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I regularly record and publish sleep coaching resources here on my blog, and on my YouTube Channel to help and support you to start learning about overcoming insomnia and other sleep problems.

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Beatrix A Schmidt

Sleep Coach, Professional Speaker, creator of the Sleep Skills for Life Programme and the Author of The Sleep Deep Method®

Sleeping well consistently every night is less about your science ‘knowledge’ and more about developing practical sleep skills

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There is no such thing as 'quick', 'easy' and 'effortless' but...

Of course, you can also learn those practical ways that you can overcome your sleep problems and insomnia too.

Since 2014, I have published many articles and videos to help you get to know your sleep better and overcome sleep problems and even insomnia. Some of the videos are recorded at previous talks or simply answering a question from my audience on a particular topic.

On this page, you will find the most recently published resource.

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Why setting multiple alarms is bad for your sleep, especially when treating chronic insomnia

Why setting multiple alarms is bad for your sleep, especially when treating chronic insomnia

Today, I wanted to talk to you about why it's absolutely crucial for you not to set multiple alarms in the morning, especially if you have long term or chronic insomnia or sleep problems. 

This may have been something that you have done for many years, and you may believe this is the only way that you can get yourself out of bed in the morning. I remember the time when I used to set two, three alarms myself, often 10 or 15 minutes apart, back when I struggled with long-term insomnia.

Over the years I've seen many different versions of this in my clients. 

At one of the talks I gave for a corporate client a couple of years ago, one of the audience members raised their hand and shared their own alarm schedule. They said that they have over 20 alarms, each five minutes apart.

Now, you might not be as extreme, but let me tell you what happens when you do your own version of that, whether it’s 3 alarms or 20.

 

Multiple alarms fragment the last part of your sleep

You might wake up to the first alarm, hit the snooze button, and fall back into sleep for a few minutes.

Then the next alarm sounds, you wake up again, perhaps this time you might actually turn the lights on because you know you have to start somehow getting out of bed. But then you snooze back again. 

That third alarm, or the last alarm in your sequence, will be the one that probably is going to get you out of bed. 

One of the things I see with this is that fragmentation at the very end of your night can really link to not being able to wake up refreshed. Especially if you struggle with either falling asleep or if you wake up in the middle of the night. Having this fragmentation at the end can really affect how energised you feel in the morning

As an example, if you just set one alarm and had let's say two or three hours of sleep in one chunk, and you didn't have this fragmentation, often you would feel a little bit more energised after that. That chunk will be better quality sleep, even if it's not a full night, which is typical if you are struggling with insomnia or sleep problems. 

Fragmentation of whatever sleep you can get at the end of your night is going to have a negative effect on your body's ability to really commit to waking up. It makes more sense to set one alarm for the time you need to get up, and allow your body to rest until that time, getting a good chunk of really good sleep.

 

“What if I can’t trust myself to get up?”

If you feel like you don't trust yourself to get up, which is often why you would have multiple alarms, there are a couple of things that you can do which are very effective.

Number one: move the phone or whatever you have as an alarm away from your bed so it's not at arm's reach.

Most of us use our phones as alarms. So move it away from your bed. Now you actually really have to make an effort to get out of bed to turn it off, making a higher commitment to that waking up process.

So as you hear your alarm in the morning, turn the lights on, switch the alarm off, and make that commitment not to return to bed. This is one of the things that often people don't really do, they just then go back to bed. 

Getting that commitment to waking up and starting your day, even if you didn't sleep well, is going to help the body to realign across the entire 24 hours. Your body needs to know that actually when that alarm goes off in the morning, your mindset will be that no matter what “I'm getting out.”

The other thing I always suggest to clients is to consider their lack of motivation. We are only human, after all. 

Why don't you intentionally do something that actually brings some joy into your morning routine?

When I was struggling, and I started to change this habit that I had, I started either listening to my favourite songs, or I started reading something that I was really interested in. 

But here’s the key - not in bed! 

This is part of your daytime now, so it's important to separate this new habit from the bed environment. 

This works really well because when you're more interested in doing something and you're more excited about your morning, it will give you a higher amount of motivation to actually get up. Now you are rewarding yourself positively for actually getting out of bed. We're now using that reward system that as humans, we have to reward ourselves for really doing what's right for us.

 

Waking up is a process

Something else I often find with my clients is that when they wake up in the morning, they expect their minds to be already 100% switched on.

But remember, waking up is a transition, not a switch! 

Let's say you're woken up to your alarm, and that's not quite natural. Your body is going to take some time to ease into the day, and that’s completely normal for all of us. 

You want to give yourself the chance to really ease into being awake, physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Physically waking up could be that you get out of bed (on that first alarm), turn on the lights, leave the bedroom and have a glass of water. If you feel a bit sluggish or a bit tired, go to the bathroom and wash your face with some cold water. Not icy cold, but just refreshingly cold, and that will start the physical process of waking up. 

It's going to really help you emotionally to do something nice for yourself, like read or play some music you love. Of course, you can pick something else, whatever works for you really.

To mentally wake up, don’t bombard yourself with checking your phone, social media or perhaps emails straight away. Leave your phone for a while until you are mentally awake enough and ready for it.

Because when you're not giving yourself those appropriate rewards, but instead bombarding yourself with work emails or consuming other information like social media, that's not going to help you to start your day with the right energy. 

I hope this clarifies why I really strongly recommend that you don't set multiple alarms.

If you need help with this, you are very welcome to check out the services that I offer for long term or chronic insomnia and sleep problems.

Of course, the alarm setting habit will be just one part of this entire picture of overcoming your sleep problems.

 

Have a question about sleep problems and insomnia?

Submit your questions via the #askBeatrix page here 

 

Join my community to start learning how to develop your sleep skills

Sleeping well consistently every night is less about your science ‘knowledge’ and more about developing practical sleep skills

By submitting this form, you agree to subscribe to the newsletter and give us permission to contact you via e-mail. Please be assured your personal information will not be shared with anyone else and will be processed strictly in accordance with our privacy policy - click here