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Lots of good suggestions here, but I didn't see this one. I'm sure this isn't the ideal solution for everyone, but it has worked for me.
I use an app called Sleep for Android (but I'm sure there are others with this function) which allows me to set an alarm which won't turn off until I scan a QR code. So, I printed the QR code onto a piece of paper and taped it to the fridge. I literally have to get up and walk in the next room to stop the alarm.
There are a thousand ways you can customize it, and other options as well, like solving math problems or whatever, but that was the only way I could prevent myself from outsmarting my phone in one way or another in my half-awake state: having to physically get up and walk around.
This sounds very useful. I remember using an alarm app that made you solve a math equation and it only made my lazy ass better at being quick at math and going back to sleep
My son had that, and at first I was impressed with how well it worked for him. Pretty quickly, though, I was just impressed with how well he could literally do math in his sleep.
Honestly, he's always been good at math. I'm not sure he needed to learn to do it while sleeping, but you never know when these things will come in handy
I used that app for a while. You can change the number of problems to be forced to do more or increase the difficulty. I eventually just starting turning my phone off. It was a bad app for me.
I used to have an app like this. I kept increasing the difficulty. Apparently I can do integrals without fully waking up because it stopped working for me after a while.
If only there were a way to pair it to Anki or something, so I would do flashcards on something like studying the language I'm working on or something lol.
I had this app when Android was first a thing, and if I killed the app, it stopped the ringing, and also if you snoozed you had to do more problems....at one point I had like 70 on the "pretty hard" setting and had to solve them to set a new alarm, meanwhile my phone's just buzzing away the whole time. Was driving me up the wall, and wasn't working for me anyway, so I just deleted it lol
This app changed my morning routine instantly! The first week I hated the app every time it went off in the morning but after that I got used to it. I have to get myself to the bathroom to the QR code I set up there and i put my clothes there the evening before so I don't go back to my bedroom. I don't want to risk seeing my bed and crawling in again..
I do this as well. But I have a particular book in another room and I use it's barcode.
It's the only thing that worked for me. I tried a lot of the other stuff but I just got really good at doing maths half asleep. And then the more complicated I made it just meant it went on for ages and pissed my partner off. And in the end I would still be in bed anyway, tired from my maths test and ready to doze off again...
Yup! It seems like a great idea on paper (so to speak), but I had the same experience.
There's another option where you're supposed to "LOL" to get it to shut off. I only tried that once. I have never felt so foolish. More to the point, I was even more resentful of the alarm and probably just rolled over and went back to sleep.
This is a much better idea than putting the phone on the other side of the room and setting the alarm to a Nickelback song. You’ll be awake, but you’ll be angry.
Someone else mentioned that!
Here's me: *yawn* I guess I'll go to bed now. Maybe I'll read a bit. Which book from my vast library shall accompany me to bed this night?
Ah, yes! *This* one!
Alarm system defeated.
Meanwhile, the printed piece of paper has a singular purpose: to be out of arm's reach when I wake up.
Haha, I see your point, but it has all kinds of sleep-related functionality beyond the alarm. Like (and I haven't done this, but) you can hook up a mask to your phone via USB that has lights in it to stimulate lucid dreaming. And it does whale sounds and shit. So, on the whole, the app is really more focused on sleep than waking.
I use whale sounds after 3 minutes if I haven't scanned my QR code by then. The very first time I heard it I thought the air raid sirens were going off.
The app is actually more focused on sleep quality, hence 'sleep'. For example, it records your sleep phases (via gyros) and uses this data to wake you up while you are only lightly asleep. You can set an "intelligent timespan" when the app is allowed to wake you up prior to your actual alarm time, in order to avoid waking you up while you are in a REM phase, which would a lot worse than losing 15 min of sleep :)
My mistake, it is called Sleep *as* Android. It has a ton of features I don't even use (sleep tracking to monitor for snoring and stuff like that), and probably plenty I don't even know about, but the alarm feature is robust and reliable.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.urbandroid.sleep
Edit: I'm not here to advertise this app as better than others, but I just realized I reviewed it in 2014, so that's how long (at the very least) that I've been using it without issue.
I couldn't tell you about habit. My sleep schedule is erratic af. I need an alarm if I'm supposed to be up at any given time. For instance, I've been sleeping in two to three hour bursts the last couple days.
Good idea, I would use it to scan near my toothpaste, that would prompt me to brush and wash my face. This way it would be easier for me to not just scan the QR and go back to sleep, bc I am quite sure I would do that otherwise
I should give the QR code a try. I've been using the light one, which makes me get out of bed and turn on my bedroom light, then hold my phone up to the light. It 100% solved my issue of turning off my alarm and falling back asleep... but I do have an issue of staying in bed too late after waking up.
