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I have nine o'clock lectures four days a week. Considering the amount of time the walk takes me, what time breakfast is, how long it takes me to have a bath, etc. I realistically need to get up by 7:30. And I'm finding it very very hard. My sleep-fogged alter-ego is cunning enough to actually concentrate long enough to not only turn off the alarm, but also set it forward an hour. Thus I don't have time for a bath, and have to power-walk down the road clutching a disintegrating bacon sandwich in one unwashed little fist. Dear Hatrack, how in heck can I make myself get up when the alarm goes off ?
Posts: 20 | Registered: Oct 2003
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I find that Coco Wheats are an excellent motivation to get up. We discovered today that they're really good with applesauce mixed in.
Posts: 8504 | Registered: Aug 1999
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Oh yeah and bathe or shower, whichever you choose the night before. If you sweat too much at night turn your thermostat lower or reduce the number of covers you have on your bed.
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I got a BioBrite Sunrise clock, and it's helped me quite a bit in getting out of bed in the morning. It has a dimmer light built into it that turns on at a very low setting about a half hour before the alarm time, and then grows brighter until it reaches the alarm time. At this point it can be set so that it starts beeping, or not. I've gotten somewhat used to it, so it isn't as effective as it was when I first got it, but I still have an easier time getting up with it than I did with a traditional alarm clock.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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I used to need to set 2 or 3 different alarms, spaced out around the room, set 15 minutes apart or so. Also I used to set my bedroom clock 5-10 minutes fast, just to get me moving. That usually got me out the door just in time.
Nowadays I don't need any alarms but I set my pager alarm to go off 25 minutes before I need to be at work just to be safe.
Oh, and make sure the alarm clocks sound really loud and obnoxious. That helps too.
quote:It has a dimmer light built into it that turns on at a very low setting about a half hour before the alarm time, and then grows brighter until it reaches the alarm time.
or...you could just leave the window shade up. Posts: 4174 | Registered: Sep 2003
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True! I bought this clock, though, when I lived in a house that was so densely surrounded by trees that it always seemed twilight if the lights weren't on.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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I have the same problem! I'll be half-asleep and reset my alarm clock much farther in advance than it should be... what's really terrible is that my half-dreaming state comes up with a very logical reason why I should do this and assures my disoriented intellect that it's a good idea to wake up at 9:45. I used to have the problem where I'd turn off my alarm clock after it went off once and completely forego the snoozer. I found that the reason why was that to hit the snooze button, I often would fumble about with my hand and push every button on the top (one of which being the alarm-off button). Happily I found a really cheap alarm clock that's all switches except for the snooze button. That's good because I ended up covering all the buttons on my other alarm clocks with plastic flip-up covers (which somehow didn't deter me).
Posts: 903 | Registered: May 2003
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It is cool, but it's a bit expensive for what it is.
A lot of their products seem to be that way really. I'm intrigued by their "window lights". Are they still on the site? They're basically a window frame with a backlit scene in the window area. It's a cool idea, but I wouldn't want one unless it was computerized, with the scenery moving in convincing and interesting ways. I'd also want to be able to select my scenery at the touch of a button, so that one day I could watch hobbits bustling about Hobbiton, and the next day watch giant squid drifting through ocean depths.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Try multiple alarm clocks spread around the room. Clocks can be cheap. Getting up and walking around helps wake you up fully. ANd if you can't find where you hid one, your roommate/neighbor will bust down your door and shove the cold thing where the sun doesn't shine.
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When I was in college I had this problem, so I went to K-Mart and bought a traditional wind up alarm clock that was advertised as having a "very loud bell".
At the time I was living with four other guys in an old house, with the attic being my room. I was sleeping on a futon on the floor, and my bedside table was a pallet that I'd salvaged, which was flush with the matress. I set the alarm on the pallet and fell asleep, blissfully unaware of just how unplesant it would be to have that "very loud bell" start ringing an inch or so from my ear.
