Do you find it more difficult to wake up on those chilly, dark mornings? Well, you’re not alone. There is actually scientific evidence that winter can be a challenging time for waking up. But why is that exactly?
When it comes to winter wakeups, we have a few obstacles to overcome. Most prominent, however, is darkness, which interferes with our circadian rhythm.
Due to fewer daylight hours and later sunrises, there are fewer hours of daylight each day. Our bodies use sunlight as a cue to initiate their daytime circadian rhythms. It is natural for our bodies to want to sleep later as the sun rises later in the day. When you don’t have sunlight to kickstart your system and suppress melatonin (the sleeping hormone) while increasing cortisol (the alert hormone), getting up can be tough….