Don’t Hit Snooze! And Other Practical Tips for Optimal Sleep
Millions of Americans share a similar experience every morning. The alarm goes off, but they’ve already been awake for hours in bed. They hit the snooze button to squeeze in a few more minutes of precious rest, not realizing they were making their sleep problems worse.
“Hitting the snooze button is one of the worst things you can do because it prolongs morning grogginess and associates the bed with being awake,” says Fiona Barwick, PhD, DBSM, Stanford Clinical Associate Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences – Sleep Medicine. “Rather than hitting snooze, it’s important to get out of bed within 15 minutes of the alarm going off and get some natural light to stop melatonin production.”
You may not think that something you do first thing in the morning will affect your sleep that night; however, Dr. Barwick says that the behaviors we engage with throughout the day can impact the quality of our sleep at night.
“Getting a good night’s sleep is a 24-hour endeavor,” says Dr. Barwick.
How Does Sleep Work?
According to Dr. Barwick, we fall asleep when these three biological systems are in working order:
- Circadian Rhythm (CR)
- Sleep Drive (SD)
- Stress Management (SM)
Here is a list of behaviors that can negatively affect the three systems (CR, SD, SM), as well as alternative behaviors that have a more positive impact:
Since it may be difficult to change all the behaviors in this table, Dr. Barwick shares the top two behaviors that are most important for each system:
- Circadian Rhythm
- Sleeping in the right window for your body clock (e.g., 10pm – 6am, 11pm – 7am, or 12am – 8am, etc.) and staying consistent with those sleep and wake times.
- Appropriate exposure to light and darkness to sync the release of melatonin with wake and sleep times (e.g., getting morning sunlight, not looking at screens one hour before bed, and making sure the bedroom is dark).
- Sleep Drive
- Increase sleep drive by tiring the body with regular physical exercise and outdoor light exposure.
- Getting out of bed promptly (no hitting the snooze button) and making sure you spend the appropriate amount of time in bed (anywhere from 6-10 hours depending on your individual genetics and age).
- Stress Management
- Physical relaxation—Deep breathing throughout the day to relax the body.
- Mental/Emotional relaxation—mindfulness meditation or journaling to process emotions before going to bed.
Practice of the Month:
Avoid hitting snooze (i.e., get out of bed when the alarm goes off) and create morning, midday, and evening routines to optimize the three key systems for sleep.
From the table above, write two behaviors you can do in the morning, midday, and at night. Make sure that you’re addressing all three systems (CR, SD, and SM).
What to do in the morning for good sleep:
1)
2)
What to do during the day for good sleep:
1)
2)
What to do at night for good sleep:
1)
2)
Here is a sample:
What to do in the morning for good sleep:
1) Put phone out of arm’s reach and get out of bed right after alarm goes off (CR, SD).
2) Go for a walk around the block, then eat breakfast (CR, SD).
What to do during the day for good sleep:
1) Stress reduction: do a 10-minute mindfulness meditation at lunch (SM).
2) Physical exercise: do a 45-minute workout right after work (SD, SM).
What to do at night for good sleep:
1) Turn off all screens one hour before bed and write in my journal while listening to relaxing music (CR, SM).
2) Take a luxurious candle-lit bubble bath while taking deep breaths and counting my blessings (CR, SM).
“These are behaviors we can do to increase the likelihood of getting better sleep, but there may be times when we do everything right and still not sleep well,” says Dr. Barwick. “The most important thing to remember is that we will be fine the next day. We are evolutionarily adapted to deal with insufficient sleep, and we can still do what we need to get done, even without the full amount of sleep that we normally get.”
