
Waking up is the worst, sleeping is the best, right?
Why do we hate waking up so much and what can we do to make mornings easier?
Difficulty waking up actually has a scientific term – it’s called sleep inertia. It is a period of time right after you wake up during which your alertness is reduced and your performance is impaired. This is the time when we hate the morning most.
But to understand why waking up is so hard we should first have a look at the 4 stages of sleep.
4 stages of sleep:
You go through the stage two, three, four and then go back to stage two. Then go through stage three and four again, and back to stage two. This cycle repeats 4 or 5 times in a night of sleep.
And waking up is the most difficult when you are in the third sleep stage.
If your alarm goes off when you are in stage three (the deepest sleep) you will be jolted awake but actually waking up will be super hard. This is because the hormones that keep you in deep sleep will still be present in your body, even though it is supposed to be awake. This will pass in around 10-20 minutes though.
Here are the best ways to speed up your awakening and make it easier:
Do you think you know all you need to know about sleep? Then test your sleep smarts with this simple quiz.