The Alarm Clock effects

The alarm clock is a commonly used piece of technology, and while it is necessary in one’s life, it negatively impacts the mood of a person for the rest of their day. It’s early in the morning and you have just been aroused by the obnoxious buzzing of your alarm clock. You snooze for ten, fifteen, twenty minutes before finally getting up, and lethargically you get ready for the day. You drowsily make it through a day of hard work, and come home to finish some more work. Finally, you crawl beneath the blankets on your bed and make sure your alarm clock is set for the next day, and finally, later than suggested, you sleep.

Dev Banerjee of The Sleep Clinic has found that our mood for one day is heavily influenced by the sound we wake up to. According to Banerjee, this is the reason why we feel miserable when woken up by a monotonous sound (It takes us 36 minutes to wake up, Asian News International).  Studies in Britain have also shown that after being aroused by an alarm clock, the adult snoozes for an average of 14 minutes and does not feel awake for another 36 minutes (Daily Mail).

One may be asking themselves at this point, “What is the point of having alarm clocks if it so negatively affects our days?” Although alarm clocks negatively affect one’s mood during the day, the alarm is completely necessary. If one needs an alarm clock to wake up in the morning, that person is probably sleep deprived. Dr. James B Mass stresses that the majority of teens struggle to attain necessary hours of sleep. The National Sleep Foundation also found that 63 percent of adults do not sleep efficiently.  

While it is compulsory for most to have some sort of alarm to wake them up, studies by The Daily Mail in Britain show that one will get out of bed with less ease by waking up to more natural sounds. These sounds include birds tweeting, a cockerel crowing, waves crashing, wind chimes, piano playing, orchestral symphony, and church bells. These sounds arouse one more gently, and a toll taken by The Daily Mail shows that 65 percent of people are less likely to snooze when awoken to one of these sounds.