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You’re not a morning person. If you were, you wouldn’t be hitting the snooze alarm so much and be late for work so many times. When you do succeed in hauling yourself upright, you wouldn’t feel quite so grumpy, and so unable to do the very things that banish grumpiness, like exercise, having a good breakfast, and looking forward to the day.
All this could be because you’re not a morning person, or it could be because your morning doesn’t simulate dawn.
At dawn, the world slowly wakes up. A dim light precedes the luminous blast of the sun. Sounds start off quiet before they become loud. When dawn is simulated, you are nudged gently out of deep sleep into not so deep sleep and, from there, into being awake. You get a chance to get your bearings before you arise, then, when you do, you’re ready for the day.
Your morning doesn’t simulate dawn because you live in a good house, protected from the elements and shielded from the sun by light blocking shades. No roosters crow in your neighborhood. You can’t even hear the birds through your well insulated walls. You may also not be getting up at dawn, which, after all, changes throughout the year. You might be setting your alarm for long after dawn part of the year, and long before the other part. You might be depending on a loud alarm clock to jolt you out of sleep, rather than being soothed out of sleep by a natural process.
There is something you can do about this. You could raise your blinds, open your windows, and let nature’s dawn wake you up, or you can buy your dawn in a box and program it to begin when you need it.
There are currently many apps and alarm clocks available to simulate dawn for you.