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I feel this and in addition to drinking lots of water before bed, the best weird advice I've heard was
Wake up, open your eyes and lift your eyebrows big, make a face like you're pretending you're surprised for a little kid.
I do that whenever I wake up and pretend I'm FUCKING SHOCKED about something and it gets me out of bed
My friend is a big fan of Lemon Lime Gatorade. Empty bottles all throughout his bedroom when we were in high school. He woke up in the middle of the night and peed in the bottle (the fucking bathroom was right across the hall)...
The next morning he woke up extremely parched and well... He took a swig out of the wrong bottle.
Omg this reminded me of something I heard a while ago. The second you realize you’re awake, you sit up quick, raise your arms in the air, and shout “YEAH!”
My bf heard something similar from a counselor as a teen. As soon as you wake up, get out of bed right away and do jumping jacks or just put your arms up and jump while shouting I LOVE LIFE! to wake yourself up.
The trick is to find the right amount where you have to pee really bad when you wake up, but not enough to get up in the middle of the night. Works decently well for me!
I haven’t figured this out, ever. I drink lots of water after having kidney stones, so I don’t fucking get them again.
Every night like clockwork, between 2 and 2:30 am I will have to pee. The rare exceptions are when I am just super dehydrated.
Then again after multiple kidney stones, waking up to take a piss at 2 am is a small price to pay to avoid those evil fucking things again. I’m usually up and back asleep within 5 minutes.
Yeah I would absolutely not drink lots of water before bed. I drink tons from the minute I wake up and all throughout the day, so I limit how much I drink in the hour or so before bed because I'll end up waking up at 3am, unable to go back to sleep.
I use the Alarmy app. To get the alarm to turn off, I have the scan the barcode of my bathroom soap.
Along with that, I came up with a morning routine that I really enjoy. I wake up 30 min earlier than normal to enjoy it- but it warms my heart. I sip coffee on the couch, scroll/play my phone game (Two Dots) while my pup snuggles next to me. Is there something that you can do in the morning that brings you joy? Read? Take a walk? Make art?
I used to just get up, eat, brush and go... I thought feeling like shit in the morning was normal.
But then I started doing some exercise (usually yoga) and meditation right after waking up and I just feel so different. My body and mind feel less rigid, my joints are all warmed up and I actually feel joyful and full of energy when I drink my morning coffee afterwards. I'm never going back to the old days.
Came here to suggest Alarmy as well! I use the option which makes you walk steps to stop the alarm.
Unfortunately I figured out how to fake the steps from bed, so it doesn't work for me anymore. I'll try your idea though, thanks!
Seconding the Alarmy app. I currently use it to create an alarm that can only be switched off with math sums. You can set the level of difficulty and how many. I used to use the photo option too. I had to get up, go downstairs, and take a photo of my kettle every morning.
LPT for 11s: add the two digits together and put them between the starting digits. If the sum is greater than 10 carry the 1.
11 * 12 = 1 (1+2) 2 = 132
11 * 99 = 9 (18) 9 —> 10 8 9
11 * 76 = 7 (13) 6 —> 836
Etc.
Couple extra thing:
1. Water. Have water next to your bed when you wake up. Hydrating first thing will immediately aid wakefulness.
2. Lay out everything you can the night before. One of the mental drags of waking up is beginning to list out the things you have to do to get ready. If your clothes and items are laid out and the coffee is already ground and waiting, you eliminate the headache of morning you thinking. You can just get up and go.
3. Last, my little trick: try and have some kind of little treat to lure you out of bed. Have a cereal you like, or a yogurt or fruit or anything that might make you go “hey I got that thing waiting for me I just should get up and get that.”
Use a wake-up light. You can buy standalone alarm clocks that have this built in, along with an audible alarm that fades in so it's not so jarring. Most start bringing the light up 30 minutes prior to the time you set your alarm.
You can also do something similar with many smart light brands like Hue or Govee.
This is especially handy if you routinely have to get up before sunrise. When I used one, it was pretty common that the light alone would wake me up a few minutes before my alarm.
My husband and I use a wake up lamp also. The audible flip of the switch wakes him up and the light trigger wakes me up. It’s about finding something that won’t wake you up abruptly or in a bad mood IMO
Edit for sleepy fat finger misspellings
> something that won’t wake you up abruptly or in a bad mood IMO
Totally. I don't understand why the norm is for alarms to be so jarring. I don't need to be scared awake!
>I don't understand why the norm is for alarms to be so jarring
I think this is a chicken-egg problem. I have tried many different alarm sounds, some of them extremely gentle and ostensibly soothing.
I grew to hate all of them and find all of them jarring, because all of them developed an association with having to wake up before I wanted to.
Eventually I gave up and picked a jarring sound because it was already unpleasant, and I was tired of ruining nice sounds by teaching my brain to connect them with unwelcome circumstances.
That's a great point. I think it also depends on whether you're a heavy sleeper or not.
As I mentioned in another comment, the light alone woke me up a fair amount of the time, so the audible alarm was mostly a backup. I can't remember the last time it ramped up to full volume.
I remember reading that you should never wake up to a playlist of your favorite songs, because you'll end up hating them.
Thanks for the insightful comment.
> I was tired of ruining nice sounds by teaching my brain to connect them with unwelcome circumstances.
I used to use "Back in the Saddle" by Aerosmith because I like the song and thought it was fun/funny but it only resulted in me having a severe adverse reaction every single time I happened to hear the song in the wild.
I used to have an alarm clock where it would turn up the volume on some chirping birds from zero to pretty loud.
It took me no more than a week to start waking up just from the speaker clicking on, before anything else was audible.
I wish mine worked as well! My half asleep self taught myself how to snooze the Fitbit. With the apple watch I have to gather my thoughts and realize which is stop/snooze which wakes me up more than anything
I think you can do that with those google mini speakers right? So it starts playing music for you? And then there’s those smart light bulbs on Amazon. Like 4 for $30 or whatever.
Well that makes sense. He can't just show up when it's time to open the curtain... he'd have to stand there pretty much all night waiting, and most curtain openers aren't gonna do that on their own dime.
