That old saying, “you snooze, you lose,” has some basis of truth when it comes to understanding the difficulty you have waking up when relying on that snooze button.  You are likely putting yourself back into a deeper stage of sleep that is even more difficult to wake up from, even though you are only trying to get a few extras minutes of sleep. The best stage to wake from is stage 1. This is the stage of sleep when you are sleeping less deeply than the other stages, and is the easiest stage to wake from with a greater feeling of alertness. Stage 1 sleep usually occurs at the beginning of a sleep cycle and is sometimes referred to as relaxed wakefulness. Often people that are awakened during stage 1 sleep will think they have not yet fallen asleep. By hitting the snooze button, you are starting your sleep cycle over. The stage 1 part passes in just a few minutes at which point you are entering stages of sleep that are harder to wake from. Just because your feet are on the floor and your eyes are open, does not mean that your brain is awake.  Everybody has a foggy, draggy, feeling for a few minutes to several hours after getting up in the morning. This is the time it takes for your brain to wake up. This is called sleep inertia and it is perfectly normal. Your brainstem wakes up as your eyes open and your feet hit the floor. This is the part of the brain that regulates basic physiological functions. Your cortical regions, including your prefrontal cortex, take a little longer to get going. These areas of your brain are responsible for decision making, planning, reaction time, mental performance, subjective alertness, attentiveness, self-control, and overall executive functions. Research studies have documented the time range for sleep inertia to be from one or two minutes to four hours, depending on the person and the variables regarding their sleep. Sleep inertia can be manipulated so that you have shorter episodes every day.  You can shorten the amount of time that you stay in a state of sleep inertia by manipulating some of your sleep variables. The most important variable to reduce your sleep inertia is to take steps to manipulate your body so that you consistently wake up in stage 1 sleep. Another critical variable is getting the right amount of sleep for your body. Research shows that using a standard alarm clock to wake up increases your odds of being awakened in a stage of deeper sleep thus contributing to longer periods of sleep inertia. " Zeitgebers are cues that your brain responds to specifically to regulate your natural circadian rhythm.  The best zeitgeber, or cue, to help adjust your circadian and sleep rhythm, reduce sleep inertia, and wake up feeling more alert in the morning, is timely exposure to natural light. When it starts to get dark, your brain releases a hormone called melatonin. Melatonin helps your body relax and prepare for sleep. In the morning when your eyes are exposed to natural light, the natural release of melatonin is stopped and your body and your brain wake up. Improve your sleep quality and waking ability by increasing your exposure to more natural light throughout the day, but especially around dawn if at all possible. Your circadian rhythm and other biological clocks or natural schedules are regulated from one primary source in your brain, the suprachiasmatic nucleus. The main nerves that connect to the suprachiasmatic nucleus are located just above the optic nerve. Avoid substituting artificial light sources. Artificial light does not produce the same critical signals to the brain to help reduce your sleep inertia and reset your circadian rhythms.  One researcher reviewed melatonin levels in a small study group that were having trouble with lengthy sleep inertia. Melatonin levels were measured and were found to begin the initial increase around 10:30 pm, about two hours before bedtime. The study subjects would experience a reduction in melatonin the following morning around 8 am. The study subjects were then exposed to an outdoor camping situation for 7 days. At the end of the camping trip, the melatonin levels were measured again and found to be increasing just after dusk, and were reducing just prior to dawn. The researcher concluded that the exposure to natural light, and the absence of artificial light and alarm clocks, allowed the subjects’ brains and bodies to naturally reset their circadian rhythms. The sleep inertia problems were completely resolved by the end of the 7 days.
حاول عدم ضغط زر الغفوة. خذ بعض الوقت لإتاحة الفرصة لاستيقاظ مخك. قلل مدة القصور الذاتي للنوم. أعد ضبط إيقاع النوم باستخدام "الإشارات. عرض عينيك للضوء الطبيعي.