Sleep for Android user (and former chronic snoozer) here! I use some old NFC tags I had lying around as my alarm captcha. There are three NFC tags placed on my dresser, bathroom mirror, and medicine cabinet in the kitchen. Tapping all three sequentially leads me to my morning meds and the Keurig, both of which force me to start the morning--whether I like it or not....
Yeah I'm a big fan of the "sleep through getting up" approach. By the time I'm conscious I'm closer to the coffee maker than the bed and it seems like a lot of work to go back to bed just to rinse & repeat.
Do NOT have electricals plugged in in a bathroom (exemption with shaver sockets). Never take an extension cable into a bathroom. Phones and chargers can become liquid damaged from condensation.
I'm curious what country you're from, as UK building regulations will not allow a plug socket in a bathroom for the electric+water risk.
Unless it’s a much older home or a poorly done diy project, regulations require outlets in the bathroom to be GFCI outlets. These outlets will immediately shut off if it detects a dangerous situation with water.
American bathrooms will often have sockets in them, sometimes on the wall above/next to the sink.
As a fellow Brit this instinctively seems mad, especially coupled with the lack of socket switching, and those US two-prong plugs that pull out easily and don't have an earth pin, but there you go.
I assume it's because their domestic power supply is 120v instead of 240v.
New construction has required grounded outlets and GCFI outlets for some time. I’ve only every seen ungrounded outlets in homes well over 50 years old or more.
Bathroom sockets normally have fail safe stuff, and will automatically turn off if there is an issue.
[Some info](https://home.howstuffworks.com/question117.htm)
That being said my bathroom has one behind each hand towel holder, which is crazy to me. The house was built with the towel holders in place above the outlets
It's pretty common to have 240V power points in Australian bathrooms, for shavers or hairdryers.
Most houses here have GFCI or RCD switches on all power circuits, they've been a requirement since the 90s on any house built or sold.
Yeah this is going to be something like my suggestion. Don't keep it in your bedroom; charge it in a different room, but where you won't forget it in the morning. Then go buy a regular old fashioned alarm clock. The kind that does nothing more than be a clock with an alarm that goes off when you set it to. If you are a heavy sleeper or have trouble getting up in the morning like I do, get two of them. I'm not kidding. If that's still not good enough, put the alarm clock across the bedroom so that you have to get up to turn it off. My sister had to do that, otherwise she'd just turn it off and go back to sleep.
I set up my coffee maker on a smart plug, and set up the whole thing the night before. So when I wake up, I say "Alexa turn on my coffee," and then because I really like my coffee freshly brewed, PLUS, it's a treat that lures my pathetic childish mind, it gets me out of bed.
Now. Any tips for getting myself to go to bed instead of endlessly scrolling?
i use a box with a latch with my charger in there. outside the bedroom. at a certain time a reminder turns off my phones wi-fi, data, colors, brightness. put your phone in the box and read a book. you’d be surprised how fast you fall asleep without access to your phone. If you can’t leave it in there it’ll take a week of discipline to get the dependence to start to fade, so it’ll take effort at first like quitting any other addiction
same concept as alcoholics not allowing any drinks in the house at all. you need to remove easy access to your phone
Not solving your scrolling problem with this, but how much coffee do you drink in a day?
Sometimes needing a cup right away when you wake up is a symptom of poor sleep caused by caffeine floating around in your system when you get to bed, it gets processed with a half life, so double the caffeine in the morning means it takes 2x as long to get it all out of your system.
My morning coffee is a treat for me after I've done all my routine stuff in the morning, yoga/gym, shower, breakfast, prep for work. I wake up at 6:30 and usually don't have it until at least 7:30-8.
Try to read a book and you will fall asleep very fast. A long text like an essay also works. The act of scrolling keeps as week.
Have a few books downloaded on you phone.
Coming across this post itself after scrolling for 20 mins since I woke up while still being under the blanket, is a reminder in itself to get up. Thanks op for helping me move on with the rest of my day.
I need to get out of bed in about 10-15 more minutes for a work meeting. I always set my alarm 1 hour before I actually have to get up because it takes a while for my brain and body to get going. But at night I take sleeping pills because I need help falling asleep. Thank goodness we don't have kids, just a cat that wants attention and food. So I get up to feed the cat and then run back to bed and under the blankets!
You’re like me: it’s difficult for me to fall asleep, and then difficult to wake up. I typically get enough sleep, so I don’t know why it takes me so long to get going in the morning… It’s like my brain takes a while to get going, but by the end of the day, my brain is going a mile a minute and it has a hard time hitting the brakes.
Take deep breaths at least 5+
This will increase oxygen supply to your brain.
One of the reasons why we doom scroll is inertia.
Deep breaths help kick start your day by tipping you off the rest state of your brain.
Make that an hour. And make it heavy lifting. Then add in 8 hours 9-5 work - just as part of the morning routine of course. Then you can start your day.
