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LIFEHACK- Ditching the Alarm Clock.

by | Feb 20, 2018 | Fitness

 

Tell Yourself What Time You Want to Wake Up in the Morning and Ditch Your Alarm Clock

To be honest this is one method which really works

In tandem with the rest. Our brain is super marvelous and it does everything we ask it to do, now the challenge is to give the right commands so the brain pays attention and implements it. Ideally, we don’t need an alarm clock to wake us up. Have you ever experienced getting up at the time you decided to be up before an important event or maybe to catch a flight or something like that… In fact you might have noticed that you woke up before the bell rang. This happens to almost all of us many times in our lives. yet we fail to understand why and how this happens ,it’s quite simple , why do you get up early in the morning , what do u do , why is it so important for you to be up? Now if you know the reasons and those reasons are really important for you, then your body and mind works together to create an environment conducive for waking up early. But still in order to be consistent you will have to do a little bit of planning and executing.

The National Sleep Foundation says:

To stop using an alarm, you need to create a consistent rhythm from day to day. If you go to sleep around the same time every night and, before drifting off, tell yourself when you need to wake up in the morning, you can actually train your body to come to at the right time. But this won’t work if you’re exhausted. No amount of circadian rhythm training can help you if you are getting less sleep than you need.

Dean Bokhari also shares this same tip on Medium:

Before you go to bed at night, tell your brain, “wake me up at __ a.m.”

Unless you got drunk the night before, you’ll likely start waking up right before the alarm clock startles you awake.

I’ve done this before and it seems to work. Bokhari says it has something to do with your brain’s reticular activating system (RAS), the part of your brain that regulates sleeping and waking as well as attention.

Set up a backup alarm just in case your brain isn’t paying attention, though.

 

The Gradual Method

They say this is one of the best methods to waking up early but honestly I never tried it so wouldn’t know for sure, I am a person to hit the hay at first go. Not someone to try bit by bit, I experimented from 7 am straight to 4 am and have been doing so past 2 years and definitely not increasing my sleep time . So I sleep lot less these days but I believe its quality over quantity and it has suited me so far. I do grab some snoozes over the weekends once in a while till 6 or 7 am..But never beyond that.

It works for me but might not work for others so try the gradual method instead. Please Read on:

The best method for changing the time you wake up is to do it gradually — 10-15 minutes earlier for 2-4 days, until you feel used to it, and then repeat. If you get up at 8 a.m. normally, don’t suddenly change it to 6 a.m. Try 7:45 a.m. first.

That might seem too slow to most people, and you’re free to disregard this advice. Experts say, sudden changes of an hour earlier or more in your waking time are difficult, and not likely to last. If you get up 1-2 hours earlier, on Day 1, then you’ll have a tough time, and not enjoy it. The next day, you’ll have a big sleep deficit, and it’ll be even tougher (assuming you’re able to do it 2 days in a row). Day 3 is even harder. Eventually you either make it through the tough times (it’ll take at least a week of suffering), or you crash and sleep in late and have to start over or you give up.

Sleeping patterns are difficult to change, and so the gradual method works much better. This is true, by the way, of eating habits, exercise habits, clutter habits and more.

All said and done try stuff for yourself and do what works for you as I believe our bodies behave differently so we must respect that and move on.

3 Steps to Actually Get Up

So you’ve set your alarm for 10-15 minutes earlier than normal, and maybe got through the first few days, then set it another 10-15 minutes earlier, and soon you’re at 30-45 minutes earlier than usual … but now you have the tendency to hit the snooze alarm and stay in bed (sometimes awake) without getting up.

Here’s how to beat that in 3 steps:

  1. Get excited. The night before, think of one thing you’d like to do in the morning that excites you.

For me I am excited about my meditation time, taking my workout class, and mostly I feel I do much better in terms of being productive and creative when I get up before sunrise. It could be something you want to write, or a new yoga routine, or meditation, or something you’d like to read, or a work project that’s got you fired up. In the morning, when you wake up, remember that exciting thing, and that will help motivate you to get up. Also visualize before you sleep about what is the most exciting stuff you are going to do once you wake early in the morning.

  1. Jump out of bed. Yes, jump out of bed. With enthusiasm. Jump up and stretch as if to say, “Yes! I am alive! Say a gratitude prayer, remembering god first thing helps you connect with your deeper self and then you are ready to tackle the day with open arms and the gusto of a driven maniac.” Seriously, it works.
  2. Put your alarm across the room. If it’s right next to you, you’ll hit the snooze button. So put it on the other side of the room, so you’ll have to get up (or jump up) to turn it off. Then, get into the habit of going straight to the bathroom to pee once you’ve turned it off. Once you’re done peeing, put some cold water over your face, this way you’re much less likely to go back to bed. At this point, remember your exciting thing. If you didn’t jump out of bed, at least stretch your arms wide and greet the day.

What to Do When You Get Up

First, things not to do with your newfound early-morning time: don’t check email, news, social media, blogs. Don’t waste this new time doing the same thing you always do.

Here are some other things that are better, in my experience:

  1. Drink a glass of water. You’re dehydrated from not drinking any water all night. Drink a full glass of water if you can. It’ll make you feel more awake.
  2. Meditate. Even just for 5 minutes. It’s such a great way to start your day — doing nothing, just sitting, and practicing mindful focus.
  3. Write. Or do some other kind of creating.
  4. Exercise. Go for a walk or a run, get ready to go to your gym, or do a home workout. Even just 10 minutes.
  5. Enjoy a cup of coffee or tea. Either one of these makes the morning better.

