With the same giddy anticipation I always have when I receive a new book. Online soon after my friend mentioned it to me. Theīook was called, simply, Passage Meditation, and I ordered it Of meditation suggested I read a book by someone named Eknath Easwaran. Those who woke up to a melodic song had lower levels of daytime grogginess than those who chose a beeping sound, according to the study findings.One day, a friend in the group who knew I was seeking a method The participants filled out a questionnaire that gauged how tired they are after waking up. Specifically, researchers compared 'unmelodic' alarms, or ones that beep, to 'melodic' ones, such as pop songs. Most participants reported using their phone for an alarm clock, and they chose a variety of sounds to wake up, including alarm tones, musical songs and nature sounds. For example, drinking caffeine, being exposed to light before waking up and having a morning routine can all help.įor the study, researchers from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology surveyed 50 people, ages 18 to 60 about their sleep habits and the sounds that they like to wake up to. 'If we can reduce these symptoms by altering the alarm sounds we use to more melodic and tuneful varieties, we may at least head towards safer conditions for everyone,' he says.īeyond curating your alarm clock noise, there are a few habits that have been shown to help reduce sleep inertia. Sleep inertia typically lasts for up to 30 minutes after waking and has been shown to extend for two to four hours, McFarlane says. But regardless of your occupation, daytime grogginess can influence your performance. Indeed, the study authors noted that these findings could have important implications for people in many professions - from NASA astronauts to on-call doctors - who need to wake up and be alert fast. 'If we can continue to improve our understanding of the connection between sounds and waking state, there could be potential for applications in many fields, particularly with recent advancements in sleep technology and artificial intelligence,' Dyer said in the release. Other factors, including people's personal music tastes, could also influence how effective an alarm song is. 'A tune that I am trying currently is 'Borderline' by Madonna,' McFarlane says. In the study, the authors flagged two songs that they believe would be good wake-up tunes: 'Good Vibrations' by The Beach Boys and 'Close to Me' by The Cure. More research needs to be done to determine what types of songs would be best for ' sleep inertia,' the transition from sleep to awake, but McFarlane suggests incorporating tuneful sounds othat you can hum or sing along to.

On the other hand, a startling alarm that beeps seems to 'confuse our brain activity when waking,' Adrian Dyer, co-author, said in a release.

'Melody may 'warm our brains up' more effectively for the day's activity rather than being shocked into action.' 'Imagine a scenario where an athlete will perform better when they warm up,' he says. The reason? Researchers hypothesize that the combination of tones that rise and fall in a song's melody 'promote arousal within our system, which in turn may lead to increased alertness,' Stuart McFarlane, lead study author, tells CNBC Make It in an email. Songs with melodies seem to have an energizing effect, 'increasing arousal, cognition and attention,' which helps you feel less groggy as you wake up, researchers from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology wrote.

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