In a telephone survey published in 1997, researchers from Iowa and Minnesota 267 adults were interviewed. Around three-quarters of those interviewed stated that they sometimes woke up before the alarm went off, and a quarter said they never had to use an alarm to wake up”, recalled the journalist Melinda Wenner-Moyer to the portal of The New York Times.
In a recent report in the New York newspaper, the phenomenon of people who wake up before the alarm clock goes off was investigated. A very common and rarely investigated aspect, which is beginning to be elucidated. “A genuine phenomenon,” he said. Russell Fosterdirector of Institute of Circadian Neuroscience and Sleep at the University of Oxford in Great Britain.
In the study carried out 25 years ago, it was decided to invite 15 of the respondents to a laboratory to observe, within a period of three days, at what moment they managed to wake up. The results of the investigation determined that patients always woke up 10 minutes before the default alarm sounds.
For researchers, the key factor is the so-called biological clock. This “clock”, whose medical name is suprachiasmatic nucleusSynchronizes and coordinates the body’s circadian rhythm for different times of the day, such as falling asleep at night and getting up in the morning.
According to Foster, one way the body manifests this work is by sensing the light levels that the cells in the eyes. In this regard, the cells communicate to the human being that the usual time to get up is getting closer. “This triggers changes, such as an increase in the hormones cortisol and adrenocorticotropin, as well as in blood pressure,” explained the British specialist.
“Our body can wake up depending on how much time has passed since we went to bed, working almost like an hourglass,” said the neurologist. Ravi Allada, a researcher at Northwestern University, and added: “If we go to bed knowing that we must get up in four hours, we can establish that something ensures that we can get up at that fixed time.”
However, not everything is resolved. Both tiredness and stress can influence the biological and body clock. Because this behavior is under study, specialists recommend always establishing a regular schedule so that the body gets used to that time of day.
Some recommendations: change sheets and pillows periodically, do not use the cell phone in bed, avoid all annoying noise or distraction in the room and wear comfortable clothes to sleep.
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