And how we wake up can not only affect our mood and the day's outlook, but also our cognition and mental performance. In particular, alarms that have the qualities of 'tunefulness' (think ABC by The Jackson 5) have melodies that energise the listener, and are great for effective waking.īut to understand why this is the case, we first need to understand how our brains respond to complex stimuli when moving out of the sleep state.

Research has now shown certain alarm sounds can indeed enhance our alertness upon waking. He believed specific songs - melodies that roused the energies - had the ability to counteract the drowsiness waking may bring.Īnd he appears to have had a point. So it's important to ensure we're on top of our alarm game.īut what type of alarm provides peak alertness upon waking? Pythagoras posited this same question in around 500 BCE. It also means getting out of bed when you hear your alarm clock and resisting the snooze button.With the return to office work - and no longer being able to roll out of bed and straight into a Zoom meeting - many of us will be waking up earlier to beat the morning rush. This includes waking up and going to sleep around the same time every night. In addition to considering your alarm tone, focusing on your overall sleep hygiene is crucial. “Once awake and moving, the likelihood of returning to bed is much lower.” Consistency is key “For my clients who struggle to even hear their alarm or who hit the snooze button without even being aware of it, I recommend having the alarm across the room, so they are forced to get out of bed and walk across the room to turn it off,” Troxel says. For these individuals, she recommends having a more powerful alarm followed by the calming music to get back into the gradual awakening state. Some people who have a harder time waking up to songs or softer music may have a tough time with this, Troxel says. If it’s harder for you to hear an alarm, incorporate calmer music during your morning. More research is needed on this topic to understand why songs we enjoy may promote alertness, she says. “Listening to familiar, upbeat music immediately after awakening can set a more positive tone to the morning and can be a powerful motivator to start the day,” says Wendy Troxel, senior behavioral and social scientist at the RAND Corporation. The researchers also have a specific song that they recommend and note that songs in C5 with beats at 100 to 150 a minute may be most effective. While some may avoid this routine because it ruins the song for them and becomes perpetually annoying, which I can attest to, the researchers found benefits to waking up to a song you find pleasant.

A song you enjoyĪ study based out of Australia found that a song you can sing or hum to was most effective to combat sleep inertia. Other factors like metabolism, environment, and fatigue may all play a role in how you wake up, but experts agree that trying new wake-up routines may promote alertness earlier in the day. So you may consider a tone that starts light and gets to the chorus, or a certain type of alarm clock that has progressive tones built into it. Especially if you’re in the middle of a dream, being startled can be really disorienting. Similar to how we adjust ourselves to new temperatures-various activities or parts of our day-our body is not accustomed to being jolted up and expected to pivot immediately. He compares this to jumping into a cold pool versus slowly adjusting your body to the new temperature inch by inch.

“Rather than just literally pulling them from sleep into the wakeful state, you’re sort of gently escorting them into the wakeful state,” Giordano says.

Good ringtones for waking up