According to experts, if you need to wake up at 7 AM and your alarm goes off at 6 AM, you will likely have poor sleep quality for the next hour. Instead, you might benefit from sleeping straight through to 7 AM.
Let’s assume you need to wake up at 7 AM to get to work on time.
You set your first series of alarms on your smartphone for 6:30 AM, the second series for 6:45 AM, and the third series for 6:55 AM. To be extra cautious, you also set an alarm for 7:05 AM.
Does this sound familiar? Experts indicate that if your alarm app is filled with multiple alarms like this, you are likely to have a sluggish morning.
If your alarm app is filled with multiple alarms, you will have a sluggish morning. (Source: DMARGE)
Dr. Brandon Peters, a neurologist and sleep specialist at Virginia Mason Franciscan Health in Seattle, USA, states: “Hitting the snooze button and delaying getting out of bed before starting your day can feel satisfying, but in reality, it disrupts and reduces the quality of your sleep.”
During the final stages of a sleep cycle, individuals typically experience Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep.
This stage is particularly important for memory processing and creative thinking. Fragmentation of this sleep stage can impact these brain functions.
Peters advises you to set just one alarm, enabling you to sleep deeply and undisturbed until you truly need to wake up in the morning. Below are ways to train your mind and body to get out of bed after the first alarm goes off.
Why Do You Find It Hard to Wake Up in the Morning?
Dr. Cathy Goldstein, a sleep medicine physician at the Michigan Medicine Sleep Disorders Center, notes that some sleep disorders can make it difficult for a person to wake up in the morning with just one alarm.
This could be due to sleep inertia, which makes it hard to “get out of sleep.” This can lead someone to unintentionally turn off their alarm right after waking up.
However, she mentions that most people who need multiple alarms to wake up in the morning are likely sleep-deprived.
“First, try to identify any underlying issues that could be causing this,” Goldstein advises.
“The first question: Are you actually getting enough sleep? – It’s not about the amount of sleep you think you should or want to get, but rather the amount you genuinely need. Are you getting enough sleep at night?” she adds.
Some sleep disorders can make it difficult for a person to wake up in the morning. (Source: Virgin Radio)
Most adults require about seven to nine hours of sleep each night. For students, Goldstein recommends using summer breaks to determine their natural sleep hours over a few weeks. For others, a long vacation can provide some useful “answers.”
Another reason some people “struggle with their alarm clock” every morning is that they are natural “night owls”, but their work schedules require them to wake up early, according to Dr. Alicia Roth, a clinical physician at the Cleveland Clinic Sleep Disorders Center in Ohio.
“In an ideal world, we would go to sleep when we feel tired and wake up when we feel awake. But that’s not the world we live in,” Roth explains.
However, she adds that there are many ways to gradually shift your biological clock and make it easier to wake up early.
How to Wake Up with Just One Alarm?
Roth mentions that if you need to wake up at 7 AM and your alarm goes off at 6 AM, you will sleep poorly for the next hour. Instead, you could sleep “straight through” to 7 AM.
She adds that while it’s best to set just one alarm, it may be difficult for you to wake up with only one alarm if you are used to multiple alarms as a “safety net.”
Roth suggests experimenting with different types of alarm clocks or placing the alarm clock in a location that requires you to get out of bed to turn it off.
Peters, author of the new book “The Sleep Apnea Hypothesis,” states that exposure to sunlight for 15-30 minutes in the morning can also help reset your internal biological clock. This is especially important for those who are natural “night owls.”
Place the alarm clock in a location that requires you to get out of bed to turn it off. (Source: The Guardian)
Goldstein emphasizes that it is crucial to go to bed and wake up at the same time each day.
“If you are someone who sleeps well from 3 AM to noon and that’s how you sleep on weekends, but on Monday morning you have to wake up at 6 AM for work – that will be quite difficult. That time is earlier than your biological clock, making it hard to wake up,” she explains.
Goldstein recommends gradually adjusting your bedtime earlier by 30 minutes every few days or by one hour each week for those looking to shift their biological clock.
Avoiding bright lights and limiting screen time to a maximum of four hours before bedtime can also help promote the natural production of melatonin (a hormone that regulates the biological clock and sleep), she adds.
If someone wakes up before the alarm goes off, Peters advises against checking the clock, as doing so may make it harder to fall back asleep if they start worrying about the remaining sleep time or the next day.
Instead, Peters suggests trying to fall back asleep until you feel like at least 15-20 minutes have passed. If you are still awake, you can check the time and decide if you want to get up.
“If it’s close to your normal wake-up time, you might as well start your day a little earlier. If you wake up in the middle of the night, you can do something quiet, like reading, then return to bed when you feel sleepier.”
Goldstein indicates that some people can wake up without an alarm, but this is not a realistic goal for everyone, especially for those experiencing sleep inertia or who have a natural biological clock that is “slower than normal.”
“There are biological differences, and we want to ensure that everyone optimizes their sleep as best as they can,” she concludes.
