing coffee on the couch, or simply standing side by side while doing their morning routines.

Even a few moments of silent togetherness can regulate the nervous system and make the day feel more manageable.

Rather than full emotional check-ins, happy couples keep morning communication light, but still honest. Each partner shares one sentiment regarding their current feelings:

• “I’m feeling a bit anxious about today.”
• “I’m excited but exhausted.”
• “I’m not fully awake yet.”

They’re not revolutionary, but they’re necessary for giving context to moods and behavior the other will see later on. It’s much easier to understand your partner’s short temper when you remember that they had a stressful meeting that day.

This could be five minutes of cuddles before getting up, walking the dogs together or cooking breakfast while listening to their song. The point is for it to be simple enough for you to repeat daily without struggle.

Having habits like these — routines or rituals that you can call “our thing” — can serve as surprisingly strong reaffirmations of your identity as a couple.

In many relationships, physical affection in the morning gets reduced to a rushed goodbye kiss on the cheek, if that. But happier couples don’t budge on this. They use touch intentionally to ground themselves.

Spooning, long hugs, proper kisses or simply just leaning into each other for a moment before leaving — regardless of what suits you, any kind of physical contact like this can activate oxytocin and calm the nervous system, which helps both partners feel steadier as they separate.

Mornings can get messy if one partner is expected to bear the brunt of the household’s mental or physical load.

Happy couples reduce this by treating mornings as a shared operation. If there are tasks that have to get done before work, like prepping lunch, feeding pets, or getting the kids ready, they divide them up mindfully and adjust when one partner is struggling. 

It doesn’t have to look like perfect fairness every day. Just ensuring that no one’s plate is too full goes a long way in protecting goodwill.

Before parting ways, the happiest couples will always offer at least one small yet specific gesture of support:

• “Good luck with your presentation today.”
• “You’ve got this.”
• “Text me if you need a pep talk.”

While they won’t change the day’s demands, they can make the demands feel easier to manage. More importantly, they show your partner that you’re emotionally attuned to the things that matter to them, even if you’re physically present.

Mark Travers, PhD, is a psychologist who specializes in relationships. He holds degrees from Cornell University and the University of Colorado Boulder. He is the lead psychologist at Awake Therapy, a telehealth company that provides online psychotherapy, counseling, and coaching. He is also the curator of the popular mental health and wellness website, Therapytips.org.

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Mikayla McGhee is a self-proclaimed military brat. Both of her parents are in the U.S. Navy — her mom served 30 years, and her dad is still on active duty after 40 years.

“My life was moving around from military base to military base,” the 29-year-old American tells CNBC Make It.

McGhee spent most of her life living abroad in Japan, which, she says, led her to realize she wanted to make a life for herself outside of the United States.

“I was always working towards freedom, so I never knew exactly what I was going to do but I knew I wanted the freedom to be able to live wherever I wanted to and travel whenever I wanted to,” she says.

“Once you’ve experienced growing up abroad and you’re exposed to that, you continue to search for it. So moving back to the States after living in Japan, I always knew I wanted to live outside of the U.S. I just didn’t know how.”

In 2020, McGhee, who was living in Atlanta, Georgia, visited her parents in Bahrain, which is where her dad was stationed at the time. The country is located in the Persian Gulf and is home to the Naval Support Activity Bahrain, a U.S. military base.

Before visiting the island for the first time, McGhee admits she had preconceived notions and didn’t actually know what to expect. But was pleasantly surprised, she says.

“The culture shock was that, actually, things were better, not worse. Don’t just believe what you’re told or what you see in the media because it’s nothing like that at all,” she says.

“It’s so calm. It’s so peaceful. There was never a time where I didn’t feel like I fit in or I was standing out as an expat. Every culture shock was a positive one.”

McGhee stayed for three months and says she fell in love with the country.

“I met so many great people. I didn’t want to go home, and as soon as I got home, I started planning how I was going to move because I knew I had to leave,” she says.

That first trip to Bahrain is what led McGhee to make the full-time move over in December 2022. She lived in her parents’ three-bedroom home for six months before moving out on her own.

Now, McGhee lives near the capital of Bahrain, Manama, in a three-bedroom, four-and-a-half-bathroom home with a pool and one-car garage that rents for $2,200 USD a month.

She says she and her partner split expenses, though he pays the majority, while most of her money goes to savings and to the trips the couple takes together.

McGhee’s expenses also include groceries, which range from 25 to 60 BHD or $66 to $158 USD multiple times a week, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It. She also says she has the following bills:

• Nails: 20 BHD or $53
• Hair: up to 30 BHD or $79
• Cellphone: $150 USD
• Storage unit in Atlanta: $125 a month

McGhee works as a senior performance marketing manager at an IT company and earns $140,000 a year, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.

