Maybe you think of it as your superpower, or maybe it feels like the most inexplicably cruel morning torture, but some people who set alarm clocks regularly — and bafflingly — wake up before it even goes off.
If you’ve set an alarm, it’s likely because you have a fixed time you need to be up, so you’re trying to maximize every second of restorative, replenishing sleep. So, waking up before your preferred time, for no reason, can feel like you’ve missed out on precious minutes of sleep. But why does it happen? And should you be concerned?
Waking up before your alarm may not be a bad thing
Surprisingly, waking up before your alarm goes off might not be a problem at all. In fact, it might mean you’ve tailored your sleep schedule perfectly. “I think this might be related to the idea that if you are awakening a few minutes before your alarm, you are probably on a very consistent schedule and have probably chosen the appropriate amount of sleep time,” says Dr. Chris Winter, neurologist, Sleep.com advisor, and author of “The Rested Child” and “The Sleep Solution.”
So, if you find yourself awakening, feeling fully rested each morning, shortly before your alarm sounds, then your sleep is likely aligned with your circadian rhythm, which affects important bodily functions like temperature, blood pressure, mental alertness, hormone levels, and, yes, sleep.
Other reasons you’re waking up
Too much time in bed
If you’re waking up way before your alarm goes off, Winter surmises you are likely spending too much time in bed. So, essentially, a consistently early natural awakening may indicate that you might want to shift your schedule up. Think of it as a hall pass to stay up a littler later at night.
Age
Another factor could be shifting sleep needs as you age. “As people get older, their circadian phase tends to shift earlier,” says Jade Wu, Ph.D., a Sleep.com sleep advisor, behavioral sleep medicine specialist, and licensed clinical psychologist. “This means the timing of their sleep starts earlier in the evening and ends earlier in the morning. Older adults also tend to need a bit less sleep than they did earlier in life. This combination of changes can mean waking up earlier than when we're younger, and doesn't necessarily mean there is something wrong. As long as a person is getting enough opportunity to sleep, and has a consistent sleep-wake timing on most nights, they can have perfectly healthy sleep, even if they wake up earlier than they used to.”
Environmental
Situational and environmental factors may play roles in early wake-ups, too, but the effects can vary among individuals. For example, for some people, time zone changes or other circadian rhythm disruptions may result in pre-alarm rising, while for others, they may result in struggling to get up.
Environmental factors like light, temperature, and sound can all affect your ability to sleep, as can the comfort of your mattress.
Light exposure can have a significant impact on circadian rhythm, so using blackout shades or sleeping with an eye mask may help prevent the sunrise from causing you to stir too early.
Living in a noisy area or being exposed to jarring sounds while you’re trying to sleep can also force you to awaken, so, for some people, sleeping with ear plugs is a good idea. And temperature is a major factor in early wake-ups, too.
According to research, the ideal sleeping temperature is lower than the average ambient room temperature of 67 degrees. For most people, turning the thermostat down anywhere from 60.5 to 65 degrees can make a big difference and can lead to longer sleep time. Of course, replacing an old mattress with a highly tested and trusted model can also transform your sleep.
But one good reason you might be waking up before your alarm sounds is that you’re actually getting an adequate amount of sleep, and your natural circadian rhythm is prompting wakefulness. However, that explanation is really only likely if you’re getting a minimum of seven hours of sleep each night, and you actually feel rested when you open your eyes.
When is waking up before your alarm goes off a problem?
There are, of course, some instances in which regular early wake-ups could indicate a more serious issue, like a form of insomnia often referred to as early morning awakening. “Early morning awakening is one form of insomnia, where someone frequently wakes up much earlier than they’d like to, often in the very early morning hours (e.g., 4 a.m.), and then is unable to fall back asleep,” explains Wu. “If someone sets an alarm with the intention of waking up at a time that seems reasonable, but frequently wakes up long before then, they may be experiencing early morning awakening insomnia.”
According to Wu, there are certain diagnostic criteria that define early morning awakening. “If the early morning awakening is happening at least several times per week, and this has been consistently going on for at least a month, and it's causing the person problems with functioning during the day, or causing significant distress, then it would be considered a clinical problem,” she says.
If early morning awakening is truly the issue, the shortage of rest may result in sleepiness during the day, which itself can cause a whole host of problems. The only way to properly diagnose and treat this form of insomnia is to work with an experienced clinician who can help rule out other possible causes and prescribe the appropriate remedy, which may include medication or lifestyle changes.
“Early morning awakening is a bit trickier to treat than sleep onset or sleep maintenance insomnia,” Wu says. “It still does involve behavior changes and cultivating a healthy relationship with sleep, and treatment can be quite effective. One element of treatment is exploring a person's expectations about what is a reasonable amount of sleep, and the right timing of sleep for their individual biology, because sometimes, early morning awakening is simply a mismatch of what the body needs and what a person believes should be the case.”
Other possible contributors to early wake-ups include conditions like sleep apnea, which causes a person’s breathing to briefly stop throughout the night. Mood disorders like depression and anxiety have also been shown to influence sleep duration and quality. According to one study, about three-quarters of depressed patients have symptoms of insomnia, and another study stated that “sleep disturbances — particularly insomnia — are highly prevalent in anxiety disorders” as well.
Tips for sleeping until your alarm rings
If you chronically wake up before your alarm rings, and you have ruled out any serious health issues, Winter offers some guidance for shifting your behavior so you can actually stay asleep until your alarm sounds. If you’re getting up well before your set alarm goes off, shift either your bedtime back, or your alarm up. “Unfortunately, we do not get to choose how much we sleep ... we can only choose the amount of time we spend in bed. The goal is for these two times to be fairly congruent,” he says.
Practicing good sleep hygiene can also help you snooze until your alarm goes off. Try some of these tips to get you started:
- Increase your daylight exposure, especially in the morning. Light helps set your circadian rhythm, and encourages better sleep at night.
- Shift your intense exercise time to the morning, if you can. This will help your body recognize that it’s time to be awake. The higher your heart rate gets during your workouts, the earlier in the day you should exercise.
- Try to remain consistent with your timing, including when you go to sleep, when you wake up, and when you eat your last meal of the day.
- If you’re having a hard time finding the right timing, try journaling your sleep. By writing down what time you go to bed, when you wake up, and when you feel most rested, you can find what routine works best for you.
- Limit your bed for only sleep and sex, which means spending your TV-watching and your overnight awake time elsewhere. The more your body associates your bed with only sleep, the better your physiological reaction will be to getting into bed.
