Don't set the alarm like this!!! It's more harmful than you think...

"Ding-ling-dang-dang~~~", every morning, my alarm clock will ring on time. It is the most melodious, beautiful and least annoying music I specially selected from the alarm clock library. But every day after being woken up by it, I will still fall into a period of irritability, and drowsiness that lasts for a morning or even the whole day.

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So what caused this problem? Was it simply because I had to go to work on the day my alarm went off? Or was it because I woke up too early?

01

Why is waking up to an alarm so painful?

In fact, after observing for a period of time, I found that as long as I was woken up by the alarm clock, no matter whether I worked or played games after getting up, I would feel a little inexplicably irritated.

When I wake up naturally on weekends, even if it is seven in the morning, I will not feel pain. Instead, I will enjoy the extra hours of weekend with joy.

Obviously, it's not the schedule or the time of day that bothers me, but the alarm itself. Why is waking up to an alarm so annoying?

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When we enter the sleep process, we do not sleep all the way until dawn as soon as we close our eyes, but we go through several sleep cycles. In each sleep cycle, we go through three stages: light sleep, deep sleep, and rapid eye movement.

The light sleep stage is also the stage where we are most likely to wake up, and it is also the so-called half-asleep and half-awake stage. This stage usually lasts only a few minutes, our muscles will gradually relax, and our breathing and heart rate will slow down slightly. If we are not disturbed, we can smoothly enter the next stage. But many times, we will be disturbed by some small squeaks or even the turning over of the people next to us.

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In the deep sleep stage, we sleep very deeply, our heart rate and breathing rate are at the lowest level, and our body is completely relaxed. In this sleep stage, it is difficult to wake us up.

Finally, we will enter the rapid eye movement period, when our breathing and heart rate will speed up. If someone stares at you at this time, they will find that your eyeballs are moving back and forth under the closed eyelids. At this time, the activity of our brain neurons is actually similar to when we are awake, but the body is completely relaxed. Our colorful dreams actually happen in this process.

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Natural awakening often occurs after the REM period , when our brain is almost awake and we only need the body to catch up, so we can quickly switch from sleep to wakefulness. In addition, since we go through several sleep cycles in one night, we sometimes wake up in the light sleep stage, when our brain and body are not in a completely dormant state, and we will not feel uncomfortable after waking up.

But it’s different when we’re woken up by an alarm clock. It’s completely random as to what stage of sleep we’re in when it rings. If we happen to be in deep sleep or having a beautiful dream, we’ll feel uncomfortable when we wake up.

Studies have found that if you are awakened by an alarm clock during deep sleep, your short-term memory, cognition and other aspects will be relatively poor within 2 hours after waking up, and your motor skills will also be affected.

In addition, it will cause the brain to accumulate more drowsy adenosine, making us groggy like the walking dead after waking up. In severe cases, we may even experience confused awakening. The so-called morning grumpiness is a typical example of this. After waking up, we don't know the place or time, and our temper is much worse than usual.

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Furthermore, no matter what stage we wake up in, our brain and body actually need a little time to wake up, which is called sleep inertia .

If we have good sleep quality, we will be fully awake in a few minutes, but if we don't sleep well, it may take several hours to eliminate this state. This is why many people must have a cup of coffee when they get up. Caffeine intake can speed up our awakening. If the alarm clock wakes us up at the wrong sleep stage, it will aggravate sleep inertia.

02

How can we change this situation?

Researchers have found that different alarm sounds can significantly affect people's sleep inertia after waking up. Compared with standard alarm sounds like the iPhone's default alarm audio "Radar", soft music, nature sounds, white noise, melodious music or your personal favorite music are more suitable as your alarm audio.

Of course, when choosing the alarm clock audio, you can follow a principle, whether it has a melodious prelude and a gradually exciting post-tone . Such changes are mainly achieved through the gradual increase in sound and the slow circling of the melody, which gradually awakens the body.

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But it is not the case with "radar". It can directly pull you out of your sleep through rapid and even uncomfortable sounds. For some sensitive people, they are actually scared awake.

According to research, when we are awakened by a loud alarm, our blood pressure will rise sharply, our heart rate will jump, and our body will instantly enter a tense state, which is similar to when we are suddenly slapped from behind. Although our blood pressure and heart rate will slowly recover after we wake up, it is really uncomfortable to have such an experience every morning. For people who are easily frightened or have related problems, there are also certain health risks .

Therefore, if you must use a sound alarm to wake yourself up, you might as well choose a softer and more soothing one. In addition to sound alarms, we can also choose some other ways to wake ourselves up, such as sunlight and vibration, which are more in line with our body's natural rhythm.

Our bodies are very sensitive to light and darkness. We naturally feel awake in bright environments and sleepy in dark environments. Therefore, we can leave a gap in the curtains before going to bed , and when the sun shines in naturally every day, we will naturally get ready to get up. If your room is not exposed to sunlight, you can also use the method of timing the lights to let your body enter the gradual awakening process.

Vibrating alarm clocks are also effective, and gentle vibrations can help us wake up gradually. You can put a vibrating alarm clock under your pillow, or wear a vibrating bracelet to wake up comfortably with gentle vibrations.

By the way, if conditions permit, it is also a good idea to let your family wake you up gently. Note that it should be done gently, not by suddenly pulling off your quilt and waking you up in fear and shame.

Author: Hydra Science Author

Reviewer: Tang Yicheng, Deputy Director of Beijing Zhongke Popular Psychological Health Promotion Center

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