Healthy Living

How we are woken up in the morning has a major impact on our productivity. According to a study at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT). "You would think that a loud beep would increase alertness, but that is not the case," said PhD researcher Stuart McFarlane.

The research

McFarlane asked 50 test subjects to complete a questionnaire to find out, on the one hand, which alarm clock they use and, on the other hand, to discover how fit they feel when they get up. He also tested the sleepiness, slowness and confusion, or in a word, the sleep inertia of the participants himself in the morning. That way he could find out if they could estimate their productivity properly and which alarm clock achieved the best results.

see also article: Do the hours of sleep before midnight count double?

Melody vs monotonous

In the research report, McFarlane wrote that, although an alarm sound does not actually have an effect on sleep inertia, many participants still felt remarkably more alert than others. Melodic alarms came out best and hard, monotonous beeps scored the worst. Anyone who is woken up with such an alarm can sometimes take up to four hours to maintain productivity.

Increased alertness

Especially people who have to perform optimally immediately after getting up, benefit from these study results. Firefighters and pilots, for example, but also in other professions alertness can prevent accidents at work. Further research into the relationship between sounds and our mental state may even improve overall well-being in the future, especially now that scientists are making huge leaps with regard to sleep technology and artificial intelligence.

Sources