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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura, Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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Speaker 1: Today's tip is about what to do if you wake

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Speaker 1: before your alarm. This can be a great thing, and

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Speaker 1: it's nice to treat it like the found time that

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Speaker 1: it is. Many of us wake most days to an

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Speaker 1: alarm clock of one sort or another. We have to

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Speaker 1: get up for work or to get kids off to school.

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Speaker 1: Even on weekends, there might be activities or worship services

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Speaker 1: to attend. We don't want to sleep through these things,

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Speaker 1: or at least we decide it would be better if

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Speaker 1: we didn't sleep through these things, so we set an alarm.

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Speaker 1: But if you have good sleep habits, you might not

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Speaker 1: wind up using the alarm. The goal is to get

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Speaker 1: enough sleep each night that you are not constantly working

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Speaker 1: to erase a debt. This means getting to bed at

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Speaker 1: a time each night that allows for your daily sleep

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Speaker 1: requirement before you need to wake up. So, for instance,

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Speaker 1: if you need seven and a half hours of sleep

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Speaker 1: and you need to wake up at six thirty am

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Speaker 1: on weekday mornings, then you need to be sleeping by

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Speaker 1: eleven pm the night before. That probably means turning out

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Speaker 1: the lights somewhere between ten thirty and eleven to make

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Speaker 1: that happen. If you do that consistently, an interesting thing

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Speaker 1: can start to occur. Some nights, you will likely fall asleep.

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Speaker 1: But let's say ten forty five. If you need seven

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Speaker 1: and a half hours of sleep and you are getting

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Speaker 1: that amount every single night, you will likely start drifting

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Speaker 1: a week closer to six fifteen. On those mornings, you

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Speaker 1: will be up before your alarm. Now, obviously there are

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Speaker 1: reasons people wake before their alarms that are not so great.

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Speaker 1: Trust me, my babies have rendered alarms unnecessary for a

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Speaker 1: great many years of my life. Sometimes neighbors or other

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Speaker 1: housemates make noise, or we can be woken by light

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Speaker 1: or traffic. But when you do start drifting up on

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Speaker 1: your own naturally, you can do a few things. First,

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Speaker 1: congratulate yourself. Waking up on your own before you need

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Speaker 1: to is a sign of really good sleep habits. It

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Speaker 1: might also be useful information. I used to think I

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Speaker 1: needed eight hours of sleep at night, but thanks to

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Speaker 1: time tracking, I know this isn't true. The answer is

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Speaker 1: seven point four hours. That explains why when I get

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Speaker 1: into bed at eleven p m. On weekends, I will

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Speaker 1: often wake at six. You might discover something similar as

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Speaker 1: many adults need seven to eight hours, which means most

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Speaker 1: of us don't actually need eight, even if that might

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Speaker 1: be good to shoot for as a start. And second,

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Speaker 1: give some thought to this before your alarm time. Like

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Speaker 1: any unexpected time, it can be easy to spend mindlessly,

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Speaker 1: and that's okay. Many of us do the same scrolling

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Speaker 1: that we would have done the night before, only now

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Speaker 1: we're doing it well rested instead of doing it to

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Speaker 1: put off sleep. It's not great, but at least there's

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Speaker 1: no collateral damage. But you might try doing a few

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Speaker 1: other things. First, lie there and enjoy your cozy bed.

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Speaker 1: A groggy morning state can be a wonderful mix between

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Speaker 1: dreamland and real life. We don't necessarily experience that state much,

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Speaker 1: but it can bring on some good ideas. You might

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Speaker 1: fall back asleep, but that's okay. You've got that alarm

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Speaker 1: that's still set. If it's getting light out, you might

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Speaker 1: get up and watch the sunrise. You might quietly enjoy

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Speaker 1: a few minutes before your household is up, get a

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Speaker 1: cup of coffee, read a book, do some creative or

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Speaker 1: planning work. It might help to have a book right

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Speaker 1: by your bedstand, or to read an e book that's

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Speaker 1: on your phone so you don't have to get up

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Speaker 1: and go find it. If it works, you could quickly

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Speaker 1: get dressed and go outside for a morning walk. You'll

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Speaker 1: have time for the shower and such later. Remember, you

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Speaker 1: are up before your alarm, so this can be a

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Speaker 1: bonus time for experiencing the new day. Honestly, anything that

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Speaker 1: makes the morning feel like it's already special is great.

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Speaker 1: But it does help to think about this because as

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Speaker 1: you build good sleep habits, this time will start appearing,

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Speaker 1: and like any time, we want to enjoy it. So

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Speaker 1: think about what you do when you wake up before

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Speaker 1: your alarm and then get to the great sleep stage

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Speaker 1: if you can, where this starts happening at least here

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Speaker 1: and there in the meantime, This is Laura. Thanks for listening,

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Speaker 1: and here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,

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Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me

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Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with

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Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod

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Speaker 1: that's B the number four then Breakfast p o D.

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Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast

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Speaker 1: Podcast at i heeart media dot Com that before Breakfast

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Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,

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Speaker 1: I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is

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Speaker 1: a production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from

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Speaker 1: I heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

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Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.