PixabayThe early bird catches the worm – or so we’re always told.
But if you’ve got to get up at 7am and struggle to wake up in the mornings, it’s unlikely you’ll be catching anything if you’ve still got sleep in your eyes.
However, there is an optimum time to go to sleep when you have an ungodly early start, and the Sleep Calculator can figure it all out for you.
PixabayYou might think getting to bed early will help you feel refreshed come the dawn chorus when you have to wake up.
But it’s a little more complicated than that, apparently.
According to the Sleep Calculator, it’s not the amount of Z’s but the quality of the sleep you get each night that dictates just how lethargic and groggy you feel the next day.
FlickrThe Sleep Calculator website reads:
Getting a good night’s sleep is about more than simply going to bed early – it’s about waking up at the right time too. 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.
A good night’s sleep is all down to your sleep cycle. The calculator works on the principle that everyone sleeps in about five or six cycles which last roughly 90 minutes.
So if you need to wake up at 7am, you need to go to bed at either 9.46pm or 11.16pm. Or if you’re a night owl, try going to sleep at 12.46am and 2.16am.
To get up at 6am, and feel fresh, your bedtime should be 8.46pm, 10.16pm, 11.46pm or 1.16am.
The sleep calculator also factors in the 14 minutes on average, it takes people to naturally fall asleep.
FlickrYou can work out the optimum time you should be getting into bed around the clock, for more precise wake up calls too.
Hopefully this will help you get out of bed on the right side every morning, without feeling like you haven’t had a decent sleep since the day you were born.
Happy bedtime, folks.
A former emo kid who talks too much about 8Chan meme culture, the Kardashian Klan, and how her smartphone is probably killing her. Francesca is a Cardiff University Journalism Masters grad who has done words for BBC, ELLE, The Debrief, DAZED, an art magazine you’ve never heard of and a feminist zine which never went to print.