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My experience is that if I have an event that I need to be ready for and don't set an alarm my brain switches into panic "Oh shit, I overslept mode!" and I wake
by munificent 7y ago
My experience is that if I have an event that I need to be ready for and don't set an alarm my brain switches into panic "Oh shit, I overslept mode!" and I wake up way too early, repeatedly, and end up with a terrible night's sleep. In fact, I get that whenever I travel for work even though I do set an alarm because the disruption to my routine makes me afraid I failed to set it correctly.
What I find helps the most for getting restful sleep is to do this at night:
1. Set an alarm for when I want to wake up.
2. Go to bed at a time that makes my sleep duration an integer multiple of my sleep cycle. For me, that's around 3.5 hours. I'll feel more rested with 7 hours of sleep than 9 because at 9 hours I'm woken from deep sleep.
3. When I get in bed, mentally how much time between there is between now and my alarm going off. Deliberately tell myself, "My alarm is going off in X hours."
Setting an alarm cures my "I overslept!" anxiety. The other two points help align my alarm to my sleep cycle so I'm in shallow sleep when it goes off.