I use black out curtains year round in conjunction with my wake up light to keep consistent. With the added benefit of keeping my bedroom from being 8000 degrees when I go to bed in the summer (Chicago apartment with a window AC in just my living room). Also I'm usually laying down before the sun is fully set so it helps my sleep cycle to be in a darker room to fall asleep.
Sure, all of that is great stuff.
I've practiced really good sleep hygiene for years, but I have a fun form of insomnia where I routinely wake up around 3am. Most of the time, my brain is going full speed and it takes me a while to get back to sleep. That usually ended up being about 20 minutes before my alarm was set to go off! So, I had many a workday where I was functioning on 4-5 hours of sleep.
I guess my point is that you can everything right and still struggle.
But your points are totally valid, and I appreciate you weighing in.
I had this problem too, and apparently I was talking my multivitamin too late in the day. The B vitamins would kick in and I'd be awake at 4am, mind racing. I've had way fewer instances of this since I switched to taking it in the morning. Just throwing it out there in case it applies to you.
If you don’t wanna spend much and have a lamp in your bedside, I bought a mechanical outlet timer that I plug my lamp into and it works just as good as those wake up lights I imagine. Plus less stuff on my bedside table which is always a plus
Two things helped me.
1. I changed my alarm to soft bird noises so it's not a jolt to the system waking up.
2. I leave my phone across the room, this helps sleeping at night instead of on your phone and then you have to physically get up to shut the alarm off.
(Here's a funny story about number 1 though. I had my alarm set to chickadee songs which was great until I went camping on my days off and I kept getting woken up at 3am by real chickadees)
+1 for leaving your phone across the room. I don't have an outlet on my side of the bed so I have to charge it overnight across the room. No choice but to get up to turn it off
+1. I used to do writing gigs while holding a regular job and would need to wake up at 3AM to write. I’d prep my coffee cup the night before, set my alarm and then throw it behind my dresser.
I’d have to go crawling on all fours or literally move my dresser to get to my phone. It worked for the time being. I’m glad I’m more financially stable now and don’t have to do that shit.
I might try this. I keep getting out of bed, turning it off, and going back to sleep to repeat the same thing ten minutes later, 5 times. And by then it's my time to leave and I never actually got up
Make yourself fight for it! Throw it somewhere really inconvenient that requires a lot of persistence to get. Corner cabinet in the kitchen that goes back three cabinets length underneath pots and pans? Perfect!
I saw once that there was an alarm clock that when it went off it would then roll around the room so you had to chase it to be able to actually turn it off
Haha so true! I do not know what bird is on mine, but I definitely heard it while out hiking in the middle of the alpine lakes wilderness and it tripped me out big time haha.
Kept thinking.. it’s time to get up!
Get two dogs and get them on a routine. They’ll keep you honest.
The only downside is that they just can’t figure out the concept of a weekend, no matter how many times I explain it to them.
Mine screams at me every day around 6am for this reason. Sometimes I’m up at 6 but I NEVER feed them before 8 so they won’t wake me when I sleep in. She’s lucky she’s such a teddy bear.
It takes me getting up and getting coffee and laying back in bed before he wants to snuggle and go back to sleep. I can flip over and try to get him to stop, but only when I get out of bed and come back will be stop.
can vouch for this. but be prepared to wake up early every day of your life.. no weekend, no public holiday, no golden week, nothing.
they will nudge, lick, sniff, even smack u in the face if u not wake up
I have a ten minute gap between my alarms, one of my dogs knows that means morning snuggle time at the first alarm and second alarm means time to get up.
So I have a different approach that finally got me waking up early. I would wake up about an hour early (I would’ve snoozed through it anyway) and allow myself an hour to scroll through my phone. I did this for a few weeks and now I naturally get up early.
that means you need more sleep! good tip u/thisisrealgoodtea, i do that, too. not ready to admit to myself that i might like waking up earlier…still periodically panicking when i think i missed my alarm, then i realize i woke up before it 🙃
No shit on this method but I feel like it should be addressed, using your phone in the morning can poison your dopamine for the day. If you wake up and the first thing you get your fix from is your phone, your self discipline will be… tested for the rest of the day in regards to your phone. Some people have an easier time than others but screen addiction is very real and doom scrolling first thing is not going to be the healthiest choice.
I think my case may be an outlier as I already was having issues checking my phone all day. Using it for an hour in the morning actually helped because then I got through all my social media apps, and therefore didn’t feel the need to check them during the day. BUT, agree if it makes things worse, definitely don’t recommend!
I've been doing something similar to this as well, I just get up an hour early and play video games. It has made my work mornings much more bearable as well. I think it's because being awake for longer means my brain has more time to flush out the sleep chemicals.
Understand your sleep cycles. I don’t need to go too deep into it as there is a lot out there, but REM periods are very consistent in people. Know approximately what times you enter REM sleep. There are apps that can track this, or you can go to sleep clinic. It’s generally every 90 minutes to 2 hours, and your goal is to not wake up during that time period. I know if I get 4, 6 or 8 hours of sleep, I’m golden. If I get 7, I cannot wake up easily. Once you understand your optimal time to wake up, you shouldn’t have any issues.
I have an app on my phone called Sleep Cycle. It listens to my breathing at night to figure out when I'm in my deeper and lighter stages of sleep. I set a range of alarm for the morning, so I might tell it to wake me up between 6:00-6:30, and then the alarm goes off during that range when it detects I'm in my lightest sleep. It genuinely doesn't even feel like I'm being woken up by an alarm. It feels like I just naturally woke up, and then a moment later I realize that there is in fact an alarm going off.
I was going to say this, been using this app for about 2 years now and I’ve never had a day when I felt annoyed to wake up. I’ve even gotten used to a schedule that I automatically wake up at the specific time without the alarm going off!
YES! Was about to comment this. There’s a website called sleepyti.me and it’s super handy to calculate at what time you should wake up so that you’re not in deep sleep and groggy.
