I taught myself to wake up without an alarm in a week. Here's how it fixed my sleep

Ally Hirschlag discovers that waking up naturally can be surprisingly easy, if you take care of other sleep essentials.

My reliance on alarms has varied a lot through my life. When I was a teenager, I habitually woke up on school days before my alarm went off. I wasn't exactly jumping out of bed, but my internal alarm clock was reliable enough that I never worried about being late. That partly had to do with my always-on routine, which typically ended at 11pm, when I would crash out.

Then, in college, my sleep routine broke down due to a less structured schedule, and I began depending far more on my alarm. When I later entered the workforce, I switched back, reverting to a largely consistent sleep schedule and easily waking up alarm-free once again.

In my mid-30s, though, I found myself relying more and more on my alarm, and now I'm past 40, sleep doesn't come as readily at night, while groggy mornings have me regularly mainlining caffeine. 

So when my editor suggested I test out learning to wake up without an alarm, based on tips from sleep researchers, I eagerly accepted. My circadian rhythm needed a tune-up, and I was ready to put the work in to fix it.

After talking with experts, I decided a week of no alarms would be a reasonable time to try to reprogramme my own internal alarm. It involved a little preparation, however. 

The researchers I spoke with all suggested taking a few days to find my true sleep rhythm before starting (more later on how to adjust your circadian rhythm if this ends up not fitting your schedule).

I typically sleep for seven to eight hours, but my bedtime can be anywhere between 11pm and 2am. Occasionally, I'll fall asleep watching TV on the sofa, only to wake up at 2:30am, which makes it a real challenge to get back to sleep.

Thankfully, I happened to be going on a cruise and had ample time to observe when I naturally felt sleepy at night and ready to wake up in the morning. It turned out to be about 11:30pm and 8am – an eight-and-a-half-hour sleep period.

Getting adequate sleep is vital for our bodies and minds to function properly, and adults should generally aim for seven to nine hours (anything below six increases the risk of premature death by 20%). But there's no magic number that suits everyone.

"Eight [hours] is the middle, but some people are fine with seven, while some need nine," says Eti Ben Simon, associate director of the Sleep Innovation Labs at the University of Texas at Dallas. There will be some biological variability, based on your circadian rhythm, she says.

So how could I maintain this during a work week, when higher anxiety – and worrying about managing to sleep eight hours a night – often impacts my sleep quality?

The experts I spoke to say what's important is not just getting enough sleep, but adhering to a consistent schedule. "You want to make sure that you're going to bed at a pretty regular time, and that it's early enough that you'll be able to get that eight [and a half, in my case] hours that you need," says Helen Burgess, co-director of the sleep and circadian research lab at the University of Michigan in the US. "That regular routine will feed back, and often our bodies will start to relax as we get into that routine."

That advice was very reassuring as I was already anxious about potentially waking up too early (something I tend to do when I've an important event the next day).

My new routine also needed to incorporate natural light, to help sync my internal clock with my sleep schedule. Ideally, these work in tandem, so you're "tired at night and awake during the day", says Simon. Light plays a major role in this partnership by activating the hormones that signal sleep and wakefulness.

"Light is the single biggest regulator of the circadian clock," says Anna Joyce, a chartered psychologist, sleep specialist and researcher at Regent's University London. "It tells melatonin to turn off, and that it's time to be awake." Studies have also shown that bright morning light can have a significant antidepressant effect by providing a healthy dose of serotonin.

I'm quite light-sensitive, so the researchers I spoke to suggested using blackout blinds (which I already had) while sleeping, and I decided to wear my sleep mask for added protection. Then, upon waking, they recommended I immediately open the blinds to let in the morning light, which triggers a surge of cortisol, a hormone that allows us to be alert and ready for action. "That helps tell the clock, 'Okay, this is when I start my day'," says Simon.

Joyce also stressed the importance of having a "predictable wind-down routine" within approximately two hours of when you want to be asleep. Exactly what works here will vary person by person, but dimming the lights is key, as it signals your body to produce melatonin, prepping you for sleep. I planned to get into PJs, brush my teeth and do my skincare regimen as soon as I felt sleepy, so I could simply climb into bed at my designated bedtime.

Simon advised paying attention to my body's temperature. At night, our core temperature drops because we're exerting less energy, and the body releases lingering energy through the hands and feet via vasodilation (widening of blood vessels). This is why it's harder to fall or stay asleep when it's hot. Overheating absolutely disrupts my sleep, so I set our thermostat to drop earlier than usual, at 11pm, and outfitted our bed with thermoregulating bamboo sheets.

My biggest sleep impediment, though, is my smartphone. That's a common complaint, according to the experts I spoke to.

