Why getting up without an alarm clock often feels easier, per sleep research

Dark mornings, cold air, a phone buzzing at the worst possible moment. If getting out of bed feels harder than usual right now, you are far from alone.

When the days get shorter, many people struggle with getting up even more than they already do. And the thing that is supposed to help, the alarm clock, often just makes the mood worse.

A sleep researcher now explains why the alarm is so irritating for so many of us. Her point is that waking up without one often feels easier. That suggests the beeping itself is not the whole story.

So the more useful question may be what is really behind your difficult mornings. According to the researcher, that underlying problem is the thing to tackle, rather than just blaming the alarm.

It is a good reminder as winter approaches: the issue may not be your willpower, and a louder alarm is not necessarily the answer.