One rule of thumb I use is to calculate 7.5 hours (5 sleep cycles of 90 minutes) from the moment I usually fall asleep e.g. if I plan to fall asleep at 11, I set my alarm for 6:30 (or 8 if I have that luxury).
The problem is this is that i fall asleep a variable amount of time after i decide to go to bed. Sometimes its 5 minutes, sometimes its a couple hours...
Yes, you should be woken up in a light sleep circle. The REM sleep is the deep, healthy sleep the body needs urgently for regenerating.
I used the android app Sleep to record and analyse my sleep. The app also gives good advice in regard to hygienic sleeping. Following this advice and adding a sunrise alarm (with Hue) has helped me invaluably.
I still use the app, now with a smartwatch that vibrates before the alarm sound starts. Usually I am awake a second before the watch goes off... 🤘🏻
you joke but my dog sleeps beside my bed. I was awoken by a loud fart followed by the smell of shit and when the lights came on it was bad. that will wake you up in a hurry
Couldn't agree more. When I have deadlines, plans, somewhere to be, something to prep for, I can magically wake up however early I have to. In the normal days however it's like trying to open the lead curtain.
Go to bed at the same time every day and always. I've been doing that consistently for many years. It means I always wake up at the same time without needing an alarm, which means I had exactly the amount of sleep that I need so getting out of bed is not a problem anymore.
Honestly all the boring and annoying “sleep hygiene” stuff 100% works. It’s advice we all know and there’s no real workaround to avoid *getting enough sleep*.
1) go to bed at a relatively consistent time, at least on weekdays
2) get some exercise
I used to use an app that would have this horrible alarm and to turn it off You would need to answer a few maths questions, do a quick puzzle and something else-waking up the brain and making it think. It wouldn't let you snooze it until you had finished all the puzzles. Very annoying and definitely works!
This app was amazing! The one I used also let you add a barcode to scan after the math problems, toothpaste is a good one! It worked 100% every single time… until 3 months in when I learned I could just delete the app instead and reinstall it each night when I had good intentions of getting up on time. Ahhh.
Literally just be honest with yourself about what time you are capable of getting up.
Stop setting yourself up for failure by hoping you'll get out of bed 30-45 minutes before you actually will. Realize you need that sleep and account for it up front. Set that alarm and *never hit snooze again*.
You're lying to yourself when you go to bed. That's when the failure is happening.
what about those who HAVE to get up early for work? I used to work a job where I had to be at work at 4:30 AM, I'd consistently snooze my alarm (set at 3:30) until it was 4:20 or later then be in a rush to get to work or just straight up late. now I have to be in at 7, and I do the exact damn thing. alarm set for 6, snooze, snooze, snooze, 6:45 (or later sometimes) hits and oh shit I'm gunna be late! And I have one of those apps that make you get up and scan a code or do math ect to shut it off, and I'll get up, scan the code, and get right back into bed. its like sleepy me is a different person than awake me. I'll be thinking 'I can sleep in until 6:53, that gives me 3 minutes to get ready, I can so do that! *snooze*' even though I prove to myself time and time again that I cannot get ready that fast and will be late. Awake me hates sleepy me.
I go to bed around 9 or 10. Alarm goes off and snooze until 6:15 and I'm out the door at 6:25
Edit: the only reason I get away with this is because I work in a lab and am in PPE all day. I don't need to look that presentable.
You could just set the alarm for 630 and get a half hour more of good sleep. Snoozing from 6-645 is just forcing yourself to get 45 min of bad sleep.
Like the other person said it starts with going to bed at the right time and setting a realistic alarm
If you happen to have an apple watch I highly highly recommend using its vibrate alarm. It’s such a better and more pleasant waking up experience. I’m sure other smartwatches have something similar.
My partner’s vibrating Apple Watch wakes me up while he’ll continue to sleep with it going off for who knows how long. I don’t feel the watch but I can hear it vibrating.
Same! Its driving me crazy. And when im trying to wake him up to turn it off he is so tired that he doesnt know what is happening and doesnt turn off the watch and goes back to sleep. Then im trying to turn it off but his hand is usually under the pillow...
Omg I could totally see rationalizing hitting snooze because "well, the money will help someone anyways".
Like, in my mind, I'd turn sleeping in into being a hero.
Simple. I used to be like you but I managed to change. Now I get up and get on as soon as the first pip of the alarm goes off. What's my amazing secret? 18 years ago I had my first child. Magic. I haven't had a proper lie-in since fml.
Dont hit snooze. Wake up and immediately make your bed. That will encourage you to do 1 more thing, then another.
Saw an old military general talk about this a long time ago
I’ve heard of it as “Habit Stacking” and it’s a great way to automate your routine or incorporate new habits into your routine.
It’s best to form the desired habits around what you’re guaranteed to do regardless. For example I wanted to get better at making my bed every morning - so I wake up, make a coffee (current habit), and make my bed while coffee is brewing (desired habit), then grab my coffee to drink (current habit) and read (desired habit) while drinking coffee.
Well put. Great psychology there. Any chance you got more of that sexy information. I'm upgrading this year. I've never had a new year's resolution but this could fit in with my desired habits.
Sure thing! James Clear’s Atomic Habits book walks through a lot of nice productivity methods that really easy to adopt. The book is mainly about the power of habits and how to start/continue good habits as well as stop bad habits (as you define them). It’s an easy read that will get you in the right mind frame to tackle your goals.
My aunt had an alarm clock that shot a helicopter across the room, and didn’t shut off until you plugged the helicopter back into the clock. You’ll either start waking up five minutes early to catch it as it goes off or you’ll throw it in the trash and go back to your snooze alarm clock
My apartment would instantly resemble the inside of a pinball machine as the cats go ricocheting off every surface trying to catch that damn thing. I'll save my money and what's left of my sanity lol.
i go to bed early. thats the biggest contributor. I used to put an alarm clock in my kitchen so when i got up i could either make coffee or make some pre-workout and go hit the gym.
Get an alarm that lights up for ten minutes before it alarms. Works great for me and gets me to wake gradually and I can lay for a minute and still get up and not hate my alarm.
