I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s experienced having a particularly decent night’s sleep, only to wake up in a panic, realizing I’ve slept through my alarms.
Honestly, I’m tired. As many have already written, hitting the snooze button does more harm than good. Once you snooze, you reset your sleep cycle, and you’ll end up groggier. (Truly, “you snooze, you lose.”) I’m guilty of hitting snooze all the time, and I’m tired of waking up tired. So I’ve looked up and asked around for some tips on how to make waking up a little better, especially for those like me, who aren’t morning persons at all.
1. Change your alarm tone regularly
Different people have different preferences for their alarm tones. Some stick to the Apple defaults—blaring sirens, or the dancy Marimba, for example—while others find waking up to their favorite songs a lot more bearable. Whichever type you are, try to change your alarm tone regularly. I can’t give you a specific period after which to change the tone, but I can tell you that if you keep your alarm tone the same for too long, you’ll get so used to hearing it, it’ll lose its effect on you.
2. Make use of the iOS Bedtime feature
Apple users, if you haven’t updated to at least iOS 10, you might want to consider it now. The Clock app has a new feature called “Bedtime” which helps regulate your sleep. Using Bedtime, you can set your ideal sleep time (the app will remind you to get to bed when the set time is near), and will also automatically set off an alarm at your selected wake-up time. It computes the number of hours of sleep you’ll get, and logs it on the Health app, so you can check your weekly sleep average (…mine is an unhealthy four hours. But I’m pretty sure this is because my sleeping hours are totally wack.)
3. Put your alarm clock/phone away from you
This is a well-known trick. Once your alarm rings, you’ll need to get out of bed to turn it off, making it a pretty effective way to wake up. The only problem is if you’re the type who just can’t wake up no matter how loud the alarm is. In that case, maybe you can try putting your alarm clock nearer to you, instead. This is probably unhealthy (phone radiation, and all that), but sleeping with your phone on max volume, on vibrate mode, and near you or even on you might help. (At least it works for me when I take naps.)
4. Wake up at the same time, even on weekends
It’s tempting to sleep in on weekends, especially if you’ve had a very sleep-deprived work week. But it’s probably best to still wake up at the hour you normally would. This way, your body clock doesn’t get thrown off, and you’d be able to create the habit of waking up at a particular time. Eventually, you won’t even need an alarm, once your body clock’s been set.
If you really need more sleep, consider taking naps instead of just sleeping in.
5. Just get enough sleep
Nothing really beats getting a decent amount of sleep every day. It’s the most natural way to ensure that you wake up without feeling the need to hit snooze, and without feeling immediately tired. Although many say the recommended number of hours for sleep is eight hours, it really depends on the person. So try to log your sleep hours and see how much is needed for you to properly function throughout the day.
Photos courtesy of Unsplash.
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