Loose the snooze button!

Do you hit the "snooze" button every morning when your alarm rings or do you wake immediately? Mind that zippy saying, "You snooze, you loose". There's science behind it.

WHY is it important to NOT hit the snooze button...? In short, if you want your day to flow with grace, high energy and less resistance or brain inertia...Never hit the "snooze" button again...

You set your alarm daily but how do you set your brain daily..?

The science of sleep tells us that Circadian Rhythms govern our sleep patterns. A good night's sleep is worth more than you might ever know. Forgive me for the bluntness but the the pseudo-savvy ideology of various trendy thought-leaders and professionals, "work harder and longer to achieve more" on droplets of sleep, is a b*llsh*t misconception. It is actually a recipe for burn-out. But why not espouse the ideology of working smarter versus harder, longer? Here's why...

When you cut-out or cut-into vital sleep patterning, known as REM, we truncate the body's natural ability to produce and deliver essential hormones. "Cortisol reduces inflammation throughout the body, primes the immune system to react to pathogens and promotes the production of other hormones such as HGH human growth hormone. In addition, cortisol promotes a healthy metabolism and mental alertness. While cortisol can have detrimental effects in the high amounts associated with chronic stress, it is an important hormone for daily function in normal amounts." (1)

"Testosterone also is crucial to good health. While it is widely considered a male hormone, it is necessary for both males and females. Testosterone supports a healthy hormonal structure; deficiencies of this androgen create diverse symptoms such as fatigue, weight gain and lowered sex drive. Testosterone is also important to the production of other sex hormones, such as estrogen." (2)

The correlation with "snoozing" and your hormone production is essential. Our sleep cycles consist of multiple cycles of approx. 75 to 90 minutes. When your alarm clock screams, you are most likely engaged at the end of REM sleep, the final phase of a sleep cycle. Hitting "snooze" and dozing-off for another 5-15++ minutes disrupts the natural cycle which puts your brain back into a new sleep cycle but before completing it with precious REM sleep you and your brain are interrupted again, thus, starving you, your body and brain of vital hormone production. Leaving you often with a sense of brain inertia throughout the good part of the day. Less a cold-shower for about five minutes, it is difficult to re-boot your brain from an interrupted REM sleep cycle.

Sleep and the Endocrine System

In fact, it scientifically takes approx. (4) hours for your brain to over-come and re-cover from this brain inertia from just a few extra minutes of "snoozing". Mostly because the vital hormone levels mentioned dissipate quickly. Thus, "snoozers" are prone to suffer from lowered mental function and greet the morning with low cortisol and testosterone. If this this occurs regularly, it can contribute to obesity, hypertension and a variety of other health issues.

As we go through multiple sleep cycles at night, alternating between non-REM and REM sleep. The non-REM sleep, has the brain in slower wave patterns and performs maintenance activities. In REM sleep, the brain kicks into gear with an increased brain wave function, fueled by the these vital hormones. As dawn nears, REM cycles become longer. People naturally awaken according to their innate circadian rhythm and the hormones, testosterone and cortisol, are both high from these extended REM cycles which supports wakefulness, alertness and optimum cognitive function.

So no more "snoozing"...Wake-up well less your mobile in your brain (ie. your eyes are your windows to your brain) and allow that beautiful Alpha brainwave state of the early morning to maximize and optimize you, your brain and your day by re-shaping your habits.

Aristotle reminds that "good character can be built through conscious virtues, values and good habits."

Re-set your brain to high-rez and re-shape your day by loosing the "snooze" button, forever! I suggest you try it for a day, a week and/or ++ Have a good one and top of the day to you and yours!