Snoozing the Alarm? 9 Ways To Stop in a Week
A warm bed and thinking of all the difficult tasks ahead of you can lead to hitting the snooze button with no regrets at all. When that happens today, then tomorrow, and the day after that, it becomes a habit that is hard to break from. The good news is, it’s a habit you can break away from with a good amount of dedication, the right inspiration, and realizing that there’s no way around it.
You have to stop hitting snooze.
There’s always a small voice in your head that tells you fifteen more minutes of sleep after the alarm rings will make you feel more rested and awake. Instead, this is what you get after snoozing your alarm.
- You wake up super tired and groggy.
- You get late for your class or work
- Your morning is full of stress and frustration.
The science behind why snoozing the alarm is terrible for you.
As human beings, we go through three stages of sleep. The light stage is when you start drowsing. Then comes the deep sleep. This is the phase people like to call sound asleep. You don’t even remember your name 🙂
The Rapid Eye Movement follows. Here, your brain is going through a high-intensity activity phase, and you are in la-la land dreaming about hot coffee and the to-do list that has been waiting for you for a whooping week.
The REM phase is a 90-minute cycle. When your body is adjusting to waking up (AKA, the alarm is about to go off), the REM cycle is coming to a close. The alarm rings, but you do the unmentionable.
Snooze for fifteen more minutes!
Snoozing the alarm sends your body and mind into another REM cycle for 90 minutes. You can’t complete the cycle because you have to be up in 15 minutes (Assuming you don’t snooze again)
If you keep snoozing the alarm consistently, day in and day out, you have to deal with groggy mornings, late schedules, high levels of stress, weight gain, and dreaded dark eye bags. Plus, everyone keeps asking why you always look so tired, (annoying), but true.
Of course, nobody likes snoozing the alarm; it’s a state we all struggle to get past. The good news is, there’s always a solution for everyone. A technique that’ll help you reverse the way you see alarms and waking up.
9 practical ways to do away with snoozing the alarm.
Go to sleep early.
I know it looks simple and self-explanatory. Yet, most people, including myself, tend to ignore this insanely good advice. Sleep early, and you’ll have the energy to wake up early, more refreshed, and looking forward to the day.
If your device distracts you from having the recommended 8 hours of sleep, put it away in another room where you can’t access it. The first step to waking up when the alarm sets off is as simple as sleeping on time.
Try it today and live the wonders.
What’s your motivation for setting the alarm?
Why do you want to get up early?
Having a good enough reason will propel you to take action and throw off the blankets. I know that the only time that I can peacefully read my bible and pray without distractions is early mornings before my siblings wake up. This motivates me to get up when my alarm rings. Because for me, this routine bible study and prayer sets the day.
Do you want to work on your side-hustle, journal, plan out your day, or read for exams?
Find the why behind the early mornings and make it as motivational as it can get. Think of the dire effects of not achieving that particular goal. Once you identify your inspiration behind setting the alarm, it will be easier to kick off the blanket because you have something really important to wake up to.
What insanely important goal is going to make you stop snoozing the alarm?
For me, not praying and reading my bible early morning = an awful day where things don’t go as planned.
Strive to wake up at the same time every day.
If your wake-up times look like this, you’ll be snoozing more times than you would have wanted. Why? Consistency is lacking.
Your body adapts, but then a consistent routine is better, and your mind will not be all over the place, wondering when is the standard time for you to wake up. Additionally, a good wake-up habit will last longer than random wake-up times. Strive to wake up at the same time every day, but if not possible, try not to wake up 1-2 hours later than your routine wake-up time.
Choose an alarm song you love
You’d probably sing along because it’s a song you love. On the other hand, a song that doesn’t release the good kind of hormones will just annoy you. (My Current alarm is Tauren Wells’ Known.) And yes, I always find myself singing along as I wake up because I love the song.
Alternatively, you can experiment with different songs every few weeks and see how it works out.
Set embarrassingly small wake-up goals
You can always adjust easily to your ultimate goal by starting small. If your alarm currently rings at 7.00 am but you want to change that to 6.00 am, try setting it 15 minutes earlier than your current wake-up time for one week then adjust until you hit your six o’clock goal.
I’ve always wanted to get up at 5.30 in the morning, but it seemed impossible for a person who was used to waking up at 9.00. I knew that so much was at stake and that I always tick off more tasks in the morning. So I started setting my alarm an hour earlier each week until I hit my 5.30 wake-up goal. Now I’m an early riser who wakes up at 5.30. But I have to admit, things don’t always go as planned.
Don’t be ashamed, go ahead and set a minimal wake-up goal and advance from there. It’s possible.
Drink a glass of cold water when the alarm goes off.
This is a little trick I learned earlier this year. I always have a bottle of cold water at my bedside, so when my alarm goes off, I turn it off, sit up, and drink a quarter of my two-liter water bottle. Coldwater pulls your mind from sleep to alertness in minutes, so you don’t have to struggle at all when waking up.
I’d like to hear your thoughts when you try the water trick in the morning.
Create a sleeping routine.
Like I always say, routines are not only for babies. They also work well in the adult world. Your sleep routine will help you go to bed at the intended time, have a more successful process of falling asleep, and, most importantly, wake up when your alarm goes off.
A sleep routine should be like a detox kind of process. Don’t make a habit of using your phone just before you go to sleep. Opt for something less straining. You could read a book chapter, write down tasks for the next day, pray, review your day, or take a bath. The options are endless. Just keep your interaction with Social media at minimal or none entirely.
Live a healthy lifestyle.
Garbage In, Garbage Out. Whatever you feed your body and mind will be the result of your life. Exercise, eat right, sleep at the recommended hours, and avoid stress. These are all ways that will help you wake up as intended without snoozing the alarm.
And to my last effective technique, and probably one of my favorites.
The 5-sec rule by Mel Robbins
When the alarm goes off, don’t give your mind the time to think about going back to bed or how cold it is outside. Just focus on the ceiling and count backward for 5 seconds.
5, 4, 3, 2, 1
Then launch out of your bed and into your morning routine. It’s as simple as it’s effective.
There you have it, five effective techniques that will take you from snoozing the alarm to waking up early in a week. So, you can’t try all these techniques at once. How about you pick one and run with it? If that fails, try the next.
The Challenge: How to Stop Snoozing the alarm in just 1 week.
If you’ve been snoozing the alarm more times than you’d like, challenge yourself to the 5 seconds rule by Mel Robbins. For a week, when your alarm rings, don’t give your mind a chance to think about anything else. Just count backward for five seconds and launch from your bed like a rocket.
I’d love to know if you’ll be trying the 5-sec rule Challenge…
