Waking up and getting out of bed on a cold winter morning is never a nice experience, prompting many people to set multiple alarms or hit snooze repeatedly.
However, doing so could actually stop you from feeling as refreshed when you do finally drag yourself out from under the covers according to Beatrix A Schmidt, a sleep coach and author of the book The Sleep Deep Method.
Why multiple alarms are bad for you
It can be common to see people on social media posting about setting multiple alarms as part of their morning routine and it’s something that this writer is guilty of as well.
“Over the years I’ve seen many different versions of this in my clients,” said Beatrix. “At one of the talks I gave for a corporate client a couple of years ago, one of the audience members raised their hand and shared their own alarm schedule. They said that they have over 20 alarms, each five minutes apart.”
Having such a fragmented wake-up routine can negatively impact a person’s ability to get up feeling refreshed says Schmidt.
“Fragmentation of whatever sleep you can get at the end of your night is going to have a negative effect on your body’s ability to really commit to waking up,” the sleep coach explains. “It makes more sense to set one alarm for the time you need to get up, and allow your body to rest until that time, getting a good chunk of really good sleep.”
How to stop pressing snooze
A common reason for a person setting multiple alarms is because they don’t trust themselves to get up after just one alarm. Thankfully, Beatrix has a method that can help a person combat this worry.
“Move the phone or whatever you have as an alarm away from your bed so it’s not at arm’s reach,” she says. “Most of us use our phones as alarms, so move it away from your bed. Now you actually really have to make an effort to get out of bed to turn it off, making a higher commitment to that waking up process.”
Another common reason for not wanting to get out of bed in the morning is the prospect of another grueling workday ahead but Schmidt has a way to counter this too.
“Why don’t you intentionally do something that actually brings some joy into your morning routine?” she asks. “When I was struggling, and I started to change this habit that I had, I started either listening to my favorite songs, or I started reading something that I was really interested in.”
“But here’s the key, not in bed,” she added. “This is part of your daytime now, so it’s important to separate this new habit from the bed environment.”
“This works really well because when you’re more interested in doing something and you’re more excited about your morning, it will give you a higher amount of motivation to actually get up,” she continued. “Now you are rewarding yourself positively for actually getting out of bed.”
If you want more information or have further questions, you can find numerous resources on Beatrix’s website.
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