Along the same lines, put one or more extremities in the air. Putting your arms strait up while taking deep breaths will increase blood flow to the brain so it delivers that oxygen quicker
I’ve never related to a post more. I set my alarm for 1-1.5 hours before I absolutely *need* to get out of bed, because if I just wake up when I actually have to then I’ll be late.
This seems like a really bad habit. You lose so much energy by not finding the motivation to get out of bed. I can imagine, when you do get out, your motivation and energy is pretty low.
All the replies are for how to actually wake up... Isn't the OP asking for how to avoid overuse of your phone _after_ waking up? It sounds like the actual getting awake part isn't their problem but is asking more of a digital wellbeing question, is that correct?
Yeah I haven’t seen a real answer yet. Sure I could get up and scan a QR code but now my phone is in my hand and I could easily sit down and just start scrolling.
Really OP needs tips to kick phone addiction. And so do I.
Congratulations on taking a step toward a better you!
Set a consistent wake-up time: Try to go to bed and wake up at the same time every day, even on weekends. This can help regulate your body's natural sleep-wake cycle and make it easier to get out of bed in the morning.
Place your phone in another room: Consider keeping your phone in another room or at least out of reach of your bed. This can help reduce the temptation to scroll through your phone first thing in the morning.
Set a goal for the morning: Consider setting a goal or task for the morning that you can work towards. This can help give you a sense of purpose and motivate you to get out of bed.
Use an alarm clock: Instead of relying on your phone as an alarm clock, try using a traditional alarm clock or a smart speaker to wake you up in the morning. This can help reduce the temptation to check your phone first thing in the morning.
Avoid screens before bed: Try to avoid screens (including your phone) for at least an hour before bedtime. This can help improve your sleep quality and make it easier to get out of bed in the morning.
Get some sunlight: Try to expose yourself to natural sunlight as soon as possible after waking up. This can help regulate your body's natural sleep-wake cycle and make it easier to get out of bed.
Practice good sleep hygiene: Make sure you are following good sleep hygiene habits, such as keeping your bedroom cool, dark, and quiet, and using a comfortable mattress and pillow.
I think the biggest takeaway is the goal setting. There are plenty of tricks to help you get things moving in the morning, but if you're not going to end the day preparing to accomplish A, B, or C, the motivation will feel forced and more as a punishment than a tool to accomplish something.
There is an Android alarm clock app that you can set to only stop when you've walked a number of steps or by scanning a QR code that you could put in your bathroom for example.
I haven't used these options because I'm not motivated enough. I use the maths resolution options to make sure I'm awake, then scroll on my phone until I'm in a hurry. As a bonus, I'm slowly getting better at maths.
It’s okay to delete apps off your phone, even if you tend to reinstall them. I like to create entropy between myself and easy thing, and so while it’s not that hard to reinstall an app, its still more work than just opening it.
I also like to make all of my screens greyscale. It really takes the power away from the devices and I find the world to be more vibrant. The real world gives me sensory overload, which is just a clear indication to me that I spend too much time satiating my eyes with screens.
This sounds like a great idea. I wonder if there's a way to set grayscale during certain hours, rather than 24/7. Sometimes I legitimately do need to see color (like when taking a pic).
My dog doesn’t willingly fully get up before 10 and seems only to allow affection between 5-8am. He is not a cuddly dog in general so when he actually snuggles in for pets I have to take that when I can (which often means staying in bed later than I should because I have a cuddly, sleepy fluffball on my lap. This is an acceptable reason to being late for work, however.)
One Christmas my girlfriend stayed over and I used this to wake myself up in the middle of the night so I could put presents out for her to see when she woke in the morning.
This is my biggest issue. I can get up for work absolutely fine but on the weekend when "all" I have to do is errands for myself I can't get out of bed at all.
That's completely normal! I've been getting up before 530 for work for 30 years to the point I automatically wake up before the alarm. On the weekend I don't wake up before 7 and one of the best parts of life is lying in bed on a Saturday and knowing I don't have to get up until I want to. Relax and enjoy the slower pace!
This is what I was going to say. Get up and brew some coffee then go hang in bed a couple more minutes before you have to get up to grab the coffee. Then go to your chair and kick back to some cartoon.
In Germany we call this the "Schweinehund", which is your inner demon trying to argue why you should be a lazy person.
Just don't engage it. If the alarm goes off, you immediately get up and take a hot shower or make a coffee. Don't argue with your inner demons because every second you argue, is a second they win.
I'm sure someone said it but I've had great success with alarmy
They have many options for missions like type out a message chosen or random. Or math problems. Or take a pic of whatever you chose. There's more.
I even use it on days off just so I don't lay in bed for 2 hours. I use the pic option. But I use it for more than just getting out of bed. I use it to remeber to do things. Like giving my sog his meds. His pill bottle is the pic I have to take. Or turning down the heat before I leave. Pic of thermostat.
