Experts Share Secrets to Waking Up More Easily
Have you always wanted to be an early bird, but you can't get yourself out of bed in the morning? Well, experts say there might be a few simple ways to change that.
Speaking to National Geographic, scientists in the US gave some advice about how best to get up in the mornings.
Do you know why the dark makes us feel tired?
Research has shown that when it gets dark, the brain releases the sleep hormone melatonin, which helps prepare the body for sleep. And the body stops releasing this hormone when it gets light.
So letting in morning light is a simple way to wake up more easily. As Helen Burgess of the University of Michigan told National Geographic: "It's probably the most beneficial light we get during the day."
Stop hitting the snooze button
Many of us snooze our alarms instead of getting up right away — and scientists say this can make us feel worse in the morning.
Molly Atwood of Johns Hopkins University explains that falling asleep between alarms causes "sleep fragmentation," or disrupted sleep.
According to America's Sleep Foundation, disrupted sleep doesn't give us the same benefits as continuous sleep, and may cause increased stress.
Instead of hitting snooze and going back to sleep, try using an alarm that wakes you up gradually, like one that slowly gets brighter.
What if you didn't need an alarm to wake you up at all? Burgess says that getting enough sleep can mean you naturally wake up before your alarm even goes off.
Sleep experts usually recommend at least seven hours of sleep a night, and going to sleep and waking up at the same time each day — even on weekends — will also make waking up easier.
