A lot of us get a taste of this on weekends or days off, but what have you personally noticed the difference to be? Maybe in terms of productivity, fatigue, mood, health, etc.
I went from waking up at 6AM every day for 6 years (US mil) to not setting an alarm in the last 6 (remote employee). The main thing I notice in the rare event where I have to set an alarm these days is this 15-30 minutes of heavy brain fog after waking up. In my experience it feels very similar to the sensation in your head shortly after you've taken a dose of melatonin, which I guess makes sense. It's hard to put into words but obviously we've all experienced it. I don't ever experience this sensation waking up naturally.
The end result is early morning grumpiness, in my case. I'm just in a foul mood for the first hour or two after being ripped from sleep via an alarm. I otherwise don't feel more productive or healthy.
I'm curious why this is; I assume it has to do with the natural sleep cycle. Do those chemicals metabolize in some way shortly before you wake up naturally vs waking up by an alarm where they're still present?
I find it to be almost universally positive. I'm a freelancer and I work practically "full time" but I don't start work until I naturally wake up unless I happen to have a meeting scheduled.
One of first things I noticed is hunger. When I wake up to an alarm I generally feel sluggish and immediately hungry. If I wake up to my alarm at 8 then I need to eat almost immediately. If I naturally wake up at 9 I might potter about and eat breakfast at 10 without thinking much about it. Alarms seem to induce stress and stress induces hunger.
I generally find that only having weekends alarm free provides just enough respite and replenishment for taking on the work week but not enough to reduce mental stress across the board. Being able to have a lay in on any given day that requires it makes a world of difference to mid week slumps.
The end result is early morning grumpiness, in my case. I'm just in a foul mood for the first hour or two after being ripped from sleep via an alarm. I otherwise don't feel more productive or healthy.
I'm curious why this is; I assume it has to do with the natural sleep cycle. Do those chemicals metabolize in some way shortly before you wake up naturally vs waking up by an alarm where they're still present?