The marketing folks at the clock company didn't lie. It was, in fact, a very loud bell.
I came to consciousness kneeling on my futon, the clock clutched in my hands, shaking it vigorously. Apparently that's how sleeping-Noemon thought he could turn it off. When I finally did get it shut off I collapsed on my bed, a nervous wreck, and thought that I'd just lay there for a few seconds until my pulse returned to normal. Of course, I fell back asleep and missed the class I'd gotten the clock to make sure I attended.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Perhaps instead of trying to figure out how to make your tired body wake up -- you need to figure out why you are still so tired in the morning.
I routinely wake up BEFORE my alarm goes off -- If I wake up naturally like that, it is my body saying "enough sleep -- time to go." and I get up. If you are still dragging and tired, something in your routine or your diet or sleep patterns needs desparately to change.
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The ONLY permanent solution I've found to this is to go to bed earlier on a regular basis.
However, exercising every morning first thing in the morning when you wake up makes your body learn to wake itself up at that time. It usually works after only one day.
Light is even better. Put the head of your bed right under a big window that the sun will shine through before the time you have to wake. If that is possible it works great. Where I live now I can't do that. And in the wintertime the sun comes up too late anyway.
Posts: 968 | Registered: Sep 2003
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Noemon, your story about the very loud clock reminds me of a friend of mine. He had one of those wind-up clocks, and a unique way of turning it off.
He threw it across the room, where it would hit the wall and shatter. He would put it back together at night, to use the next day.
Daniel, my not-really-awake self has been known to get out of bed, walk across the room, hit the snooze, and head back to bed. Repeatedly. And be convinced I'd done this once, when the clock -- an hour having passed -- clearly indicated at least 6 iterations.
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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Another good method for me was to have a three cd changer which could be timed to go off at my wake up time. The thing would play for 2 hours then stop. So this was enough to play the first two cds and be in the middle of the third. The next day it would play cds 3, 1, and part of 2. Then 2, 3, and part of 1. Because it was a different cd each day I didn't grow accustomed to it and sleep through it very often. When I finally was so used to all 3 cds that I started sleeping through them, I'd choose 3 different cds to put in the three trays. It worked great!
[ November 06, 2003, 12:33 AM: Message edited by: ana kata ]
Posts: 968 | Registered: Sep 2003
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the simple solution here is to stop changing the time you get up in the morning. i did the same thing in college, i slept in till 11:00 when i didn't have class and tried to get up at 6:00 when i did, but oddly enough when i got a job and had to get up at the same time every day it wasn't a problem. your body is just angry beause it doesn't know when to wake up, if you get up consistently at the same time (including weekends) it won't be a problem any more.
Posts: 380 | Registered: Mar 2003
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I think it is definitely a light thing for me. I got up much more easily today. It was the first day all week that it hasn't been overcast and I had sunlight shining in. I'm going to check out Sharper Image and Hamilton beech and see if they have those kinds of clocks too.
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If you find a place that offers that kind of stuff more cheaply than BioBrite, let me know, would you Banna?
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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here's an interesting variation on the them from hamacher schlemmer. Don't think it is as bright but it has some other interesting ideas (like timed aromatherapy) and it is about $50 http://www.hammacher.com/publish/70460.asp?promo=homepage
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Thankee for all your advice people. The exercise thing in particular struck a chord - we have a gym in our cellar, so it would be entirely practicable, plus I've been intending to start going on a regular basis. It might kill two birds with one stone. However, it's quarter past 12 in the morning right now, so the routine might not start today
But I have a shedload of washing and ironing to do and am fairly busy tomorrow, so I hereby officially designate Saturday as the starting day of the new regime, such being that I will get up at six and spend an hour in the gym before breakfast.
Now, saying 'before breakfast' is quite a big thing for me - I'm currently averaging making it to breakfast about one day in seven. Wish me luck
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True! I bought this clock, though, when I lived in a house that was so densely surrounded by trees that it always seemed twilight if the lights weren't on.
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