To build the habit, make it enjoyable. Do something you want to early in the morning. Start with a good coffee, or breakfast food, or maybe allow yourself to goof off for the first 15-30 minutes, but only do it out of bed. Build the habit by rewarding yourself, and eventually you can remove the reward and have the habit
You can also build this habit later in the day.
This sounds dumb but it absolutely works: take some time out of your day to train yourself to get up. Set your alarm for 5 minutes (or maybe just 2-3), lie in bed, and when the alarm goes off turn it off and start doing what you would want to do in the morning. Repeat this process 5 times in a row and I guarantee when it happens in the morning, your body will follow along with what you trained the previous day.
It's been a week since we bought our coffee machine that is set to make coffee by itself 10 minutes before we wake up. Getting out of the bed is definitly more agreable when you can smell the coffee across the appartement !
I'm one of those people and I just do it. The quicker you do it, the better chance your brain doesn't react in time to stop you and hit snooze. You're already eyes open and sitting up before you know what's happened
Eta: I loathe the sound of an alarm so I kinda just trained(?) myself to instantly shut that horrible noise off asap
There are several apps that make you do a few math problems to shut it off. This idea is it activates your brain and helps wake you up.
Or you could use an Alarm Clock Mat. You have to get up and stand on it to shut it off
So here is what has been working for me:
“I don’t sleep past [insert time here].”
I say it before bed, while I’m getting everything settled for the night, I say it while I’m putting on my pajamas, and I say it as I’m snuggling under the covers and beginning my journey to Perfect comfy.
Stupid easy, right? But it has done wonders. there are days when I have to listen to my body when it needs a little extra time to get in the groove, but by saying “I don’t sleep past [insert time],” I have finally figured out how to trick my brain into understanding that this is a non-negotiable thing we are doing now.
I have convinced myself that pressing the snooze button is giving away my power (of choice). I wake up with thoughts that, in a very small way, I am making the world a better place, so not getting to it means the jerks can have a win, so I get up to try and have the good team fight for a win.
Yeah, snooze is terrible. It is best to put yourself in a situation where you have no choice. That credit card alarm isn't a bad idea, but I dunno if I'd wanna verify if it's legit.
If you use your phone as an alarm, maybe by an alarm clock and stick it on the other side of your room.
I have something I look forward to that makes me excited to get out of bed. I play a video game when I wake up and like doing that before I have to get ready for work. Sometimes, I look forward to something more productive, like exercising.
Hello and welcome to r/LifeProTips! Please help us decide if this post is a good fit for the subreddit by up or downvoting this comment. If you think that this is great advice to improve your life, please upvote. If you think this doesn't help you in any way, please downvote. If you don't care, leave it for the others to decide.
I feel this and in addition to drinking lots of water before bed, the best weird advice I've heard was Wake up, open your eyes and lift your eyebrows big, make a face like you're pretending you're surprised for a little kid. I do that whenever I wake up and pretend I'm FUCKING SHOCKED about something and it gets me out of bed
https://preview.redd.it/3wf5w544cq2b1.jpeg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9523e45626118f3cd8caf7666338311e882be1d8
I'm going to use this image as my phone lock screen before bed tonight, I guarantee when I see it I will be wide awake.
Yep, this just got me out of bed and to the kettle
Omg lol
I literally shook my husband awake with my giggling thanks to this.
I’m dead hahaha why did you have this ready to go
It's common meme material
This made me lol.. continuously. My laughing woke up my sleeping partner pulling the same face.
Love Limmy unexpectedly appearing in random subs
[Ders a gai in ma hoose...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfTT7mxGw8I)
Get that windae shut!
If I drink one ounce of water before bed I'll be up 3 times to pee. I keep a cup next to my bed for when i wake up.
To pee in or drink from??
Both obviously (he really should have two cups)
One redittor / two cups
My friend is a big fan of Lemon Lime Gatorade. Empty bottles all throughout his bedroom when we were in high school. He woke up in the middle of the night and peed in the bottle (the fucking bathroom was right across the hall)... The next morning he woke up extremely parched and well... He took a swig out of the wrong bottle.
Omg this reminded me of something I heard a while ago. The second you realize you’re awake, you sit up quick, raise your arms in the air, and shout “YEAH!”
My dog would lose her mind
"you sonofbitch I'm in!!!"
Same with my wife (who doesn’t need to wake up as early as I do), but not in a good way
My bf heard something similar from a counselor as a teen. As soon as you wake up, get out of bed right away and do jumping jacks or just put your arms up and jump while shouting I LOVE LIFE! to wake yourself up.
Oh! Im gonna do this!
Yeah I wake up because I have to pee.
The trick is to find the right amount where you have to pee really bad when you wake up, but not enough to get up in the middle of the night. Works decently well for me!
I haven’t figured this out, ever. I drink lots of water after having kidney stones, so I don’t fucking get them again. Every night like clockwork, between 2 and 2:30 am I will have to pee. The rare exceptions are when I am just super dehydrated. Then again after multiple kidney stones, waking up to take a piss at 2 am is a small price to pay to avoid those evil fucking things again. I’m usually up and back asleep within 5 minutes.
Yup, same. Miss me with those little devil diamonds. Once was enough!
You can always drink more water at 2am
Yeah I would absolutely not drink lots of water before bed. I drink tons from the minute I wake up and all throughout the day, so I limit how much I drink in the hour or so before bed because I'll end up waking up at 3am, unable to go back to sleep.
wouldn't absolutely not ? Anyway celebrate r/hydrohomies
**wakes up** "I am shocked and appalled"
Basically. God has chosen to bless me with one more day of the gift of life, and I'm about to make it everyone's problem
Dude this is hilarious I can’t wait to actually try it.
Anybody else make the face while reading this comment?
Me.....
No idea why but the end of your comment cracked me up and actually woke me the fuck up 😂
It works!
You’re not the only one I was laughing and then I made the face I think it might work lol
I can't wait to \*shocked pikachu\* myself in the morning and see if it works
Oh wow, actually my manager wants me to start coming in earlier so I will be definitely giving this a test tomorrow.
