Can Your Alarm Tone Affect How Awake You Feel in the Morning?
With the expectation of being productive in a 24-hour society, people may see morning grogginess as another small inconvenience; many fail to realize that this dreary feeling after getting out of bed can be extremely dangerous. Sleep inertia is the physiological state of sleepiness and inattentiveness that people feel immediately after waking up. While the effects of sleep inertia seem to dwindle after a cup of coffee or some time out of bed, symptoms of sleep inertia can actually last hours later. Thus, people who have jobs that require them to commute or be immediately active can put themselves in severe danger when working with sleep inertia. Looking to help people avoid fatigue-based accidents, researchers at Australia’s Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University studied how different alarm sounds may be used to combat this high-stakes drowsiness.
In a 2020 study, RMIT University researchers surveyed 50 adults and documented their responses about the type of alarms they set and the effect of the alarm on sleep inertia experiences. Researchers noted the types of alarms used (e.g. alarm tone, musical song, instrumental music, natural sounds, and radio), how often the alarms were used, descriptions of the alarm tempo and pitch, and how pleasant each alarm sounded to its user.
In a 2020 study, RMIT University researchers surveyed 50 adults and documented their responses about the type of alarms they set and the effect of the alarm on sleep inertia experiences. Researchers noted the types of alarms used (e.g. alarm tone, musical song, instrumental music, natural sounds, and radio), how often the alarms were used, descriptions of the alarm tempo and pitch, and how pleasant each alarm sounded to its user.
The effects of sleep inertia, which include mood swings, muscle fatigue, disorientation, and confusion, can last as long as 4 hours.
Image Source: Laura Chouette
Results showed that subjects who described their waking sounds as “melodic” reported their perceived sleep inertia intensity to be insignificant or “not at all." Meanwhile, participants who described their waking sounds as “neither melodic nor unmelodic” experienced the effects of sleep inertia “often.” These results suggested that melodic music may be associated with people feeling more awake and attentive. The researchers hypothesized that the neutral-sounding alarms may have failed to gain their subjects’ attention, causing the subjects to be less stimulated and therefore less awake throughout their day. Other papers have upheld these findings by concluding that “excitative popular music” negates sleep inertia. According to these studies, subjects with a higher preference for their musical alarms experienced greater daytime attentiveness.
However, not all of the data in the study from RMIT University produced conclusive results. Researchers found no significant relationship between the types of alarms or the musical elements within the alarm tone and participants’ perceived sleep inertia intensity. Uncertainty in these aspects of the study may have resulted from the fact that participants’ experiments were self-reported and that the participants may have had varying levels of musical aptitude to properly describe their alarm tones. Thus, more research is needed to determine whether specific elements of the alarm’s musical composition play a role in reversing the effects of sleep inertia.
While the current discussed study finds a significant relationship between how pleasant the alarm sounds and feeling more alert in the morning, experts from Sleepstation, a UK National Health Service-endorsed sleep improvement program, have identified alternative methods to combat sleep inertia, especially for people in performance-critical occupations. The first method they recommend is training oneself to wake up without an alarm, a task that is both difficult to regularly achieve. The second method is to use a light-based alarm clock, which can manipulate the user’s hormonal responses to daylight by simulating a rising sun. These recommendations may not be effective for everyone, so while researchers are studying the manipulation of alarm tones on sleep inertia, the most definitive method to maximize alertness is still regularly getting a full night’s sleep.
However, not all of the data in the study from RMIT University produced conclusive results. Researchers found no significant relationship between the types of alarms or the musical elements within the alarm tone and participants’ perceived sleep inertia intensity. Uncertainty in these aspects of the study may have resulted from the fact that participants’ experiments were self-reported and that the participants may have had varying levels of musical aptitude to properly describe their alarm tones. Thus, more research is needed to determine whether specific elements of the alarm’s musical composition play a role in reversing the effects of sleep inertia.
While the current discussed study finds a significant relationship between how pleasant the alarm sounds and feeling more alert in the morning, experts from Sleepstation, a UK National Health Service-endorsed sleep improvement program, have identified alternative methods to combat sleep inertia, especially for people in performance-critical occupations. The first method they recommend is training oneself to wake up without an alarm, a task that is both difficult to regularly achieve. The second method is to use a light-based alarm clock, which can manipulate the user’s hormonal responses to daylight by simulating a rising sun. These recommendations may not be effective for everyone, so while researchers are studying the manipulation of alarm tones on sleep inertia, the most definitive method to maximize alertness is still regularly getting a full night’s sleep.
Image Source: DANNY G
RELATED ARTICLES
|
Vertical Divider
|
Vertical Divider
|
Vertical Divider
|
