We know now that it’s time to stop pressing the snooze button on your alarm — seriously, stop doing it — but did you know that the sound that wakes you up in the morning can have a huge impact on the start of your day? Even more so, that choosing the right sound to wake up to can actually reduce sleep inertia.
Sleep inertia is a physiological phenomenon in which you wake up with feelings of grogginess, as well as a lack of alertness. Even the astronauts at NASA reported experiencing the same too, so know you’re not alone.
A study out of RMIT University has confirmed how important your morning alarm sound really is. The analysis revealed that “a sound which is ranked as melodic by participants shows a significant relationship to reports of reductions in perceived sleep inertia.”
You have to make sure it’s melodic though. A second study carried out by the same team compared melodic with rhythmic, and the former found that there were “significantly decreased attentional lapses, false starts and a significantly improved psychomotor vigilance test” than the others.
If you’re wondering what “melodic” music is defined as, according to the team in a piece for The Conversation, it’s a tune that’s “easy to sing or hum along to.” It could be your favourite song, or a mood-boosing instrumental tune. Basically anything but the dreaded drone tone. You know the one.
Curious about the impact of emergency alarms? We’ve all bolted awake from those high-pitched fire alarms before, but it turns out that lower-pitched sounds are more effective — and that includes the sound of a human voice. The RMIT team suggests this may be because of how sound is processed in the inner ear and then in the brain — according to them, music activates certain areas of the brain that control attention.
So if you’re sick of the blaring noise that jerks you out of your well-deserved sleep, maybe try one of your favourite songs. Me? I’ll be waking up to Wildest Dreams by Taylor Swift tomorrow.
Read more stories from The Latch and subscribe to our email newsletter.