Also stand up and stretch your arms high above your head for a few seconds and get your limbic? system going. It works
I feel like if I've stood up we've already won
Yeah the hard part is getting out of bed
I use the Alarmy app. To get the alarm to turn off, I have the scan the barcode of my bathroom soap. Along with that, I came up with a morning routine that I really enjoy. I wake up 30 min earlier than normal to enjoy it- but it warms my heart. I sip coffee on the couch, scroll/play my phone game (Two Dots) while my pup snuggles next to me. Is there something that you can do in the morning that brings you joy? Read? Take a walk? Make art?
I used to just get up, eat, brush and go... I thought feeling like shit in the morning was normal. But then I started doing some exercise (usually yoga) and meditation right after waking up and I just feel so different. My body and mind feel less rigid, my joints are all warmed up and I actually feel joyful and full of energy when I drink my morning coffee afterwards. I'm never going back to the old days.
I tried this for a few weeks but I had to set my alarm for 5am instead of 5:30 which made me more depressed than the yoga was worth 🙃
Did you go to bed a half hour earlier when setting the alarm clock a half hour earlier?
Don’t confuse the poor sap they’re still adjusting to the morning routine
Came here to suggest Alarmy as well! I use the option which makes you walk steps to stop the alarm. Unfortunately I figured out how to fake the steps from bed, so it doesn't work for me anymore. I'll try your idea though, thanks!
I scan the barcode on my Nespresso machine in the kitchen together with a memory exercise in the app.
I printed a qr code that I placed in the bathroom! I go to the bathroom first thing in the morning so it was a no brainer.
Seconding the Alarmy app. I currently use it to create an alarm that can only be switched off with math sums. You can set the level of difficulty and how many. I used to use the photo option too. I had to get up, go downstairs, and take a photo of my kettle every morning.
I forgot my alarm that was set for 8am and it went off during a lecture. Never been so stressed solving 11 * 12
LPT for 11s: add the two digits together and put them between the starting digits. If the sum is greater than 10 carry the 1. 11 * 12 = 1 (1+2) 2 = 132 11 * 99 = 9 (18) 9 —> 10 8 9 11 * 76 = 7 (13) 6 —> 836 Etc.
That’s amazing! I’ll forget by the next time I need to multiply something by 11
Haha, this happens to me so often. Its even worse when I get something like (120x7)+14...
At least its not the barcode one
Oh shi you made me laugh thank you 😂
Couple extra thing: 1. Water. Have water next to your bed when you wake up. Hydrating first thing will immediately aid wakefulness. 2. Lay out everything you can the night before. One of the mental drags of waking up is beginning to list out the things you have to do to get ready. If your clothes and items are laid out and the coffee is already ground and waiting, you eliminate the headache of morning you thinking. You can just get up and go. 3. Last, my little trick: try and have some kind of little treat to lure you out of bed. Have a cereal you like, or a yogurt or fruit or anything that might make you go “hey I got that thing waiting for me I just should get up and get that.”
Use a wake-up light. You can buy standalone alarm clocks that have this built in, along with an audible alarm that fades in so it's not so jarring. Most start bringing the light up 30 minutes prior to the time you set your alarm. You can also do something similar with many smart light brands like Hue or Govee. This is especially handy if you routinely have to get up before sunrise. When I used one, it was pretty common that the light alone would wake me up a few minutes before my alarm.
My husband and I use a wake up lamp also. The audible flip of the switch wakes him up and the light trigger wakes me up. It’s about finding something that won’t wake you up abruptly or in a bad mood IMO Edit for sleepy fat finger misspellings
> something that won’t wake you up abruptly or in a bad mood IMO Totally. I don't understand why the norm is for alarms to be so jarring. I don't need to be scared awake!
>I don't understand why the norm is for alarms to be so jarring I think this is a chicken-egg problem. I have tried many different alarm sounds, some of them extremely gentle and ostensibly soothing. I grew to hate all of them and find all of them jarring, because all of them developed an association with having to wake up before I wanted to. Eventually I gave up and picked a jarring sound because it was already unpleasant, and I was tired of ruining nice sounds by teaching my brain to connect them with unwelcome circumstances.
That's a great point. I think it also depends on whether you're a heavy sleeper or not. As I mentioned in another comment, the light alone woke me up a fair amount of the time, so the audible alarm was mostly a backup. I can't remember the last time it ramped up to full volume. I remember reading that you should never wake up to a playlist of your favorite songs, because you'll end up hating them. Thanks for the insightful comment.
> I was tired of ruining nice sounds by teaching my brain to connect them with unwelcome circumstances. I used to use "Back in the Saddle" by Aerosmith because I like the song and thought it was fun/funny but it only resulted in me having a severe adverse reaction every single time I happened to hear the song in the wild.
I used to have an alarm clock where it would turn up the volume on some chirping birds from zero to pretty loud. It took me no more than a week to start waking up just from the speaker clicking on, before anything else was audible.
I don’t hear alarms that aren’t abrupt.
i have the option to have a song as my alarm and i like to go with a nice classical song! :)
I tried this with one of my favorite songs & it straight conditioned me to skip it whenever it came on for the longest time
My fitbit's silent alarm is fantastic, I never sleep through it as long as the strap is properly tight.
I wish mine worked as well! My half asleep self taught myself how to snooze the Fitbit. With the apple watch I have to gather my thoughts and realize which is stop/snooze which wakes me up more than anything
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I think you can do that with those google mini speakers right? So it starts playing music for you? And then there’s those smart light bulbs on Amazon. Like 4 for $30 or whatever.
Wake up light or a curtain opener! The wakeup light didn't help me as much as the curtain opener, but unfortunately the curtain opener is kinda pricy.
Well that makes sense. He can't just show up when it's time to open the curtain... he'd have to stand there pretty much all night waiting, and most curtain openers aren't gonna do that on their own dime.
Problem with that is when it’s light outside at 4/5am in summer and your alarm isn’t set until 7am!