Sleeping Earlier

You can’t just wake up earlier and not sleep earlier. You’ll eventually crash. So here are some tips for getting to sleep earlier:

  1. Set a bedtimeof 7-8.5 hours before you want to wake up. So if you’re waking up at 6 a.m., go to bed between 9:30-11 p.m. Where you are in that time frame depends on how much sleep you need. Most people need about 7.5-8 hours of sleep, though there are lots of variations. I tend to get about 4-5 hours most nights but on most days manage to take a power naps of 15-20 minutes enough to rejuvenate you.
  2. Create a bedtime ritual. I like to read some spiritual book, do my meditation, set intentions for the next day, tune in to my internal clock and set my time for getting up mentally, if there is something specific I want to do the next day for example I want to go for my bicycling . I would make a note of it mentally and throughout the previous day and evening till bed time I think about it, mentally create visuals of getting up, going out for the ride , doing my usual kms or more… I actually set myself in motion a day before the actual event. So even if I sleep late in the night or also have any health issue I still wake up fresh next morning for my little outing. Your mind is much more powerful then you give credit to it.
  3. No computers in bed. That means no laptop, no tablets, no mobile phones. Kindles are OK except the Kindle Fire, which is the same as an iPad. No TV either. Just reading.
  4. Exercise helps a lotearlier in the day. It gets your body nice and tired, so you’ll sleep better. Don’t exercise an hour or less before bed, or you’ll be pumped up.
  5. Try this methodif you have trouble sleeping: close your eyes and get comfortable, then think of the first thing you did that morning — the very first thing, like turning off your alarm. Then think of the next thing, and so on, replaying your morning in as much detail as possible. I never get to mid-morning.

 

 

OBSTACLES:

Bad Health:  Sometimes each of us can feel under the weather due to some illness or simple cold n cough or simply from being overworked and fatigued. So under such circumstances it is always good to listen to your body and take the necessary TLC till you recuperate. Just be mindful that you don’t get stuck in the self-pity mode for too long it’s pretty easy to slip back into your old habits. Hence the moment you feel better stop giving yourself any excuses and go back to your old routine.

Late Nights: you may be under some deadline pressure from work, or study’s or simply parties.

Once in a while its fine to stay out late and party but if it isn’t some necessary social engagement which can’t be avoided try not to keep too many late nights as it does not help you or your body , mind.. And you will feel utter foggy and groggy even if you try getting up early. Try to stick to your plan. if  it’s work or study pressure then make sure you plan your day in such a manner that you still have time to go to bed in decent hours and you manage to get the right amount of sleep. Again remember the key here is consistency.

 

Now here is another twist to the story some of us including myself wake up even before the alarm goes off. Why does this happen, have you thought about that? Here is the scientific explanation:

 

Because your body’s internal clock is just as good, if not better, than the contraption shrieking atop your nightstand.

At the center of your brain, a clump of nerves—called the suprachiasmatic nucleus—oversees your body’s clock: the circadian rhythm. It determines when you feel sleepy and when you feel bright-eyed. It controls your blood pressure, your body temperature, and your sense of time. It turns your body into a finely tuned machine.

That machine happens to love predictability. Your body is most efficient when there’s a routine to follow. So if you hit the hay the same time each night and awake the same time each morning, your body locks that behavior in. And that’s where things get sciency.

Beat the clock!

Your sleep-wake cycle is regulated by a protein called PER. The protein level rises and falls each day, peaking in the evening and plummeting at night. When PER levels are low, your blood pressure drops, heart rate slows, and thinking becomes foggier. You get sleepy.

If you follow a diligent sleep routine—waking up the same time every day—your body learns to increase your PER levels in time for your alarm. About an hour before you’re supposed to wake up, PER levels rise (along with your body temperature and blood pressure). To prepare for the stress of waking, your body releases a cocktail of stress hormones, like cortisol. Gradually, your sleep becomes lighter and lighter.

And that’s why you wake up before your alarm. Your body hates your alarm clock. It’s jarring. It’s stressful. And it ruins all that hard work. It defeats the purpose of gradually waking up. So, to avoid being interrupted, your body does something amazing: It starts increasing PER and stress hormones earlier in the night. Your body gets a head start so the waking process isn’t cut short. It’s so precise that your eyelids open minutes—maybe even seconds—before the alarm goes off.

You snooze, you lose

There’s evidence you can will yourself to wake on time, too. Sleep scientists at Germany’s University of Lubeck asked 15 volunteers to sleep in their lab for three nights. One night, the group was told they’d be woken at 6 a.m., while on other nights the group was told they’d be woken at 9 a.m..

But the researchers lied—they woke the volunteers at 6 a.m anyway. And the results were startling. The days when sleepers were told they’d wake up early, their stress hormones increased at 4:30 a.m., as if they were anticipating an early morning. When the sleepers were told they’d wake up at 9 a.m., their stress hormones didn’t increase—and they woke up groggier. “Our bodies, in other words, note the time we hope to begin our day and gradually prepare us for consciousness,” writes Jeff Howe at Psychology Today.

Incidentally, if you don’t wake before your alarm, you probably aren’t getting enough sleep—or you aren’t sleeping on a consistent schedule. Waking up at different times on weekdays and weekends can quickly throw your clock out of whack. Without any consistency, your body may not know when to get up. So when your alarm starts screaming, you feel dazed and grumpy.

Enter the snooze button. Since your body’s gone through all that work to rise gradually, a quick nap sends your internal clock spinning in the wrong direction. All the hormones that help you fall asleep meddle with the hormones that help you wake up. Your body gets confused. You feel groggier. And with each slap of the snooze, it gets worse. The snooze, it seems, is the worst way to start your day.

Hope now you know why getting up early works wonders for your body , mind and overall health. Also allowing your internal clock take over is the best solution in the long term. So try and put it to practice and see how it works for you.

Take Care!