By Anna Medaris Miller for U.S. News
Did you hit the snooze this morning? Reach for the coffee? Skip breakfast? If this were “How to Wake Up 101,” you’d fail.
But don’t let that keep you up at night. Sleep patterns — and, on the flip side, waking up habits — are “highly trainable, for good or for bad,” says Michael Grandner, a psychiatry instructor at the University of Pennsylvania who studies sleep, its health effects and the factors that influence how we do it.
Here’s how to conquer seven common mistakes — and wake up like a pro:
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Mistake #7: You don’t seek help.
If you’re sleeping long, deep hours, and still frequently waking up tired, “that’s a clue that something is happening during your sleep that is keeping it shallow,” Grandner says. The most common culprits are chronic pain — “you know it if you have it,” he says — and sleep apnea, a breathing disorder that affects more than 18 million Americans, according to the National Sleep Foundation.
Scheduling an appointment with a sleep specialist can help diagnose and treat such conditions – and help you wake up feeling alive. But taking that first step is key. “A lot of people who have daytime sleepiness have sleep-related breathing disorders and have no idea,” Grandner says.
More from U.S. News:
8 Ways to Relax — Now
How to Break 7 Unhealthy Habits
8 Steps to Fall Asleep Fast
