4 tips that really work to avoid feeling tired in the morning

June 6, 2023 0 Comments

Your sleep chronotype determines your ideal sleep-wake window. As circadian rhythm researcher Sophia Axelrod, Ph.D. As he explained to me, those with a chronotype longer than 24 hours naturally want to stay up later and sleep later, while those with a shorter chronotype are happy to wake up early and go to bed early.

I definitely fall somewhere on the longer chronotype side. However, my work schedule is not conducive to staying up late, so I had to make some compromises. After tracking my sleep with the Oura ring, I found that I have the best sleep quality (most time spent in REM and deep sleep) when I go to bed at 11:30pm and get up at 8:00am. This doesn’t happen to be the perfect window for everyone, but for me it’s the sweet spot between my body’s natural schedule and my work schedule. At night, when I can sleep during these hours, I feel much better in the morning.

If you don’t use a sleep tracker, you can also measure your chronotype the old-fashioned way. The next time you have a few days where you don’t have to wake up at a specific time, see what time your body naturally gets tired and wakes up when you don’t set an alarm. (Hiking is also a great way to discover your natural rhythm.)

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