It's time to break out of that multiple alarm clocks habbit.
It’s so tempting and feels like the kinder thing to do but pressing snooze to grab another few minutes sleep after your alarm goes off is actually more traumatic for your body.
That first alarm may drag your subconscious kicking and scream out of lovely, lovely sleep but you’re actually better off getting up straight away after it. It might seem like those extra bursts of five or ten minutes snoozy time are easing you into the day but that’s not the case. You are, in fact, putting your brain and body through another assault every time you hit that button.
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When your alarm wakes you up, it hits you with an increase in the stress hormone cortisol. That's why you wake up suddenly and give yourself a fright. It’s the body’s fight or flight response kicking in and your body is reacting to the alarm noise as if it’s a threat. (Which is exactly what it seems like at 6.30 am when you’re happily in dreamland.)
Not only are you exposing your body to that cortisol hit more than once, but the sleep you have between alarms isn't quality, restful sleep at all. It can actually lead to health issues long-term - and short term isn’t much help either. It can increase your blood pressure and can end up impacting on your mood too.
Waking up to an alarm is never fun but It’s like the ripping off the plaster’ analogy: do it in one go. Sure, it may feel like a slap in the face at the time, but trust us – it’s better in the long run. We’re just hoping it makes us more like morning people before our first buckets of coffee too!
Main image by Maks Styazhkin
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