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We’re all familiar with the snooze button on our alarms. You know… that button which grants us the opportunity to ignore the world for increments of 10 minutes at a time. The button we’ve all “accidentally” pressed and consequently arrived late to school or work. And in my case, the button which is totally ignored.

I’m an insomniac. I just can’t seem to ever get a full night’s rest no matter what I do. Drinking milk before bedtime… nope. Exercising till my fingers hurt… doesn’t work. When I do happen to fall asleep, I can’t stay asleep. But I’ve found a “treatment” as of late.

Let’s say that I have to wake up at 7:00 AM. Most people would set their alarms around 6:00 AM depending on their morning routines (showering, eating, hitting the snooze button, etc. ). Instead, I set my alarm to something like 4:30 AM. When the alarm rings, I roll out of bed (groggy as ever) and rather than hitting the snooze button, I reset the alarm for 6:30 AM. For some reason, the two hours of sleep I get between 4:30 and 6:30 AM are far superior to the 4-6 hours of sleep I might have had earlier in the night.

There’s probably a biochemical reason for this delayed gratification, but I’m too sleepy to look it up.

Is there anyone else *weird* out there who does this?

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As a third year medical student at Baylor College of Medicine, my posts are intended to educate others and share my experiences from this incredible journey without violating patient privacy at all costs. These blurbs are not to serve as a replacement for recommendations provided by licensed physicians under any circumstance.