The blue light devices emit may be partly responsible: it's on a similar wavelength to daylight, which can send confusing signals to the brain when it's nighttime. The likely more impactful aspect of smartphones, though, is dopamine scrolling, aka habitually scanning social media feeds to chase small hits of good feelings. Algorithms on these platforms are designed to keep us engaged, so it's not surprising that a recent analysis found that excessive scrolling inhibits sleep.

To overcome this obstacle, I used a physical app-blocking device, scheduling my block from 9pm to 12pm every night of the experiment. I also put my phone into greyscale mode (typically found in your accessibility settings, if you're interested) to make the imagery look duller and less attention worthy.

I restricted myself to one cup of coffee a day in the morning, aimed to eat meals at a consistent time and finish dinner at least three hours before bed (since your metabolism influences your circadian rhythm). Burgess also suggested I avoid alcohol as much as possible. "It will actually help you fall asleep a little bit faster," she says, but "messes up your sleep later on", as it suppresses REM sleep.

Before kicking off the experiment, I noted where it could go awry. We have two cats that like breakfast at 6am. Thankfully, they're mostly programmed to wake my husband up for this (I'm the evening feeder). His gentle early-morning alarm rarely wakes me, but he offered to sleep on the couch whenever he was getting up egregiously early (5am). 

And finally, at the recommendation of all the experts I spoke to, I set an emergency alarm 20 minutes later than my desired 8am natural wakeup time, just in case.

On the first night, I was asleep by midnight, half an hour after my target of 11:30pm, though I woke a few times during the night. That morning, I awoke slightly before 8am but snoozed until 8.15am. I fell asleep around the same time the second night, but it took some coercion – listening to an ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) video with my phone turned upside down conked me out. I ended up sleeping until my emergency alarm at 8:20am.

Day three was quite busy, so I fell asleep around 11pm, and woke up naturally at 7:10am. Since I didn't need to be up yet, I lingered a bit in bed, but didn't fall back asleep.

The key thing about sleep is it's not an on and off switch.

Life inevitably threw some hurdles. By night four, I had no trouble falling asleep a bit before midnight. The next morning, however, I was woken up at 6:45am by an offensively early doorbell (I did still manage to fall back asleep for a further hour).

Night five had me asleep by 11:30pm and awake the next morning at 8:12am, despite a brief cat paw to the face at 5:30am. Night six was my birthday, so I had a couple of drinks and was in bed by 12:30am. I woke up with some heartburn at 6am (which I considered karmic punishment for deviating from the experiment), then fell back asleep until 9am.

On night seven, a Friday, I fell asleep easily between 11:30pm and 12am, and woke up Saturday morning at 8:05am. It's a rare occasion for me to be up before my husband on a weekend, so I went to get us cortados from around the corner.

My week-long experiment had officially wrapped, but I still woke up comfortably a few minutes after 8am on Sunday, and this continued into the following week with little effort. In the weeks following, I've maintained some of the expert-recommended sleep hygiene routines, like regular mealtimes and less phone use before bed. I've somewhat reverted to alarm wakeups but have had much less of a struggle naturally waking up when I want to – as long as I've had at least eight hours of sleep.

My internal clock was by no means a German train by the end of the experiment, but it still felt successful overall. I had less trouble waking up naturally around 8am and felt less morning grogginess by day four. What helped the most, I felt, was the regular bedtime routine and limiting screen exposure.

I plan to keep this up as much as I can, even on weekends: it legitimately left me feeling more rested and energised. Eventually, I'd like to shift my wake-up time an hour earlier, though Burgess says that can be a slow process. "The circadian system is slow to shift. I would say start with a half-hour shift in both bedtime and wake time, half an hour earlier each day until you get to where you want to be, and then try to hold it," she suggests.

More like this:

• How people woke up before alarm clocks

• Is it really possible to 'bank' sleep for later?

• Why modern parents feel more sleep deprived than our ancestors did

With all that life throws at us, from doorbells to birthdays to stress, consistent, truly restful sleep can be an elusive commodity. While exploring the scientific research for this article, what struck me most was how strained our relationship is with sleep today.

Over-reliance on tech is impacting sleep quality, especially in adolescents, whose developing brains and bodies need sleep more than any other demographic. A 2025 analysis of a survey of 45,000 Norwegian students found that excessive smartphone use was directly correlated with poor sleep.

"We do see a strong link between these mental health disorders and sleep disruptions in young adults, and we also see that if you have any tendency or any risk for mental health disorders, sleep loss can push you over the edge," says Simon. "They need at least nine hours of sleep, about 70% don't even get to seven."

Many adolescents could certainly benefit from a sleep recalibration week. It was worth it for me, though I recognise that finding the time is a luxury not everyone can afford. 

Still, incorporating any of these habits into your daily routine could help in finding a more restful night, and an easier wake-up.

If your sleep schedule is off, and you do have some room to try a reset, be patient with yourself. It might take some trial and error to discover your own unique rhythm. "The key thing about sleep is it's not an on and off switch," says Burgess. "It doesn't quite work that way." 

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