Here’s How Your Alarm is Affecting Your Morning Productivity

It’s safe to say that no one enjoys the sound of their alarm. Whether you put a song you love or birds chirping, with time, it will eventually become torturous to hear.

For years, I have used the same alarm sound every morning. My alarm is the classic beep, beep, beep. You know the one I’m talking about, the sound that causes your fight or flight response to kick in first thing in the morning.

I never really gave my choice of alarm much thought. I simply wanted something to wake me up, and it did just that. It wasn’t until mid-last year that I started to question the first sound that enters my ears each morning. I kept on waking up tired and, sometimes, plainly confused.

So, I decided to try something new. I switched the beeps to bird chirps. To say the least, I have not gone back. I found myself waking up with a greater sense of peace and tranquility in the morning instead of fear.

This simple change truly improved the quality and productivity of my morning and I knew there had to be a scientific explanation behind my experience. Here’s what I found.

All About Morning Grogginess

Before going into how your alarm is affecting your morning, it is essential to understand the core problem you might be facing. We’ve all had mornings where we felt disoriented and tired. Some of us might even wake up feeling groggy every day. But for some reason, not many people question this experience.

Sleep inertia is this grogginess that we face upon waking up. It undermines our ability to remember, think, and even react. In other words, the more intense your sleep inertia, the more intense is your feeling of grogginess, confusion, and clumsiness in the morning.

For the majority, sleep inertia usually lasts about 30 minutes after awakening. For others, this potentially dangerous reduction in human alertness could last as long as 2 to 4 hours.

This sleep inertia might be the reason it takes you hours to get out of bed. It might be delaying your productivity much more than you think. If your sleep inertia lasts 30 minutes every day, you’d be losing 15 hours of possible productivity a month.

Sleep inertia is a big concern to those who must be able to function well shortly after awakening. These people include emergency responders, airline pilots, and NASA astronauts. Their ability to be rapidly alert is critical to their performance.

What Does Your Alarm Have to Do With This Grogginess?

Waking up quickly and being alert is vital to those who aim for productivity in the morning. Even if your aim isn’t to be productive and alert in the mornings, who wants to feel groggy?

According to a study conducted by Stuart McFarlane, a doctoral researcher at RMIT University, it was revealed that your choice in alarm tone actually does matter. Although no significant associations were found between actual sleep inertia and the sound of the alarm, there was a significant association between the type of alarm tone and a person’s perceived sleep inertia.

It was shown that people reported an easier time becoming fully alert and awaking when their alarm sound was “melodic.”

“You would assume that a startling ‘beep beep beep’ alarm would improve alertness, but our data revealed that melodic alarms may be the key element. This was unexpected.” — Stuart McFarlane

So it is true, the monotonous “beep beep beep” alarm we all know and hate might be raising our anxiety and promoting confusion.

By now, you might be wondering what McFarlane meant by a melodic sound. As he explained, a tone perceived as melodic has at least two notes, time, and the sequence in which the notes sound in relation to each other. An example of a melodic alarm tone is the introduction to Madonna’s song “Borderline” or Beach Boys' “Good Vibrations.”

This melodic sound is in contrast to the alarm sounds that repeat a single note, like a traditional alarm clock.

What More Can You Do to Wake Up Alert for Productivity?

Finding small ways that improve productivity is one of my favorite things to discover. Changing my alarm took less than a minute and continues to improve the quality of my mornings.

“No matter how small the task, take the first step now!” — Tim Ferriss

Changing one thing won’t magically make you a productivity machine. It’s the sum of your actions that leads you to your goal. It’s not just one small thing. In reality, it's several small things. These are some small ways I’ve found to help with my morning productivity.

1. Drink a glass of water AS you’re waking up: Emphases on the as you’re waking up. Before even fully open your eyes, drink a glass of water that is left on your bedside from the night before. Besides its obvious hydration aspect, drinking a glass of water first then in the morning initiates your productivity process. I think of it like this: by drinking a cup of water before even getting out of bed, I have already done something great for myself. That’s one tiny checkmark I can put on my to-do list — yes, I put drink water on my to-do list and so should you. With one thing out of the way before I have even yet opened my eyes, I’m in the right productivity mindset to start the day.

2. Have a conversation with yourself: In the mirror, stare right into your eyes and say good morning with the biggest smile there is. Talk to your reflection — as you would talk to any other human being — and explain your goals and expectations for the day. Explain in detail how good and productive today will be for you. This 2-minute exercise has more benefits than just appearing a little crazy. It orients your mind in the direction of positivity and productivity.

3. Open those shades: Why do so many people like living like vampires? I believe that the shades should only be down when I’m sleeping or if I’m trying to work and the sun is shining in my eyes. Other than that, let some light come in. Let the sun warm your room. As you open your curtains, you’re forced to look outside. You look at the clouds, the buildings, the trees, the birds, the rain, the sun, all of it! There's something about the outside world — especially at a time where we are locked inside — that awakens the person from their core. This small act reminds you that there's constant movement. So, well, now it’s your time to get moving and start your day!