She works Eastern Standard Time, and her day usually starts at 5 to 6 p.m. local time. She ends her day between midnight and 1 a.m. local time.

“That was my biggest thing when looking for a new role. It was finding a place that would let me live anywhere and gave me the flexibility to work across time zones,” she says.

Since McGhee earns her salary in USD, she still pays U.S. taxes. McGhee also uses the health insurance offered by her company, which still allows her access to Bahrain’s healthcare system.

When McGhee is free during the day she likes to work out, shop for groceries, and create content. She shares a lot of her life in Bahrain on TikTok to her over 64,000 followers.

“It is my duty to make sure that Americans know how great this country is,” McGhee says.

McGhee says she doesn’t know if she will stay in Bahrain long-term, but she does know she wants to buy property around the country as real estate investments and have a permanent place for herself there, too.

“My life is 10 times better here. My happiness has skyrocketed. Even the weather alone has increased my mood,” she says.

“I will always want to have something that I can come back to, that I could call my home. Bahrain felt like home from the day I got here, so in order for me to leave, another place would need to do the same.”

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A majority, 83% of parents think U.S. kids’ mental health is getting worse, according to the National Poll on Children’s Health by the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital at the University of Michigan.

And many blame screens: three-quarters of respondents identify both social media and general device use as major problems for U.S. youth, while 66% specifically point to internet safety.

Health and science journalist Catherine Price, who has a 10-year-old daughter herself, agrees with her fellow parents. Every minute kids are spending on screens is a minute they’re not “developing real world skills or real world relationships or having real world experiences,” she says.

Price recently teamed up with “The Anxious Generation” author Jonathan Haidt to write a book about screens and social media use for tweens. It’s called “The Amazing Generation: Your Guide to Fun and Freedom in a Screen-Filled World.” And she has a few suggestions for parents who want to quell their kids’ device use.

Here’s what she recommends.

1. Model the kind of habits you want your kids to exhibit

“It’ll be easier to limit your kids’ screentime if they see you trying to work on your own habits, too,” price says.

Experts agree modeling the behavior you want your kids to exhibit is key in helping to mold them.

“Think about the person you want your child to become,” writer and educator Theo Wolf wrote in a recent article for CNBC Make It. “Ask yourself: Am I demonstrating those traits in front of them? Is there anything I’m doing that opposes the values I want to pass on?”

You can even ask your kids to hold you accountable for looking at your phone or computer too much.  

2. Invest in some shared family phones

Instead of giving your kids their own phone, have a few shared family phones.

Price suggests using a landline to help children develop conversational skills, encouraging them to use the phone to check in with grandparents or chat with friends.

You can also have a family flip phone for after school activities or if they’re going to a friend’s house. “They take it, they use it, they give it back,” she says.

3. Have them pay for their own smartphone

Price is a proponent of putting off getting your kids a smartphone until they’re at least 16, a guideline psychologist Jean Twenge recommends, too.

If you’re hoping to put it off even longer, though, you can tell them they have to pay for their smartphone themselves. If they know they’re financially responsible for it, “they probably won’t get one until they’re 25,” she says.

Plus, it could help “teach a lot of important lessons about working hard toward a goal,” she says.

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Gone are the days of spending hours searching for the answer to a question, having to leave the house to meet someone new or even getting up to change the temperature in your home.

But technologically enabled convenience comes at a cost, says Stanford psychiatrist Anna Lembke: Now, most people tend to dislike activities that require effort even more than they used to. Working out or learning a new skill from scratch can feel more like a chore than something to enjoy. But you can train your brain to do — and like — these types of challenges, Lembke said on Monday’s episode of the “Diary Of A CEO” podcast.

Her advice: Make a granular and intentional plan for tackling your activity before you actually do it.

“If we wait till that moment to decide whether or not to do something that’s hard, we almost always choose not to do it,” said Lembke, author of “Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence,” a New York Times bestseller. “But if we make a plan in advance, let’s say the day before that, ‘Tomorrow I’m going to get up at this time. I’m going to get my stuff together and I’m going to go to the gym,’ we’re much more likely to engage in that activity.”

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You likely already do this in other aspects of your life, like planning dinner for the week ahead of time or picking out your work clothes the night before, so you don’t run late. Preparation helps us “put the brakes on our short-term desires and project ourselves into the future to achieve our long-term desires,” Lembke said.

Having an accountability buddy can help: People tend to accomplish more when they have a partner, or group of partners, on a similar path. In couples, if one partner makes a healthier change, the other is likely to make the same positive change, found a 2015 study from University College London researchers. 

Connecting friendship or socialization to your goals, like attending a workout class or a study group, “makes it much easier to do these difficult things,” said Lembke.

