Key Takeaways

  • You can wake up feeling like the main character with TV show theme songs as your alarm.
  • TV show intros help transition your brain from delta to theta waves for a relaxed wake-up.
  • You can set TV show theme songs as alarms like any other song or through a music streaming service.

Nobody likes the piercing shrill of an alarm clock at six in the morning. Sure, it jolts you out of bed because you want to turn it off immediately, but it’s an unnecessarily stressful start to your day. That’s why I’ve switched to waking up to music—TV show theme songs, to be specific.

Wake Up Feeling Like the Main Character

Hearing the tune of your favorite TV show always brings back memories of good times spent watching it. The fact that many of them are absolute bangers only helps boost your mood. Plus, many of them were designed to be rather short, about 30-60 seconds, so they’re ideal for an alarm sound. When I use normal songs, I always end up listening to the full 3-4 minutes, but when I hear the TV show’s intro loop, I know it’s time to stop it and wake up.

Women turning off alarm on phone
Andrey_Popov/Shutterstock.com

Since you’re still in a relaxed state when you first open your eyes, the TV show theme song can make you feel almost as if you were a character within the show itself, blurring the lines between TV fiction and reality. This is because you’re daydreaming as your brain switches from delta to theta waves, which are associated with states of deep relaxation that relaxing music complements perfectly.

Honestly, it’s hard to describe until you try it yourself. I got the idea after watching BoJack Horseman. The opening credits start with the sun shining over the titular character’s house in Beverly Hills, followed by him waking up and grabbing a cup of coffee to start the day. I’ve been waking up to the TV show’s theme song for the past couple of years, and it still hasn’t gotten old.

How to Set TV Show Intros as Your Alarm Clock

There are many ways to set the theme song as your alarm sound. The most obvious one is to purchase the theme song (or find a royalty-free version if available), download it to your phone, and set it as your alarm clock. There’s also a TV Shows Ringtones app that allows you to select a theme song and set it as your alarm song. But why limit yourself to just one theme song when you can have many?

The Google Clock app for Android phones allows you to use music streaming services as an alarm. You can find a public playlist that contains TV show theme songs or, even better, create your own mix of your favorite theme songs and set that as your alarm. Over on the iPhone, you can try the same thing with Apple Music.