All of us these days rely on the alarm for getting up in the morning. But on some days, we get up before the noise of the alarm hits our ear. This must have also happened with you some day or the other.
We have two alternatives on such days either we start our day or try to sleep again. But have you ever wondered which one is a better option to stop being lazy and be active all the day?
Question yourself
Did you have sufficient hours of sleep? Most of the healthy adults need seven to eight hours of sleep in a day. Adequate sleep helps to rejuvenate your body. Compromising with your sleep means prolonged tiredness throughout the day.
Allow your body clock to react
If you have not slept enough, close your eyes and allow your body to respond to it naturally. The drive is to sleep or stay asleep. Allowing the body clock to react makes it easier for your body to judge if your sleep is complete and if your body has recovered from the previous day’s tiredness.
- The first kind is sleep homeostasis, a fundamental principle which forces you to sleep if you haven’t slept enough. The intensity and duration of your sleep are increased by this process if your sleep is not complete.
- The second is your circadian rhythm; this is the internal biological clock which is responsible for why you feel tired in the evening and not during the morning or day.
Homeostatic mechanism
This regulates the intensity of your sleep. If you wake up after seven hours of sleep its body’s way of telling that you have slept enough, and now you must start your day. If you have had enough sleep, no matter how much you try you won’t be able to fall asleep again. This mechanism makes sure this happens.
If you get up early
You are depriving your body of sleep that is a majority of REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. This phase is accountable for some important functions that occur in the human body. These are as follows:
- Provides energy to brain and body.
- Supports daytime performance.
- At this point of time, the brain is active, and vivid dreams occur.
REM sleep occurs between 3 a.m. to 7 a.m. in cycles of 90-120 minutes. So, if you got up within that time and did not have seven hours of sleep then, your body will feel groggy or worse as the day continues. Studies say people who take antidepressant drugs often get little or no REM sleep and the negative consequences in the human body is evidently seen.
So all you need to take care of is that you must have at least seven hours of sleep even if you wake up. You need to shut your eyes and complete your sleep for the day so that you don’t end up feeling tired throughout the day. Make it your habit of sleeping the assigned hours; health, after all is greater than anything else.