When you snooze, you lose – literally. In a world where we never seem to get enough sleep, trying to snag an extra 10-20 minutes of sleep in the morning by hitting your snooze button over and over isn’t actually going to help. What it does is wreak havoc on your body and destroy your quality of sleep. While it might seem harmless to stay in bed just a little bit longer, you’re actually confusing your body and brain. Every time your alarm goes off again, your body and brain are startled out of sleep, and you wake up groggy. There’s even a scientific term for the sleepy state of falling asleep and waking up in the morning — it’s called “drockling." The trouble with drockling is the more you do it, the more confused your body feels. Your body needs routine and consistency. At worst you’re abusing the heck out of your nervous system. At best, you’re training your body to ignore itself. So, how do you break this bad habit? Some sleep tips for waking up refreshed include:
- • limiting technology before bed
- • putting your mind at ease by reading before bed
- • avoiding stimulants close to bedtime
- • exercising and eating healthy foods
- • spending time outside during the day
- • taking a Vitamin D supplement
- • ensuring you have low lighting and an ideal temperature
- • training yourself to get up with that very first alarm
