Trouble waking up in the morning
I've always had trouble waking up in the morning, but for the past few weeks it's been nearly impossible for me to wake up. I've nearly been late to work countless times, even though I'm getting plenty of sleep. My alarm is usually good at waking me up, but for the past few weeks I've been still asleep with it going off right next to my head, not even waking up to hit snooze. I tried changing the alarm sound but that didn't help either.
Does anyone have any suggestions or good links for tips on waking up, or know of any alarm clocks that are meant for heavy sleepers? Any help would be appreciated.
Edit: Sorry, it completely slipped my mind to put a question in the title.
8 years ago by Schwut
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What I've realized is that I can wake up anytime if I really want to. I can sleep through straight up emergencies if I don't really care. Not a fix, but perhaps something to consider. Otherwise, could be a health issue.
Sorry I completely forgot to put a question in the title. I already missed the 15 minute window so I edited the message.
It's okay :)
Well, I don't know if it would work for you, but you could try investing in a Lumie bodyclock. This wakes you up with "natural" daylight.
Wow I might actually try this! If my wife thinks it won't piss her off it might be just what I need.
You have to download this app called Sleep Cycle (that's the iOS name, I think it's different for android etc) -- it uses your phone's accelerometer to measure what phase of sleep you're in, and tries to wake you up when you're in lighter sleep so you're more likely to actually register your alarm, etc. You set the window around when you need to wake up and it wakes you up accordingly. I use it in conjunction with sleepyti.me, which helps you figure out when that light phase is likely to occur. Huge help.
This looks really interesting. How does the phone sense your body movement though? Do you have to strap it to your arm or something?
No, you just lay it in your bed with you -- I think optimally you're supposed to place it under your pillow. It works best for me if I use sleepytime with it to help "guess" when I'll be in light sleep.
Ok cool. I'm definitely going to give this a try. Thanks for the advice!
Is it not advisable to keep phones away from heads if you can help it.
Trying not to wake up during a sleep cycle I've found is the most important factor. It's the difference for me between waking up extremely groggy and semi-lucid as opposed to being mostly awake and just a bit lazy. Espeon's suggestion is worth following up, as it looks like it's the quality of your sleep rather than the amount of sleep which is the issue.
There are usually a ton of other sleep tips which may or may not help you (as you seem to have problems only waking up, not necessarily falling asleep): not to drink anything caffeinated in the evening, drink a glass of water before and after sleep, and keep your surroundings, including your head, relatively cool.
If none of those help, there are Android app alarm clocks that activate puzzles or maths problems that you have to solve before the alarm goes off. There's even one or two where the alarm won't deactivate until you scan a barcode, such as, let's say, the barcode of your shampoo bottle in the bathroom. (Sleep as Android comes to mind.)
I've never heard of the puzzle/math alarms but they sound like they would help a lot. I'm not sure if I'm waking up and just falling right back asleep or not but I think one of this apps would give me an anwer.
Hmm. If you're an Android user, there are two that I've used in the past (not necessarily solely for the puzzle/maths function). Of course your mileage may vary, but there are many similar apps on the Play Store. The app I mentioned above also does this.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ch.bitspin.timely
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kog.alarmclock
Thank you! I'll give one of them a shot tonight.
I know this one! but first, describe your sleep.
* When do you go to bed?
* How long are you in bed before you fall asleep?
* What is your night time routine?
* What kinds of activities do you do in bed?
* Any drug use?
* Do you wake up throughout the night?
* How many hours of sleep are you getting per night?
* Are you tired or sleepy throughout the day?
* Do you feel like you need more sleep?
* Any other sleep problems going on?
* When do you go to bed? -Usually around 9pm.
* How long are you in bed before you fall asleep? -Anywhere from 20 minutes to 4 minutes.
* What is your night time routine? -I know its bad, but I'm usually on my phone while in bed before I go to sleep.
* What kinds of activities do you do in bed? -Sleeping, sex, on my phone before bed.
* Any drug use? -Caffeine and Nicotine.
* Do you wake up throughout the night? -If I do I don't notice it.
* How many hours of sleep are you getting per night? -Anywhere from 6 to 8.
* Are you tired or sleepy throughout the day? -Not at all. Usually I have to force myself to go to bed
* Do you feel like you need more sleep? -Sometimes, yes. During busy weeks sometimes I'll only sleep 6 hours or less.
* Any other sleep problems going on? - I have some trouble falling asleep, but I'm not really worried about that because I know it's my fault.
At what time would you wake up if you didn't use your alarm?
Is your room completely dark?
If I didn't have an alarm I would end up sleeping for about 11 hours. My room is not completely dark.
Well, shoot. This is a difficult one.
Suggestions. 1) Keep a sleep log. This will help you get some insight on what's going on. Track When you A) go to bed, B) fall asleep, C) wake up, D) get out of bed, E) exercise, F) eat), and consume G) alcohol, H) nicotine, i) caffeine, and J) any other drug.
2) Try waking up at different times. Maybe your alarm is set to wake you up when you're at your deepest sleep.
3) Maybe the caffeine and nicotine are stimulating you, so you don't feel tired during the day. However, if you cut it off, you would notice that you need more rest. Try cutting down (I know would be difficult to accomplish) on both or at least the coffee (again, both would be best and it's your health!) and see if your need for sleep increases or you actually start sleeping better. 3a) Also, caffeine has a half-life of 5.7 hours. So if you drink two 8oz cups of coffee (a medium at most coffee places I think) at 6pm, you would still have about 8oz of coffee worth of caffeine in your system at 12am (probably even more since there's a delay between drinking coffee and getting caffeine in your blood stream). You might be able to fall asleep, but your sleep quality could be affected.
4) Maybe you have something medical going on. Perhaps, you would want to go check out a doctor and see what they say.
Great advice. I think I'm actually going to start keeping a log like you suggested. After I've built up some notes I'll consider taking them to a doctor just to see what they say about my sleeping habits.
Maybe you have a sleep debt and your body is trying to tell you.
What is a sleep debt?
I have terrible sleep habits, so if I fixed those I probably would have fewer issues getting up. That being said, I've done two things that have helped a lot in getting me out of bed. One is to put my phone somewhere that forces me to get up and stretch to reach it. The second thing has been downloading an alarm clock app that forces me to do math problems to turn it off. In the app I can change the settings for difficulty of the math problems and how many to snooze versus how many I need to do to turn the alarm off completely.
This is probably going to sound stupid, but I never even thought to simply just move my phone farther away so I'm forced to get out of bed to shut it off. Great suggestion.
Glad I could help! I recommend also putting it somewhere you have to stretch to reach - the act of actually flexing or stretching your muscles goes a long way to waking you up, in my experience.
Good to know. Well I'll be sure to try it out tonight.
You say you are getting plenty of sleep, but how many hours of sleep are you getting every day exactly?
Usually 7 or 8 hours. Of course sometimes it is less but not very often.
Man I used to have to set 5 alarms with in 10 minutes of each other until I woke up. I am not sure to get you to wake up. But what helped me was drinking water as soon as I woke up.
I actually do have 5 alarms set. The problem is that I sleep through them all. They're just screaming right next to my head and I don't wake up. I don't have a problem getting out of bed once I'm awake, but I could see how that would be awful too.
I've been having a similar problem - I just hit the off button and go back to sleep. I went to take a nap today, and ended up sleeping for like 7 hours. Really looking forward to any advice here.
I feel your pain. I'm tired of this happening to me. Half asleep me is not a very smart person, and really likes to screw over awake and have to go to work me.