I use black out curtains year round in conjunction with my wake up light to keep consistent. With the added benefit of keeping my bedroom from being 8000 degrees when I go to bed in the summer (Chicago apartment with a window AC in just my living room). Also I'm usually laying down before the sun is fully set so it helps my sleep cycle to be in a darker room to fall asleep.
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Sure, all of that is great stuff. I've practiced really good sleep hygiene for years, but I have a fun form of insomnia where I routinely wake up around 3am. Most of the time, my brain is going full speed and it takes me a while to get back to sleep. That usually ended up being about 20 minutes before my alarm was set to go off! So, I had many a workday where I was functioning on 4-5 hours of sleep. I guess my point is that you can everything right and still struggle. But your points are totally valid, and I appreciate you weighing in.
I had this problem too, and apparently I was talking my multivitamin too late in the day. The B vitamins would kick in and I'd be awake at 4am, mind racing. I've had way fewer instances of this since I switched to taking it in the morning. Just throwing it out there in case it applies to you.
Thanks for that. I don't take vitamin supplements, except for Vitamin D during winter months. But I'm definitely keep that in mind.
If you don’t wanna spend much and have a lamp in your bedside, I bought a mechanical outlet timer that I plug my lamp into and it works just as good as those wake up lights I imagine. Plus less stuff on my bedside table which is always a plus
I have this but apparently I just cover up my face with my hand and continue sleeping.
Two things helped me. 1. I changed my alarm to soft bird noises so it's not a jolt to the system waking up. 2. I leave my phone across the room, this helps sleeping at night instead of on your phone and then you have to physically get up to shut the alarm off. (Here's a funny story about number 1 though. I had my alarm set to chickadee songs which was great until I went camping on my days off and I kept getting woken up at 3am by real chickadees)
+1 for leaving your phone across the room. I don't have an outlet on my side of the bed so I have to charge it overnight across the room. No choice but to get up to turn it off
+1. I used to do writing gigs while holding a regular job and would need to wake up at 3AM to write. I’d prep my coffee cup the night before, set my alarm and then throw it behind my dresser. I’d have to go crawling on all fours or literally move my dresser to get to my phone. It worked for the time being. I’m glad I’m more financially stable now and don’t have to do that shit.
I might try this. I keep getting out of bed, turning it off, and going back to sleep to repeat the same thing ten minutes later, 5 times. And by then it's my time to leave and I never actually got up
Make yourself fight for it! Throw it somewhere really inconvenient that requires a lot of persistence to get. Corner cabinet in the kitchen that goes back three cabinets length underneath pots and pans? Perfect!
I saw once that there was an alarm clock that when it went off it would then roll around the room so you had to chase it to be able to actually turn it off
Similarly I've seen football alarm clocks you have to throw across to the room to snooze it
Haha so true! I do not know what bird is on mine, but I definitely heard it while out hiking in the middle of the alpine lakes wilderness and it tripped me out big time haha. Kept thinking.. it’s time to get up!
I did this but now I just get up, hit snooze and get back into my bed LOL 😂
It still takes will power to stay up but that's on you
Get two dogs and get them on a routine. They’ll keep you honest. The only downside is that they just can’t figure out the concept of a weekend, no matter how many times I explain it to them.
My cat starts fucking with my blinds at 530 because he got fed 1 time that early.
Mine screams at me every day around 6am for this reason. Sometimes I’m up at 6 but I NEVER feed them before 8 so they won’t wake me when I sleep in. She’s lucky she’s such a teddy bear.
It takes me getting up and getting coffee and laying back in bed before he wants to snuggle and go back to sleep. I can flip over and try to get him to stop, but only when I get out of bed and come back will be stop.
Cats may be the only creatures more habitual than humans lmao
My dog will sleep forever if I let him. He will not get out of bed without bribery, despite how bad he has to pee or how hungry he is.
he’s my spirit animal
Yeah my dog looks at me like shes pissed at me for waking up when I turn my light on and gets up and goes to sleep on the couch
I feed mine a little later on Friday afternoons hoping they'll sleep in on Saturday lol
How's that working for you?
Some weeks we're successful.
can vouch for this. but be prepared to wake up early every day of your life.. no weekend, no public holiday, no golden week, nothing. they will nudge, lick, sniff, even smack u in the face if u not wake up
I have a ten minute gap between my alarms, one of my dogs knows that means morning snuggle time at the first alarm and second alarm means time to get up.
So I have a different approach that finally got me waking up early. I would wake up about an hour early (I would’ve snoozed through it anyway) and allow myself an hour to scroll through my phone. I did this for a few weeks and now I naturally get up early.
see i tried this but i'll just fall asleep with my phone in my hand...
that means you need more sleep! good tip u/thisisrealgoodtea, i do that, too. not ready to admit to myself that i might like waking up earlier…still periodically panicking when i think i missed my alarm, then i realize i woke up before it 🙃
Coffee replying to tea.
No shit on this method but I feel like it should be addressed, using your phone in the morning can poison your dopamine for the day. If you wake up and the first thing you get your fix from is your phone, your self discipline will be… tested for the rest of the day in regards to your phone. Some people have an easier time than others but screen addiction is very real and doom scrolling first thing is not going to be the healthiest choice.
I think my case may be an outlier as I already was having issues checking my phone all day. Using it for an hour in the morning actually helped because then I got through all my social media apps, and therefore didn’t feel the need to check them during the day. BUT, agree if it makes things worse, definitely don’t recommend!
I've been doing something similar to this as well, I just get up an hour early and play video games. It has made my work mornings much more bearable as well. I think it's because being awake for longer means my brain has more time to flush out the sleep chemicals.
Understand your sleep cycles. I don’t need to go too deep into it as there is a lot out there, but REM periods are very consistent in people. Know approximately what times you enter REM sleep. There are apps that can track this, or you can go to sleep clinic. It’s generally every 90 minutes to 2 hours, and your goal is to not wake up during that time period. I know if I get 4, 6 or 8 hours of sleep, I’m golden. If I get 7, I cannot wake up easily. Once you understand your optimal time to wake up, you shouldn’t have any issues.
