Morning blues

Challenge

Many of us wake up feeling groggy, disorientated and tired, especially teens who often wake before their body clocks want them to.

If you feel like this, you are suffering from something called sleep inertia. It happens when you wake suddenly during slow wave sleep — often because of an alarm clock.

Sleep inertia usually lasts from around5 to 30 minutes, but it can last for as long as 2 to 4 hours. During this time, you may feel like your concentration is impaired and you don’t feel as alert.

Strategies

Avoid pressing the snooze button on your alarm. If you press the snooze button, your brain knows it’ll go off again. You won’t get any of the deep, resting slumber in between those snoozes. Set your alarm for when you definitely have to get up.

If you have a hard time not pressing the snooze button, try putting your alarm across the room so you have to get out of your bed to turn it off, which will wake you up along the way.

Getting the light to work for you

In the morning it’s helpful to get as much natural light as you can. Open your curtains first thing and let the light flood in.

Where possible try to get outside for 30 minutes each morning doing something you enjoy like a walk/run/cycle or even just sitting in the garden.

You only need 4 minutes of daylight to stop producing melatonin. Getting up and going outside in the morning for some exposure to natural daylight can really give you a boost for theday.

If you struggle getting up, you might find a lightbox useful at breakfast time to get a direct hit of light. This will suppress melatonin levels and make you feel more alert.

My plans to help my morning blues

My alarm clock plan:

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My plan to get morning light:

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Page last reviewed: 7 February, 2024