Everyone has experienced that dreaded moment of waking up late at least once: You roll over all groggy-like, blindly patting around your blankets for your phone, vaguely remembering hitting the snooze some time ago... when you realize you're 40 minutes behind schedule. It's the worst. It makes you spring up in a flurry of nerves and self-lecturing grumbles, rushing through your apartment as you try to leave the house in time for work or school. And if you're a chronic snooze-hitter, you understand the deep frustration with your inability to wake up on time. The bed is just so cozy, your room is so dark, the morning holds so many nose-wrinkle-inducing responsibilities... the list is endless why you would want to stay underneath the covers. But the thing is, you can't really afford to keep this cycle going; after all, who likes waking up panicked and in a frenzy?
If you want to change your ways, but have no idea how to begin to trick yourself to ignore the snooze, you'll need some clever reinforcements. Here are seven ways to never wake up late again, spanning from tracking your sleep cycle to using the help of puzzle alarms to get your brain moving when your body doesn't want to. Here's to becoming morning people!
1. Be Consistent With Your Wake Up Times
First, get your body trained for when it's go-time by having the same wake up time every single day. By getting into a set routine, your body will anticipate when it's start to get moving and you won't feel as groggy and tired when your alarm finally rings.
Meredith Lepore, editor of career-improvement site Levo, explained, "The ACTH hormone and cortisol naturally want to spike when your body thinks it should wake up. If you have a consistent wake up time, then these hormones will start to give you a natural rush of energy, therefore acting as your inner alarm clock." By creating a set schedule every day, you're making things easier for yourself and will be less inclined to hit that snooze button.
2. Put Your Alarm Clock On The Other Side Of The Room
Most of the time you hit the snooze and over sleep because you feel so cuddly and cozy in bed and want to stay burrowed under the blankets. What you need to do is get out from underneath them to accept the day has started and that you're ready for it. A great way to do that is to set your alarm clock across the room, forcing you to get out from underneath the sheets to turn it off.
According to Peter Clemens, author of the Possibility of Change series and writer at self-improvement blog The Change Blog, "A very effective trick I do is to place my alarm on the other side of the room, effectively forcing me to get out of bed to turn it off." So put it on your desk or a shelf a couple of steps away from your pillow. Force yourself out of bed and most of your problems are solved.
3. Avoid Hitting Snooze With The Help Of An App
If you can't trust yourself not to hit snooze, get the help of apps that won't stop buzzing until you get out of bed. There are a ton of apps out there that won't turn off their alarms until you do something that requires you to throw off your covers.
Career writer Lindsay Goldwert at business improvement site Fast Company suggested, "Step Out of Bed ($1.99 for iPhone) will not shut off until you get out of bed and take 30 steps. This app has changed my life, it makes me actually move out of my bedroom and into the bathroom to brush my teeth...Android users might want to give Alarmy (free) a try. This irritating but effective alarm app will not shut off unless you get out of bed and take a picture of a pre-selected object in your home." If you have no choice to turn off the irritating buzz other than to start your day, then that's a sure fire way you won't ever over sleep again.
4. Break Up Your Sleep Into Increments Of 90 Minutes
If you always feel groggy and sluggish when waking up, that might be because you wake up in the middle of your sleep cycle rather than the end. To combat that, try to calculate your night into increments of 90 minutes and set your alarm to hit the tail end of a sleep cycle.
According to lifestyle write Amanda L. Chan at Huffington Post, "Sleep cycles are naturally 90 minutes long, so logically, making sure your sleep duration is some multiple of 90 could mean an easier time waking up." Give yourself a 30 minute buffer, though, since you don't fall asleep the second your head hits the pillow.
5. Get A Puzzle Alarm Clock
Another trick to get your body moving after the alarm rings and not hit snooze is to get a puzzle alarm clock. For example, there's Puzzle Alarm Clock for Android users that goes for $2.30 that makes you solve a simple puzzle before turning off, pulling your mind out of the fuzzy corners of sleep and forcing you to wake up. Erez Zukerman, web developer and editor at technology blog Make Use Of writes, "Since you can control the difficulty and even opt to solve several puzzles one after the other, this can be an effective way to wake up." If your ruin that fuzzy bubble of half-awake half-asleep with a couple of irritating math problems, you won't really have a reason to stay lounging in bed.
6. Create A Bed You Won't Want To Get Back Into
If crawling back into bed after waking up is your issue, make sure you create a bed you won't want to get back into once your slippers are on your feet.
Goldwert suggests, "What has worked for me is an idea that I got from advice I once received to prevent overeating — to put a napkin on your plate once you're full to discourage you from picking. On mornings when the warm cozy bed is too alluring, I place a pile of books on my side of the bed. Even the most hardcore sleeper won’t want to cat nap on a pile of hardcovers." So the moment you get out, pile things on that won't make you want to go back in. Toss a bunch of clothes on your side or move your backpack into the middle — whatever it is, just make sure it isn't comfortable to snooze on!
7. Have Something Fun Planned To Coax You Out
If you need a little more help getting out of bed, coax yourself out by having something fun waiting for you. Instead of having a morning of rushed hair combing and lame toast eating, have a routine that's pleasant and makes you excited to start the day. Have a muffin waiting for you, the promise of reading a book for 30 minutes, or catching up on a favorite show. If you have a treat waiting for you, you won't be as inclined to hit the snooze.
Lepore suggests, "If you don’t have a plan, you may think when the alarm goes off that there is nothing special happening that day, so why get up? Plan out a cute outfit the night before, ask a friend if they can have lunch, or maybe plan to go on a run in the morning. Have something you can look forward to so you’ll get out of bed!"
If all else fails, bribery always works, right?
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