How to get up in the morning without snoozing
The alarm rings, you hit snooze, then again, and again. In the end you get up late and more tired than if you'd got up the first time. It happens to almost everyone, and it doesn't mean you're lazy.
The problem is that when the alarm rings your brain is still half asleep, and every decision in that moment is hard. So the trick is to decide everything in advance, the night before, and leave the morning as few decisions as possible.
1. The alarm far from the bed
Put the phone or alarm clock on the other side of the room. To turn it off you have to get up, and once you're standing it's much easier not to go back to bed.
2. Decide what you do right after getting up
Like any habit, it helps to decide in advance: "When the alarm rings, I ___". For example:
- drink a glass of water you left next to the alarm the night before
- do 10 push-ups
- open the blinds or turn on the light
A small, clear action helps your body understand the day has started.
3. Light right away
Bright light in the morning helps your body wake up. Open the blinds, step outside for a few minutes, or at least turn on the light in the room.
4. Get up at the same time every day
When you get up at a different time every day, your body doesn't know when to wake. A fixed wake-up time, even on weekends with a small difference, makes mornings easier over time.
5. Turn off snooze in the settings
On iPhone, when you edit the alarm in the Clock app, you can turn off "Snooze". That way there's no tempting button in the morning.
6. Get enough sleep
If you need three snoozes every morning, you may simply be short on sleep. Check how many hours you actually slept, and if needed go to bed a little earlier. We also have a guide to going to sleep earlier. And if the tiredness doesn't go away after a few weeks of good sleep, it's worth checking with your doctor.
7. Count mornings, not perfection
There will be snooze mornings. That's fine. What matters is coming back the next day. Count the mornings you got up on the first ring: a number that goes up gives you a reason to keep going.