Financial psychologist Charles Chaffin, co-founder of the Financial Psychology Institute and a professor at Iowa State University, agrees with the buddy system approach, he told CNBC Make It on Dec. 23.

“Dry January is a great example,” Chaffin said. “If you do dry January with the people you go out drinking with, your chances of actually being successful go way up because you’re going through that with someone. You’re policing each other. You’re encouraging each other. Those are all really, really good things.”

The path to achieving the hard thing — whatever that may be for you — likely won’t be enjoyable at first, Lembke noted. She used the metaphor of a balance scale, with pleasure on one side and pain on the other side. By getting up early and dedicating two hours to an uninterrupted study session, for example, you’re intentionally adding weight to the “pain” side of your scale. 

A quick social media break would add some temporary weight to the “pleasure” side of the scale, but by sticking with your goal and pushing past the discomfort, you’ll get a longer-lasting boost of dopamine, she said.

If you slip up on your journey to meeting a goal, don’t be too hard on yourself, Lembke added. At the beginning of the year, people tend to set concrete, unattainable goals and then feel a lot of shame when they don’t strictly adhere to them.

Maybe you didn’t completely cut out sugar like you’d hoped, for example, but at least you ate more whole foods and upped your water intake. Progress is still progress, even if it isn’t perfect.

“For some, a better approach is sort of self-compassion and a goal of moderation,” said Lembke.

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Home prices are expected to rise by about 2.2% nationally in 2026, but some large U.S. cities — mostly in the Midwest and Northeast — could see prices climb much faster.

That’s according to a recent Realtor.com forecast, which projects “a more balanced” housing market as higher inventory slows overall price growth. Even so, the moderation isn’t expected to be evenly felt.

“The Midwest and Northeast have maintained strong demand despite the broader slowdown, largely due to persistent inventory scarcity,” Hannah Jones, senior economic research analyst at Realtor.com, tells CNBC Make It.

While many markets in the South and West are seeing price growth flatten or turn negative as new construction adds supply, cities in the Midwest and Northeast have added fewer homes in recent years, which has helped kept prices moving higher, according to Realtor.com.

Here are the 11 large U.S. cities expected to see the biggest home-price increases in 2026:

1. Toledo, Ohio

• Expected 2026 price growth: 13.1%
• Median home price: $199,900

2. Syracuse, New York

• Expected 2026 price growth: 12.4%
• Median home price: $298,950

3. Scranton–Wilkes-Barre–Hazleton, Pennsylvania

• Expected 2026 price growth: 10.9%
• Median home price: $260,000

4. Rochester, New York

• Expected 2026 price growth: 10.3%
• Median home price: $256,900

5. Hartford–West Hartford–East Hartford, Connecticut

• Expected 2026 price growth: 9.5%
• Median home price: $429,000

6. Baltimore–Columbia–Towson, Maryland

• Expected 2026 price growth: 8.3%
• Median home price: $375,000

7. New Haven–Milford, Connecticut

• Expected 2026 price growth: 7.7%
• Median home price: $439,000

8. Winston-Salem, North Carolina

• Expected 2026 price growth: 7.7%
• Median home price: $342,899

9. Albany–Schenectady–Troy, New York

• Expected 2026 price growth: 7.5%
• Median home price: $419,900

10. Columbia, South Carolina

• Expected 2026 price growth: 7.2%
• Median home price: $303,300

11. Milwaukee–Waukesha–West Allis, Wisconsin

• Expected 2026 price growth: 7%
• Median home price: $379,000

Realtor.com’s metro-level forecasts are based on its own listings data, along with local inventory levels, new construction activity, employment and income trends, and mortgage rate expectations.

What those projections show is that in markets where very little housing has been added, even modest demand is enough to keep prices rising — especially in smaller Midwest and Northeast cities. By contrast, in markets where construction has been heavier, home prices in some areas are expected to fall by as much as 10% in 2026.

The metros with the highest expected gains “have seen very limited new housing development, keeping supply tight,” says Jones. At the same time, most of these cities have home prices “well below national averages,” she says.

Overall, only three of the 11 cities on the list have median listing prices above the U.S. median of about $415,000 as of late 2025.

Toledo stands out in particular for its relative affordability. The city’s median home price of about $199,900 is well below Ohio’s statewide median of roughly $275,000, per Realtor’s data.

Another factor is proximity to larger urban hubs.

“In the Northeast, demand has remained elevated as buyers seek more affordable, commutable alternatives to large, high-cost metros, such as New York and Boston,” says Jones. “Because new construction has lagged in many of these older, built-out Northeastern markets, supply constraints remain acute, amplifying the price impact of even modest demand growth.”

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