Why you wake up before the alarm and what to do when it happens

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Many people fear the thunderous sound of an alarm clock, signaling the start of a busy work day. Others wish that they weren’t already awake and that the sound had really woken them up.

Waking up many minutes or even hours before your alarm is not a new phenomenon, sleep experts tell CNN, but it can cause discomfort to people.

More than a third of Americans sleep fewer hours a night than the minimum recommendation of seven hoursaccording to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.. According to the National Institutes of HealthStudies around the world show that between 10% and 30% of the population suffers from insomnia, defined as persistent difficulty falling asleep and the inability to go back to sleep after lying down.

Those who experience insomnia You may have a combination of “nighttime awakenings” and what are classified as “early morning awakenings,” according to a 2009 study from the Stanford Sleep Epidemiology Research Center and other universities. The study finds that some people may experience early awakenings without other symptoms of insomnia such as “difficulty initiating sleep,” “nocturnal awakenings,” and “non-refreshing sleep,” meaning sleep that isn’t substantial even at the recommended hours.

Although treatments for insomnia include cognitive behavior therapy and medicine, other daily tips can have an impact on early morning awakenings. An acute sleep disorder could be at play for someone who doesn’t experience chronic insomnia but wakes up early.

To the constant waking up to that daily sound is added an immense frustration for not falling asleep again. Stress can feel isolating and exhausting, taking precedence over the initial sleep problem.

“You start thinking about it, and then you start doing things that make the insomnia worse,” said Dr. Rajkumar Dasgupta, an associate professor of clinical medicine at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine In Los Angeles.

“Don’t start telling yourself… ‘I’m going to make me stay in bed until I fall asleep,’” he said.

So what can you do about it?

If you wake up suddenly, in what seems like the wee hours of the morning, resist looking at the clock. Finding out that it’s 3 am when you set your alarm for 7 am can cause further concern about how much sleep you were hoping to achieve.

“Anxiety and frustration increase,” said sleep specialist Wendy Troxel, a senior behavioral scientist at Rand Corp. “Looking at the clock becomes habitual, and that habitual frustration and anxiety response also triggers a stress response in the body ”.

When anxiety and worry take precedence, cortisol levels rise and the body becomes alert. This process is counterproductive in maintaining sleepiness, as the brain becomes hyperactive.

“You look at the clock. It’s 3 in the morning like clockwork, and you could immediately grit your teeth. You think about all the lawsuits … how horrible it will be when you lack sleep,” Troxel said. “All this mental processing and agitation is the antithesis of the dream state. It makes you more alert and excited…instead of sending the signal to the brain that it’s okay to stray.”

If your alarm is on the phone, checking the clock can be an even more significant trigger. Consider getting an alarm that isn’t connected to your phone.

“Our phone is our strongest signal for our waking lives,” Troxel said. “You’re getting light exposure from your phone, which can directly stimulate your circadian signal to be alert. The content of what we are consuming on our phones can be very activating, whether it is browsing social networks or reading the news. All of these can stimulate emotional states that are more activating than relaxing.

Paradoxically, experts say that you have to get out of bed. yes even at 3 am

“Give up the idea of ​​going back to sleep,” Troxel said. “When you do that, when you let go of the pressure that sleep doesn’t take as much effort, you’re more likely to go back to sleep.”

In a stimulus control technique, you can distract your brain with a mundane task to help you regain drowsiness faster than getting frustrated in bed.

Mentally assigning the bed to sleep in helps people associate positive sleep thoughts with their space. Leaving the room when the turmoil begins can separate the frustration from the bed.

Anything from reading a book to knitting or listening to soft music (but not using a phone) can positively distract the brain. Once sleepiness returns, go back to bed.

Dasgupta recommends tracking not only when you went to bed and woke up on any given night, but also the relaxation techniques, environmental factors, and even nutrition and exercise routines that seemed to help you sleep that day.

“The perfect dream is like having a puzzle, and you need all the right pieces,” Dasgupta said. “People who have insomnia are missing one of those sleep hygiene pieces. When you make your recommendation, like a muscle relax, maybe that’s not what they were missing. Maybe the sound wasn’t the key part. Maybe you need more of that weighted blanket.

It also depends on our given circadian rhythm, or the 24-hour solar cycle that the body runs on that alerts us when sleepiness sets in at night. If some environmental factor changes, such as travel, work schedule or lighting, the body’s circadian rhythm can be disturbed, signaling an uncomfortable early awakening before the alarm, Dasgupta said. In this case, changing the lighting in a given room or getting alternate lighting might help.

Progressive muscle relaxation can work: start on your toes, squeeze the muscles for three seconds, and release. Breathe through this process. The 4-7-8 breathing exercise along with muscle relaxation can be successful, Dasgupta said. Inhale for 4 seconds, hold your breath for 7 seconds, and exhale for 8 seconds.

Others may find that yoga, meditation, or reading can help when they wake up before their alarm. The same techniques won’t work for everyone, but practicing various strategies that can affect sleep is critical and ultimately creating a well-followed routine.

If the problem continues beyond three times a week for three months, experts recommend talking to a sleep specialist. It may require more than just a habit change.