Anger is one of the basic emotional reaction. When I wake up in the morning especially when I have to take class in the 8 a.m., I feel a little bit grumpy, angry. At that time, I alway
s tell my roommate “don’t talk to me.” It is kind of uncomfortable. But It seems that the only reason is that I didn’t have enough time to sleep. In order to let me feel better in the morning, I do some researches about this
question.
According to the article of Daily Mail, on average, people have black moods at least two mornings a week. It is easily understandable that if people have a bad attitude about the day, they may have black moods. Alice D. Domar, Ph.D., executive director of the Domar Center for Mind/Body Health, argues that people just feel grumpy in few days of a week because they are not looking forward to working. In other words, if there are not enough things which can bring joy and happiness to people, they will feel bad. So having a happy life could help improve the happiness of your morning Also, these black moods could be associated with not getting enough rest and being tired, bad night’s sleep.
However, Allison G. Harvey, Ph.D, professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley and director of the Golden Bear Sleep and Mood Research Clinic, indicates that “The process of waking up is slow — not like a light switch, much slower,” and “These feelings are not pleasant, but do not necessarily indicate having had a poor night of sleep.” The reason is connected to sleep inertia. This term given in 1976 means that a transitional period of grogginess between waking and being full awake. Transition between sleep mode and awake mode actually lasts a long time. Because when we wake up, our brain-stem arousal systems are instantly activated. But our cortical regions, especially the part of the brain involved in decision-making and self-control, need to take longer to work. According to a neuroscientist and chronobiology expert, Kenneth Wright,“ Cognition is best several hours prior to habitual sleep time, and worst near habitual wake time.” What he said can explain why in the early morning, our memory, reaction time and ability to deal with problems suffer.
Also, morning depression is also associated with the setting of our internal alarm clock—our circadian rhythm. If there are difference between our actually required wake-up time and our natural wake-up time depended on our circadian rhythm, we would feel uncomf
ortable. The circadian rhythm is affected by some specific hormones, such as cortisol and melatonin. To be specific, cortisol can make people energetic and active in the daytime and melatonin can makes people tired and sleepy at night. Thus, if our circadian rhythm is disrupted, our body physically starts to produce hormones at the wrong time. So this will affect negatively not only on our health but also on our emotion.
Luckily, the effects of sleep inertia and circadian rhythm can be changed according to Kenneth P. Wright Jr.’s experiment. So people, in order to avoid black moods in the morning, can make a certain lifestyle to regulate and stabilize circadian rhythm. For example, going to bed and get up at certain times, doing exercise frequently, and eating regularly are helpful. So the sleep-wake cycle can synchronize with the body clock.
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I guess I’m not the only one who has to tell their roommates to stop talking in the morning. Sometimes they just don’t understand that I am not a morning person. Regardless of how many hours of sleep I obtain the night before, when the morning rolls around I do whatever is possible to keep sleeping. Maybe I am still tired, or maybe I just don’t want to get up to go to class, but regardless of the reason, I prefer quiet when trying to wake up. The topic of morning depression is revolutionary to me as I have never considered that a factor when attempting to wake up in the morning. Maybe the reason I am not a morning person and find myself grumpy in the morning has to do with my roommate attempting conversation and throwing off my circadian rhythm. Deeper thought into this reasoning also posed the idea that your alarm clock could possibly have an effect on your mood in the morning. Because I am not a morning person, my alarm clock is my least favorite noise to hear when it is time to wake up. Sometimes I just want to throw it out of my window. Although there isn’t much research to support this, some suggest that waking up to a more pleasant noise such as a favorite song or sound may have a more positive effect on your mood than the noise an obnoxious standard alarm clock makes. Because this is an easy fix with a potential benefit to my wellbeing, from now on I will attempt to wake up to a song instead of my alarm. I am curious to see if it has any effect on my mood in the morning. Thank you for informing about the reasons why people are grumpy in the morning and making me attempt to find an alternate option than my annoying alarm clock.
This topic is extremely relevant to many college students including me. If I wake up earlier than I naturally do, I find myself with a sick and “uncomfortable” feeling as you described in your blog. This often times leads me to be grouchy or short with whomever I come in contact with in the morning. It’s interesting that science recognizes this trend and has even created a term for this emotion, “black moods”. I agree with Dr. Harvey’s conclusion that waking up is a slow and and transitional process. For me personally, I find that i feel much better when I lay in my bed awake for a few moments upon waking up. When I immediately get out of bed and start getting ready seconds after my alarm goes off, I find myself light headed and groggy. Your blog post was interesting and you had several studies to back up your ideas. Good job!