Every morning, it’s the same routine: you have scheduled your alarm clock for 7 hours, but you are woken up 4 minutes earlier. A super-power? Stress in the morning? The answer is more “biological” than that. This phenomenon, far from being due to chance, actually testifies to a finely orchestrated brain functioning, which science today knows how to decipher.
A rhythmic organization that we put in place
At the heart of this mechanism is our circadian rhythm, a true biological conductor of our body. Regulated by a small structure located in the hypothalamus, the suprachiasmatic nucleus, this internal system permanently adjusts our sleep and awakening cycles. “”The regular time, is a real landmark for our biological clock“, Explains Dr. Jonathan Taieb, sleep doctor and founder of the Sleep Medical Institute. Thus, every morning, a biological cocktail starts, relying on this pace: body temperature climbs, cortisol increases to make us more alert, while melatonin, sleep hormone, decreases.”The more this organic clock is regular, the more it anchors our sleep watch rhythms, to the point of, in some cases, trigger a spontaneous alarm clock just before the alarm“Confirms our expert. This morning alarm clock would therefore be an excellent sign of a clock that works well.
A defense against stress
The phenomenon, although natural, is still concerned with science. According to a study published in Nature Neurosciencethe body anticipates awakening by also freeing corticotrophin (ACTH), a stress hormone. This hormonal rise begins about 1:30 before the usual waking up time, preparing the organization to get out of sleep. The phenomenon is more frequent in people with regular hours or having morning obligations.
This spontaneous awakening is also seen by researchers as a protective mechanism: it allows the brain to gently resume the control of awakening, rather than suddenly undergoing it. It would preserve us from daily stress. On the other hand, if the awakening systematically occurs more than an hour before the alarm, with fatigue or anxiety, this can reflect latent stress or a lack of sleep.
The error not to be made, according to our expert
Finally, if you are annoyed with these few minutes of anticipation, maybe you will be tempted (to “avenge”) to grab a few more minutes of rest, by pressing the “snooze” button of the alarm. “”It’s a mistake“, According to Dr. Taieb, especially if you wake up naturally.
“”The “Snooze” button may seem harmless, but it actually disrupts the quality of awakening. When you go back to 5 or 10 minutes, you plunge in an unfinished sleep cycle, often of poor quality, which blurs the brain’s awakening signals.“Result: instead of feeling more rested, we get up more muddy,”With a feeling of fatigue or confusion called sleep inertia“, Reveals the expert. For a more effective awakening, it is better to schedule his alarm at the actual time of raising, and stick to it.