Peeling yourself out from underneath the warm, cosy duvet in the morning is the worst and only way to start the day – usually.
However, there is now a way to reduce your in-built hatred of the alarm clock.
And it doesn’t involve fad diets or gadgets for your bed.
According to a new web-blinds.com ‘sleep calculator’, getting the most out of your sleepy time isn’t just about the time you close your eyes, it’s also about the time you open them:
Using a formula based on the body’s natural rhythms, the Sleep Calculator will work out the best time for you to rise or go to sleep.
This is based on the understanding of each human being having five or six 90-minute sleep cycles. This is a magical rollercoaster of snooziness where we all go through various, distinct stages of sleep.
We sleep lightly during the first stage, before moving to a very deep sleep during stage four. During this super deep sleep stage, it is very tricky to wake up and so if you are rudely awakened by your alarm at this stage, your entire body will hate you all day.
The calculator is based on sleep cycles, and isn’t simply about getting the most amount of shut-eye possible. In fact, waking up at the wrong point during a sleep cycle will make you more tired and grouchy, even if you had slept for longer.
So let’s say you need to drag yourself from your pillow nest at around 7am. According to this niftily precise calculator, you will need to make sure you are tucked up in bed at either 9.46pm or 11.16pm.
This is excellent news for anyone who wants to avoid moodiness on your commute. Nobody likes the scowling, muttering grump on the morning bus.
Jules studied English Literature with Creative Writing at Lancaster University before earning her masters in International Relations at Leiden University in The Netherlands (Hoi!). She then trained as a journalist through News Associates in Manchester. Jules has previously worked as a mental health blogger, copywriter and freelancer for various publications.