How To Break Up With The Snooze Button
I am 10000000% guilty – chronic snooze button abuser. I’ve learned a lot about quality sleep thanks to the 80 Day Obsession program and this is one habit I have been working on breaking.
Did you know that hitting the snooze button actually leaves you feeling more tired than just getting up because fragmented sleep is poor-quality sleep.
Stop snoozing your mornings away. Here are some helpful steps to break the habit.
Step 1: Calculate the real time you need to need to get up and set your alarm clock for that time, not a minute before. Measure your morning activities so that you can be realistic about how much time you really need to budget for those good habits. You’ll get the maximum amount of quality sleep and be ready for a more productive morning.
Step 2: Calculate the right bedtime. Now that you know exactly what time you need to get up, work backwards to find exactly what time you should go to bed. When it comes to how many hours of sleep an adult needs, there’s no magic number, but the National Sleep Foundation recommends 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night.
Step 3: Put your alarm clock across the room.
It’s a no-brainer, but if you have to get out of bed to hit the snooze button, you’re less likely to roll over and go back to sleep.
Step 4: Light it UP. An outlet timer costs about $5 at Target and can act as a powerful snooze-defuser: Set the lamp in your bedroom to automatically turn on at the same time your alarm goes off. Then as soon as you’re up, open the curtains: After 7 to 9 hours of darkness, light stimulates brain activity and will help you feel naturally more alert.
Step 5: Get up and go to bed at (roughly) the same time every day. Marathon late-night TV show watching and lazy weekend lie-ins both disrupt your body’s sleep cycle and make weekday mornings tougher. Try to go to bed and wake up within an hour of your calculated bedtime and wake-up time — even on the weekends.
Healthy sleep is an important part of a healthy lifestyle and healthy weight, making this habit one worth breaking!