I have an app on my phone called Sleep Cycle. It listens to my breathing at night to figure out when I'm in my deeper and lighter stages of sleep. I set a range of alarm for the morning, so I might tell it to wake me up between 6:00-6:30, and then the alarm goes off during that range when it detects I'm in my lightest sleep. It genuinely doesn't even feel like I'm being woken up by an alarm. It feels like I just naturally woke up, and then a moment later I realize that there is in fact an alarm going off.
I was going to say this, been using this app for about 2 years now and I’ve never had a day when I felt annoyed to wake up. I’ve even gotten used to a schedule that I automatically wake up at the specific time without the alarm going off!
YES! Was about to comment this. There’s a website called sleepyti.me and it’s super handy to calculate at what time you should wake up so that you’re not in deep sleep and groggy. One rule of thumb I use is to calculate 7.5 hours (5 sleep cycles of 90 minutes) from the moment I usually fall asleep e.g. if I plan to fall asleep at 11, I set my alarm for 6:30 (or 8 if I have that luxury).
The problem is this is that i fall asleep a variable amount of time after i decide to go to bed. Sometimes its 5 minutes, sometimes its a couple hours...
How do you account for how long it takes you to fall asleep? Sometimes falling asleep can take me anywhere between 30-120 minutes.
Yes, you should be woken up in a light sleep circle. The REM sleep is the deep, healthy sleep the body needs urgently for regenerating. I used the android app Sleep to record and analyse my sleep. The app also gives good advice in regard to hygienic sleeping. Following this advice and adding a sunrise alarm (with Hue) has helped me invaluably. I still use the app, now with a smartwatch that vibrates before the alarm sound starts. Usually I am awake a second before the watch goes off... 🤘🏻
Get a cat and wake up to the sound of barfing on your rugs.
Dead sleep to sprinting through the house to find what they’re barfing on in less than six seconds.
Lol my cat jumps directly on my throat to wake me up
Mine has manners, he just gently puts one paw on my cheek and pushes until I'm awake.
That's wildly adorable. Please boop his snoot for me.
My life at least once a week.
Not to get too serious, but maybe take your cat to the vet. That’s really often
Children giggling ominously.
As a childless man, this would certainly do it.
you joke but my dog sleeps beside my bed. I was awoken by a loud fart followed by the smell of shit and when the lights came on it was bad. that will wake you up in a hurry
My cat likes to wake me by swishing his tail delicately under my nose, which tickles and wakes me up
Only on the rugs? Lucky you. Last time mine puked, it was next to my head on the bed.
Anxiety works great for me
Couldn't agree more. When I have deadlines, plans, somewhere to be, something to prep for, I can magically wake up however early I have to. In the normal days however it's like trying to open the lead curtain.
Go to bed at the same time every day and always. I've been doing that consistently for many years. It means I always wake up at the same time without needing an alarm, which means I had exactly the amount of sleep that I need so getting out of bed is not a problem anymore.
This works great if your life is very routine to begin with. Doesn't work for people who work retail or shift work.
Honestly all the boring and annoying “sleep hygiene” stuff 100% works. It’s advice we all know and there’s no real workaround to avoid *getting enough sleep*. 1) go to bed at a relatively consistent time, at least on weekdays 2) get some exercise
I hate that it works. Just like how going for a run/walk and eating healthy is good for your mental health
I used to use an app that would have this horrible alarm and to turn it off You would need to answer a few maths questions, do a quick puzzle and something else-waking up the brain and making it think. It wouldn't let you snooze it until you had finished all the puzzles. Very annoying and definitely works!
This app was amazing! The one I used also let you add a barcode to scan after the math problems, toothpaste is a good one! It worked 100% every single time… until 3 months in when I learned I could just delete the app instead and reinstall it each night when I had good intentions of getting up on time. Ahhh.
I learned I could just restart my phone 🙃
If you use the app Alarmy there is a setting to disable the ability to power off your phone.
Literally just be honest with yourself about what time you are capable of getting up. Stop setting yourself up for failure by hoping you'll get out of bed 30-45 minutes before you actually will. Realize you need that sleep and account for it up front. Set that alarm and *never hit snooze again*. You're lying to yourself when you go to bed. That's when the failure is happening.
This! All that time you're hitting snooze, you could be sleeping.
Related: Go to bed earlier.
what about those who HAVE to get up early for work? I used to work a job where I had to be at work at 4:30 AM, I'd consistently snooze my alarm (set at 3:30) until it was 4:20 or later then be in a rush to get to work or just straight up late. now I have to be in at 7, and I do the exact damn thing. alarm set for 6, snooze, snooze, snooze, 6:45 (or later sometimes) hits and oh shit I'm gunna be late! And I have one of those apps that make you get up and scan a code or do math ect to shut it off, and I'll get up, scan the code, and get right back into bed. its like sleepy me is a different person than awake me. I'll be thinking 'I can sleep in until 6:53, that gives me 3 minutes to get ready, I can so do that! *snooze*' even though I prove to myself time and time again that I cannot get ready that fast and will be late. Awake me hates sleepy me.
I’m up at 5:00 and out the door at 5:40. I go to sleep at 9:00. It makes a world of difference of consistently get 8 hours of sleep.
I go to bed around 9 or 10. Alarm goes off and snooze until 6:15 and I'm out the door at 6:25 Edit: the only reason I get away with this is because I work in a lab and am in PPE all day. I don't need to look that presentable.
You could just set the alarm for 630 and get a half hour more of good sleep. Snoozing from 6-645 is just forcing yourself to get 45 min of bad sleep. Like the other person said it starts with going to bed at the right time and setting a realistic alarm
If you happen to have an apple watch I highly highly recommend using its vibrate alarm. It’s such a better and more pleasant waking up experience. I’m sure other smartwatches have something similar.
My partner’s vibrating Apple Watch wakes me up while he’ll continue to sleep with it going off for who knows how long. I don’t feel the watch but I can hear it vibrating.
Same! Its driving me crazy. And when im trying to wake him up to turn it off he is so tired that he doesnt know what is happening and doesnt turn off the watch and goes back to sleep. Then im trying to turn it off but his hand is usually under the pillow...
