The ONE Thing That Keeps Us Sleeping Longer

By Kacper Postawski, Sleep Science Researcher

Probably one of the biggest challenges people have is getting themselves out of the bed! This really has little to do with understanding sleep science or any of the information I teach, It has to do with your will power, and a little bit of strategy.

You've probably had many times in your life where you just couldn't get yourself out of bed. The biggest reason why we tend to stay in bed is because we "rationalize." For instance...

"I'll just sleep for 10 more minutes..." or "It's okay,... The alarm is early by 2.5 minutes anyway..." or "I'll get up when the room warms up a bit..."

Well, whatever you've rationalized not getting out of bed with, I'm sure it was very creative too, because as human beings we're really great at coming up with reasons for not doing things! The reason why rationalizing makes us stay in bed, or prevents us from achieving many other goals in our lives is because it creates negative momentum.

The law of momentum states: Once something gets into motion, it tends to stay in motion. The opposite, is also true: Once something stops, it tends to stay there!

Once you make a decision to remain in bed for "a few more minutes..." It tends to stay there, and it usually stays there for a lot longer than just a few minutes! That's why I teach people to create a momentum strategy to get out of bed as quickly as possible, and start moving - start moving around the house, go for a run, make breakfast with your partner, whatever it is you need to do to start moving and stop sleeping.

When you create positive momentum it will be too late to rationalize about sleep because you'll already be out of your bed! So here are just a couple of strategies you can use to get out of bed quickly and get more out of your day:

1) The "Distant Alarm" Method
Most people place their alarms right next to their bed within reach. This is a BIG no-no if you want to avoid staying in your bed. Why? Because most of the time you don’t even have to roll over to press the alarm. That doesn't create a lot of movement and definitely doesn't stop you from sleeping your life away.

Instead of placing your alarm clock by your bed, place it far away, like at the end of your bedroom by the corner of the wall! By doing this you'll be forced to get up out of your bed to turn it off! By the time you're out of bed it will be too late to rationalize staying longer in bed, you'll be out already.
I even once duck-taped my alarm clock to the ceiling, so every morning I had to get up and get a chair right underneath it to turn it off. Where there's a will, there's a way.

2) Rehearsing
The reason why we "rationalize" morning after morning is because we've done it so long that we do it without even thinking about it. Rationalizing becomes a learned and rehearsed behavior.

A good way to stop rationalize is to rehearse jumping out of your bed in advance. When you're ready to go to bed, simply try this exercise: lie down in your bed as if you were sleeping, close your eyes... Then pretend you've just woken up in the morning, and JUMP RIGHT OUT OF BED saying "YEAAAA!!!"

Repeat this exercise at least 5-10 times, or as much as feels good! I know it sounds stupid but it works! Your mind does what you tell it to do in a given situation. Doing this exercise will teach your mind a new behavior. In order to stop "rationalizing" you must replace the old behavior with a new behavior.

When you think about it, we're taught how to brush our teeth, we're taught how to take proper care of our bodies, and some of us are even taught proper nutrition skills, but no one is hardly ever taught how to take proper care of their inner sleep system, which is responsible for your energy and your health more than you know!

Whatever rationalizations you've come up with, allow me to suggest that you forget them and take some positive momentum in your life RIGHT NOW.

Kacper Postawski is an innovative sleep science researcher and the creator of the “Powerful Sleep - Secrets of the Inner Sleep Clock” system