Britt Jones
There are those of us who wake up and snooze our alarms multiple times, and there are those who do the unthinkable: wake up before the alarm dares to go off.
It’s not something that’s particularly common, and while others might see it as some sort of weird sixth sense, those who wake up that way might have an underlying reason for doing this.
According to a sleep expert at Sleep.com, it’s very telling of your body’s rhythm.
You may or may not have already heard the term ‘circadian rhythm’, which is your body’s internal clock that determines when we feel tired and ready for bed, and when we wake up.
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This rhythm is so important that when it’s off, you’re going to feel it.
Groggy, agitated, and a cloudy head are just some of the things you might feel every day when your clock isn’t ticking the way it should be.
This rhythm affects important bodily functions like temperature, your mental alertness, blood pressure, hormone levels, and more.
For those who are more aligned with their circadian rhythm, they’ll feel refreshed, go to sleep easier, and wake up without wanting to roll over and leech as much time cocooned as possible.
When it comes to waking up before your alarm, Dr Chris Winter, neurologist and Sleep.com advisor, says it indicates you’re getting the right amount of sleep.
He said: “I think this might be related to the idea that if you are awakening a few minutes before your alarm, you are probably on a very consistent schedule and have probably chosen the appropriate amount of sleep time.”
If you find yourself awake and ready to take on the day shortly before your alarm sounds, then your sleep is likely where it needs to be.
On the flip side, it could also mean that you’re spending too much time in bed or at least going to bed too early that your body is ready to get up earlier than you’d like.
In this case, all you need to do is go to sleep later to line up your wake time for when your alarm goes off.
A reason for this could be your age.
“As people get older, their circadian phase tends to shift earlier,” Jade Wu, Ph.D., at Sleep.com also said.
She explained: “This means the timing of their sleep starts earlier in the evening and ends earlier in the morning. Older adults also tend to need a bit less sleep than they did earlier in life.
"This combination of changes can mean waking up earlier than when we're younger, and doesn't necessarily mean there is something wrong. As long as a person is getting enough opportunity to sleep, and has a consistent sleep-wake timing on most nights, they can have perfectly healthy sleep, even if they wake up earlier than they used to.”
Sometimes, it’s not just your age that could impact your sleep.
Have you ever heard of ‘sleep hygiene’?
This is a routine of creating an environment where sleep is prioritised, and you facilitate making it as easy as possible.
It could be getting blackout curtains, turning off all electronics an hour before you intend to sleep, blocking out any noise, and taking any distractions out of the room so your body finds it easier to slip into a deep sleep.
If you find that you’re regularly waking up before your alarm, but you feel tired, and like your sleep hasn’t been enough, you could also have high cortisol levels - the body's central stress hormone.
"It should be low in the middle of the night so the brain can move through deep sleep and REM," health educator Dr Eric Berg told Birmingham Live. "Around 2am, many people are in slow-wave (deep) sleep. If cortisol rises then, it sends a wake-up signal."
If this sounds like you, it might be worth using de-stress methods before bed to calm your nervous system.