Sleeping through your alarm is not a good habit to get into. It could result in you missing appointments or even losing your job. Whether you’re hitting the snooze button or failing to hear your alarm, it’s important that you find a quick solution. Below are just a few possible reasons as to why you may be sleeping through your alarm, and how to correct this behavior.
You’re hitting the snooze button/turning off your alarm without waking
Hitting the snooze button/turning off your alarm before going back to sleep can be dangerous if you do it too many times. Eventually it may become an automatic response to hit the snooze button or turn off your alarm – so much so that you do it in your sleep. When this happens, you need to find a way of forcing yourself awake. This could include putting your phone or alarm clock on the other side of the room so that you have to get up and wake yourself. There are even flying alarm clocks and alarm clocks that force you to solve puzzles – you won’t be able to turn these alarm clocks off in your sleep.
You’re going to sleep too late
It’s much harder to force yourself to wake up if you haven’t had enough sleep. We should all be getting a minimum of 6 hours sleep per night. If you’re staying awake until 2pm and having to get up at 6pm, you’re not getting those 6 hours. Eventually your body is going to fight back in order to get the sleep it needs, causing you to sleep through your alarm. Get into a routine of getting to bed earlier – not just so that you can get up on time, but so that overall health doesn’t suffer. If you suffer insomnia, it could be worth considering a few of these tips.
You’re trying to wake up during the deepest part of your sleep cycle
Sleep is a series of cycles in which your body carries out various processes. These cycles consist of light stages of sleep and deep stages of sleep. The body finds it much harder to wake up during a deep sleep stage than it does during a light sleep stage. By programming your alarm to wake you up during your lightest sleep stage, you may be less likely to sleep through your alarm. How can you do this? There are apps that can help you to track your sleep cycle based on movements and noises you make while asleep – these apps can then wake you up during the lightest part of your sleep cycle nearest to when your alarm is scheduled to go off. Try out these apps to see if they make a difference.
Sleep medication/drugs are preventing your from waking up
Certain drugs can put you into a deeper sleep and may make it harder to wake up in the morning. You should be careful of taking these drugs if they are causing you to sleep through your alarm. When it comes to prescribed medication, consider talking to a doctor about alternative options.
Your hearing could be getting worse
It’s possible that you could be sleeping through your alarm as a result of hearing loss. Not being able to hear certain frequencies as clearly could make it easier to sleep through certain alarms. There are specialist alarms that you can buy if you experience hearing loss. These include alarms that vibrate to wake you up.
Your alarm isn’t loud enough
While you don’t want your alarm to be so loud that it wakes up other members of your household (or even your neighbours), you do need it to be loud enough that you can clearly hear it. If you’ve got your alarm set on a low volume, consider turning it up so that it’s not as easy to sleep through.
Leave a Reply