Waking up heavy sleepers can be a challenging task. While the most effective way to wake them up is to splash a little cold water on them, there are gentler methods you can use.
In this article, we’ll discuss how to wake up a heavy sleeper from a deep sleep. You can also use these methods for yourself if you’re a deep sleeper.
Use An Alarm Clock
Using alarm clocks is one of the most common ways that people use to wake up early. However, a normal alarm fails to work for deep sleepers as they hit snooze without even realizing it, just to get more sleep.
Therefore, you want to use a special alarm instead of a normal one. The best alarm clocks with special features include bed shakers and wake-up light alarms.
Bed shakers come with a powerful vibrating motor and they shake the bed to wake up a deep sleeper. Whereas a wake-up light alarm gets brighter gradually over the course of half an hour or so to simulate a sunrise.
If you don’t have any of these alarms, you can use a normal one and place it away from a heavy sleeper. It’ll keep making noise until the person gets up from the bed and turns it off.
According to the Valley Sleep Center, there is a 49 percent chance that an alarm clock will wake a person up from non-REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep and a 45 percent chance from REM sleep.
Read also: How to stop sleeping through alarms
Use Natural Light
Melatonin is a natural hormone that your body produces and it helps you fall asleep. According to the National Library of Medicine, natural light inhibits the melatonin synthesis in your body. When the melatonin levels drop, the person feels less sleepy.
In addition, the National Library of Medicine also says that exposure to natural light also increases your serotonin levels. The synthesis of this hormone makes a person more alert. It’s one of the best methods to help a heavy sleeper wake up.
In addition, natural light can also help deep sleepers by improving their natural sleep cycle (falling asleep and waking up early).
All you need to do is to open curtains in the morning to allow natural light to enter the room.
Install Wake-Up Lights
Wake-up lights work similarly to natural lights. They will come in handy if the room, where the heavy sleeper sleeps, doesn’t receive direct sunlight in the morning. There are also smart wake-up lights available in the morning that can be programmed.
You can program them to turn on automatically at a specific time in the morning. They also offer multiple brightness levels and can get brightened gradually to slowly bring a heavy sleeper out of sleep.
Use Scents
If a sound sleeper of your house loves coffee, consider using the smell of coffee beans to wake them up. It’ll remind them of a tasty and hot cup of coffee that they love to drink. Additionally, using this method won’t annoy them as well.
You can also use jasmine, peppermint, and citrus scents for the same purpose. These scents increase beta waves in the human brain and they can wake a deep sleeper up.
Play Music
According to the Sleep and Biological Rhythms research, music can reduce sleepiness as well as sleep inertia. The research also shows that sleepiness is further reduced in people after hearing the music they like.
So, consider playing the music that the heavy sleeper of your house likes. This method will come in handy if a person doesn’t like to be woken up with harsh alarm sounds or bright sunlight.
Perform Mental Stimulation
Performing mental stimulation is yet another effective way to wake up a sound sleeper without annoying them. You’ll want to perform an activity that gets their attention and help them wake up. For example, you can turn on the television and put on the morning news or any other program they like.
Use a Smartphone
Most people use smartphones nowadays and you can use this device in multiple ways to wake a heavy sleeper. Keep in mind that our brains are trained to respond to our smartphone whenever it rings.
So, a deep sleeper will be more likely to pay attention to the ringing smartphone. You can use a smartphone to set alarms and program countless sounds and songs to help a heavy sleeper wake up, you can also link this and wear your smartwatch to bed to add in a vibration on your wrist.
Ask them to Stick to a Sleep Schedule
One of the biggest reasons why heavy sleepers don’t wake up easily is that they don’t go to bed early. Not only does it make it difficult for them to wake up but it can also affect their sleep quality.
Therefore, you should ask them to establish and follow a proper sleep schedule. It’s one of the best ways to wake up on time consistently. According to a National Library of Medicine study, changing your sleep cycle from early bird to night owl frequently can result in poor lifestyle behaviors.
Following a specific sleep and wake routine will help a person sleep early as well as wake up early. You can also ask them to add exercise to their morning routine as it’ll make them more active and improve their sleep cycle.
Read also: Why does time go by so fast when you sleep?
FAQs
What Makes a Person a Heavy Sleeper?
Most deep sleepers have frequent bursts of sleep spindles due to lifestyle choices and genetics. Experts are still working to understand why the frequency of this activity varies from person to person. So, the exact reason behind being a heavy sleeper is still unknown.
Can You Fix Being a Heavy Sleeper?
Currently, the best you can do is to follow a proper sleep schedule as it can help you with waking up easily. That’s because the exact reason that makes a person a heavy sleeper is still unknown.
Final Words
Waking up a heavy sleeper can be a challenging task. Sometimes, it’s tempting to wake them up using an annoying method like throwing water on them.
However, there are some gentler and better ways that you can use. We hope this guide will help you understand the best ways to wake up a deep sleeper gently and safely.