It's no secret that sleeping schedule influences your personality and lifestyle to an enormous extent. In today's fast paced world, having a regulated sleep schedule may seem like an unachievable goal. People look for many ways to wake up such as using sun lamps or setting multiple alarms as early as possible.
What if there was a way to sink your circadian rhythm with the natural sun cycle and harness the benefits of morning sunlight for productivity. Spoiler: the answer is automating your blinds (and it's easier than it looks!)
But before we get into why automating your blinds is the best solution, let’s explore some common ways people try to wake up and why they aren’t so good for you.
1. Why is waking up to an alarm bad for you?
Although alarms are the most common instrument for waking up, they may be causing sleep deficiency. The abrupt sound of an alarm jolts us awake, often in the middle of a rem cycle, and stirs anxiety in us that lasts the whole day. It can also disrupt our natural sleep cycle which can leave us feeling groggy and cranky.
2. Why sleeping with the window shades makes you feel tired.
Artificial Lights
Not only does leaving your blinds open at night cause a privacy concern, but streetlights, traffic and artificial light from outside can suppress the production of melatonin, the hormone responsible for regulating sleep, making it harder for you to fall asleep and stay asleep. So, although the morning sun wakes you up, the lights at night can leave you feeling tired and groggy anyway! Talk about a letdown.
Early sunrise
Summer features long days and consequently earlier sunrises. At times the sun can rise at hours that your body needs precious sleep like 5am. This shift in your wake-up time may lead to sleep deprivation and fatigue throughout the day. Over time, the disruption can affect the timing of your other biological processes such as hormone secretion and temperature regulation.
3. Do simulated sun lamps really work?
Some people turn to sun lamps to wake them up gently at the time they prefer without relying on natural light. While these devices can mimic the sunlight from outside, they often fall short since they can’t replicate the colors, and overall light spectrum of natural sunlight. This means a sunlamp will not be as effective as natural sunlight at waking you up (you might even sleep through it!).
So... What's the solution?
How can you balance the need to sleep in the dark with the desire to wake up with the sun without being awakened too early by its light?
The answer is: automated blinds – you can set schedules to the innovative solution that aligns your waking hours with the gentle glow of dawn, optimizing your sleep-wake cycle for peak performance. Nova by Leafi is a tool-free solution that allows you to turn your existing blinds smart. In a few minutes you can have fully customizable schedules via the app.
Benefits of Waking Up to the Sun
1. Productivity
“Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”
Waking up with the sun gives you a couple of extra hours to work on your profession or a hobby. The human brain is very productive during the first couple of hours after a sound sleep. You can utilize this for studies, workouts, or other creative tasks. By accomplishing your daily errands in these hours, you save time later in the evening to relax or spend time with your family.
Although it is not a rule that every successful person wakes up early, it helps a lot to build a productive morning routine, which has a lot to do with your professional and personal well-being.
2.Synchronization with Nature
Waking up in accord with nature is suggested in ancient texts and modern scientific research. According to classical yoga theory, waking up with the onset of sunlight synchronizes the body’s internal biological clock, increases physical immunity and mental balance, and lifts a person spiritually.
3.More Awake
Furthermore, modern studies have pointed out that the secretion of cortisol hormone is at a peak during the morning hours. Waking up early enhances body stimulation and productivity.
4.Psychological Benefits
Apart from physical benefits, waking up early and exposing the body with sunlight also boosts the psychological morale of a person. You can wake up to sunshine without getting out of bed by using automated smart blinds. Moreover, according to some neuroscience studies, yellow and reddish hues of sunlight stimulate positive mental energy in the brain. Therefore, waking up early will give you mental positivity to help maximize productivity.
5.Easy to use and customizable.
With Nova by Leafi you can easily turn your existing blinds smart! This means you won’t need to hire a contractor or read through pages of instructions to get set up. In a few minutes you can control your blinds via smart speaker, an easy-to-use mobile app. The app has a section for schedules, so you can set timers for your blinds to open and close at your preference. There is even a feature to time the blinds to open or close at sunset and sunrise.
Conclusion
Our modern way of life forces many people to deal with problems arising because of sleep deprivation. Sleeping is a vital process for the survival and well-being of humans. With automated blinds you can get all the benefits of waking up with the sun without the downsides of having to leave your blinds open all night (risking privacy breaches or poor sleep from streetlamps).
If getting up early is a challenge for you alarm clocks may do the job. Unfortunately, the sudden beeping of alarms results in a sudden shock amidst deep sleep, causing anxiety for the rest of the day and grogginess.
Therefore, you must adapt subtle and natural ways such as exposing yourselves to sunlight in the morning to get out of bed smoothly. Smart Blinds are an easy and accessible way to do this.