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Do You Need an Alarm Clock?
Alarm clocks are a modern nuisance. We use them to get us up in the morning, and they are supremely effective. Unfortunately, they will get us up regardless of how much sleep we have gotten, and whether or not we are fully rested. Moreover, if we are sleeping with someone else or if we have children, we may have our sleep disrupted more than once during those early hours.
Ideally, you would be able to sleep as much as you need to. Each individual seems to require an average amount of sleep to feel rested, which may vary across your lifetime, and certainly is different from person to person. A simple experiment can determine how much sleep you need: allow yourself to sleep until you naturally wake up for several nights and calculate the average number of hours. If you have adequately met your sleep needs, you should feel alert and refreshed when you wake up.
If we don’t get enough sleep, we may feel groggy, disoriented, and unrefreshed upon awakening, a concept calledsleep inertia.If you get less sleep than you need, especially on a regular basis, you can feel sleep deprived with symptoms of daytime sleepiness, cognitive impairment, slower reflexes, andother health consequenceslike weight gain and diabetes.It is important to treat any sleep disorders, likesleep apnea, as these can undermine the quality of sleep.
Consider Various Alarm Clock Types
There are a handful of alarm clock types to consider:
How to Meet Your Sleep Needs Without an Alarm Clock
Consistent Sleep Habits, Morning Sunlight May Help End Alarm Clock Use
A Word From Verywell
If you’re sleeping poorly, reach out to a board-certified sleep physician who can provide guidance and evaluation to improve your sleep. Wake feeling refreshed each and every day with their help.
3 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Trotti LM.Waking up is the hardest thing I do all day: Sleep inertia and sleep drunkenness.Sleep Med Rev. 2017;35:76-84. doi:10.1016/j.smrv.2016.08.005Johns Hopkins Medicine.The effects of sleep deprivation.Sleep Foundation.Circadian rhythm.
3 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Trotti LM.Waking up is the hardest thing I do all day: Sleep inertia and sleep drunkenness.Sleep Med Rev. 2017;35:76-84. doi:10.1016/j.smrv.2016.08.005Johns Hopkins Medicine.The effects of sleep deprivation.Sleep Foundation.Circadian rhythm.
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Trotti LM.Waking up is the hardest thing I do all day: Sleep inertia and sleep drunkenness.Sleep Med Rev. 2017;35:76-84. doi:10.1016/j.smrv.2016.08.005Johns Hopkins Medicine.The effects of sleep deprivation.Sleep Foundation.Circadian rhythm.
Trotti LM.Waking up is the hardest thing I do all day: Sleep inertia and sleep drunkenness.Sleep Med Rev. 2017;35:76-84. doi:10.1016/j.smrv.2016.08.005
Johns Hopkins Medicine.The effects of sleep deprivation.
Sleep Foundation.Circadian rhythm.
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