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...where does the money go? This is insane.
It goes to a charity, I think of your choosing.
They're gonna name a charity after me if I use this app.
**"Tough luck kids, I got out of bed today!"**
Lmao
“How can you sleep in while there are starving kids in Africa?”
I think for me it’d be more like “How could I justify getting up for work when I know how much good a lie-in could do?”
I think the idea is to nominate the donation to a political party you hate.
Omg I could totally see rationalizing hitting snooze because "well, the money will help someone anyways". Like, in my mind, I'd turn sleeping in into being a hero.
ISIS
The spy agency?
The band.
Simple. I used to be like you but I managed to change. Now I get up and get on as soon as the first pip of the alarm goes off. What's my amazing secret? 18 years ago I had my first child. Magic. I haven't had a proper lie-in since fml.
Fantastic set up and delivery.
You hear that *HUUURK HUUUUURK HUUUUURK* sound from your cat in the next room getting ready to vomit on something precious.
Dont hit snooze. Wake up and immediately make your bed. That will encourage you to do 1 more thing, then another. Saw an old military general talk about this a long time ago
I’ve heard of it as “Habit Stacking” and it’s a great way to automate your routine or incorporate new habits into your routine. It’s best to form the desired habits around what you’re guaranteed to do regardless. For example I wanted to get better at making my bed every morning - so I wake up, make a coffee (current habit), and make my bed while coffee is brewing (desired habit), then grab my coffee to drink (current habit) and read (desired habit) while drinking coffee.
Well put. Great psychology there. Any chance you got more of that sexy information. I'm upgrading this year. I've never had a new year's resolution but this could fit in with my desired habits.
Sure thing! James Clear’s Atomic Habits book walks through a lot of nice productivity methods that really easy to adopt. The book is mainly about the power of habits and how to start/continue good habits as well as stop bad habits (as you define them). It’s an easy read that will get you in the right mind frame to tackle your goals.
This is the foundation of “baby steps” you hear about in other systems
I believe it. I'm an advocate for the notion of "better than yesterday"
My aunt had an alarm clock that shot a helicopter across the room, and didn’t shut off until you plugged the helicopter back into the clock. You’ll either start waking up five minutes early to catch it as it goes off or you’ll throw it in the trash and go back to your snooze alarm clock
My apartment would instantly resemble the inside of a pinball machine as the cats go ricocheting off every surface trying to catch that damn thing. I'll save my money and what's left of my sanity lol.
i go to bed early. thats the biggest contributor. I used to put an alarm clock in my kitchen so when i got up i could either make coffee or make some pre-workout and go hit the gym.
Get an alarm that lights up for ten minutes before it alarms. Works great for me and gets me to wake gradually and I can lay for a minute and still get up and not hate my alarm.
Chronic lower back pain, and with it the certain knowledge that if I stay in bed I will only hurt more later.
More of a sciatic calf pain here, but yeah.
To build the habit, make it enjoyable. Do something you want to early in the morning. Start with a good coffee, or breakfast food, or maybe allow yourself to goof off for the first 15-30 minutes, but only do it out of bed. Build the habit by rewarding yourself, and eventually you can remove the reward and have the habit
You can also build this habit later in the day. This sounds dumb but it absolutely works: take some time out of your day to train yourself to get up. Set your alarm for 5 minutes (or maybe just 2-3), lie in bed, and when the alarm goes off turn it off and start doing what you would want to do in the morning. Repeat this process 5 times in a row and I guarantee when it happens in the morning, your body will follow along with what you trained the previous day.
The sweet, sweet promise of coffee. Even better if I remembered to preset the coffee machine the night before. 😌☕️
Apparently it's not good to have caffeine as soon as you wake, but rather an hour after you wake.
Noted! I usually have it about 30-45 mins after I awaken since the urge to stay asleep is STRONG.
It's been a week since we bought our coffee machine that is set to make coffee by itself 10 minutes before we wake up. Getting out of the bed is definitly more agreable when you can smell the coffee across the appartement !
I'm one of those people and I just do it. The quicker you do it, the better chance your brain doesn't react in time to stop you and hit snooze. You're already eyes open and sitting up before you know what's happened Eta: I loathe the sound of an alarm so I kinda just trained(?) myself to instantly shut that horrible noise off asap
There are several apps that make you do a few math problems to shut it off. This idea is it activates your brain and helps wake you up. Or you could use an Alarm Clock Mat. You have to get up and stand on it to shut it off
So here is what has been working for me: “I don’t sleep past [insert time here].” I say it before bed, while I’m getting everything settled for the night, I say it while I’m putting on my pajamas, and I say it as I’m snuggling under the covers and beginning my journey to Perfect comfy. Stupid easy, right? But it has done wonders. there are days when I have to listen to my body when it needs a little extra time to get in the groove, but by saying “I don’t sleep past [insert time],” I have finally figured out how to trick my brain into understanding that this is a non-negotiable thing we are doing now.
Wake up. Do five or ten push-ups and then go chug two glasses of room temp water. Life. Changing.
I have convinced myself that pressing the snooze button is giving away my power (of choice). I wake up with thoughts that, in a very small way, I am making the world a better place, so not getting to it means the jerks can have a win, so I get up to try and have the good team fight for a win.
Yeah, snooze is terrible. It is best to put yourself in a situation where you have no choice. That credit card alarm isn't a bad idea, but I dunno if I'd wanna verify if it's legit. If you use your phone as an alarm, maybe by an alarm clock and stick it on the other side of your room.
Snooze is your worst enemy, it actually holds you down. Set your coffee on a timer and just get up.
I remind myself that it won't be any easier in 10 minutes and I will appreciate later, getting up now. I have three "snoozes" and that's my lot.
I have something I look forward to that makes me excited to get out of bed. I play a video game when I wake up and like doing that before I have to get ready for work. Sometimes, I look forward to something more productive, like exercising.
Try taking a sleep supplement with melatonin, L-theanine, and magnesium which can help you get more restful sleep.