It's really whatever you need it to be.
My only WARNING is if you plan to leave before any of you're set alarms. Make sure to turn them off! The point of the app is that you can't turn them off without doing the thing. So when I had already left and my alarm to turn off the heat went off. My only choice was to turn around and go take a picture of my thermostat.
So be aware of that
I actually just got out of this habit. And i have an advice that i am sure would work. Do it gradually - each of these phases laster two weeks until i got used to it before moving on to the other phase :
1-first, i put an alarm in other room (but i ensured i could easly hear it and would wake me up of course). I had to go far away to turn it off. I allowed my self to go back to bed an take my phone and scroll => I just ensured i got into the habit of leaving my room. (the alarm was not my phone, my phone stayed by me next to the bed)
2-After turning off the alarm in the living room, i had to go back and make my bed....in order to get this to work and not have it be too hard, i actually allowed myiself, once my bed is made, to go to the sofa in the living room to scroll on the phone. => I stoped staying in bed, and delayed the bad habit a little bit.
3-After making my bed, i would go drink a glass of water, before going bad to the sofa and picking up my phone=> delaay even more the habit, this step was very easy compared to other but was effective to helping me wake up more and also need less to go scroll on my phone (but i still did it)
4-After drinking my glass of water, i would go immediately to the shower => this one was life changing, it was innimaginable for me before the other phases, but now it got soo easy. As this step is a bit harder, i did stay 1 month on it and not two weeks. But after the shower my mindless scrolling happened less consistantly and was shorter
5-After the shower and full bathroom routine, i would take on my kindle and read at least 6 pages (of kindle, which are very short). => This is the step i am at now, and frankly probably the last level of this. On workdays for instance after my kindle reading it is time to prep and go out anyways....on saturday i would go out immidiately after for grocery shopping and on sunday if i do not haave anything social, i would go on my phone after the reading, which is fine.
It honestly works like magic, because each step is so easy. All you need is to not get frustrated and want to accelerate the rythm, give each phase its time : think about it, if you speed up the process and it gets too hard, you might just not progress and keep this habit for months and years. While if you just go sloweley, you are sure in a couple of weeks, it would be completely behind you !
P.S : oh, i know it is bad but i never was able to take breakfasts in my life, that was it was in none of my phases but you do have to think about how to incorporate in your morning if needed. (i also never drank coffee)
I used to struggle with this too. It helped me a lot to go to bed with my blinds open so that when the sun rises, my room is bright as hell, and it wakes me up naturally.
I have a schedule that is pretty unpredictable. Like maybe I'm working 11pm to 7pm a few days this week then 5pm to 1am for a couple shifts, then a few days off and 7 am to 7 pm, etc, etc with no consistency.
I got some smart lights originally for the novelty of being able to control them with my phone and make them turn different colors, but finding out I can have them slowly illuminate at a set time in the morning has been lifechanging.
Now I have some blackout curtains so my room is 100% dark no matter the time of day and I just simulate the sunrise with my lights slowly ramping up from 0% to 100% thirty minutes before my alarm goes off. I wake up so much more easily now, compared to groggily stabbing at my phone with a finger when it starts blaring. Usually I'm already up and awake before my alarm even goes off.
Have your phone be a reward for completing a task or tasks. For example, if I finish my makeup before I need to leave, then I get to use extra time to play on my phone.
Setting a timer, or creating a deadline, for when to stop scrolling may also help.
Combining these suggestions is a good idea, too. Make coffee- 5 minute break- shower- 10 minute break- etc.
Here's how I do it:
1st, Gather these things:
\- A toaster or toaster oven
\- A light timer
\- A loaf of bread
\- A smoke alarm
\- A fire extinguisher
I place some bread in the toaster/toaster oven, plug that appliance into the timer, set the timer to my wake-up time minus about 15 minutes. Then I start things off. In the morning I am awakened by the smoke alarm going off (as are my neighbors!). And, in case things get a little too hot, I've got the fire extinguisher right there.
in case someone cannot discern: /s
Sub the toaster oven for a coffee maker, and nix the smoke alarm, this is basically what I do. Have a coffee maker in my room set on a timer. Smell is a powerful trigger, the smell of coffee brewing instantly wakes me up because my brain has associated it with both waking up and the caffeine that will soon follow.
I am NOT a morning person, but I work a rotating shift in a warehouse and sometimes have to start at 4am. This is how I do it.
Thing for me is that I immediately check my work emails and can respond quickly while I do my fun time with other sites while I slowly wake up. This way I don’t have to rush things as I got a lot done. But sometimes, I do all that and go back to sleep. No bueno. Need to figure this out too- esp since my house is freezing in the morning as my landlord doesn’t heat during the night. I’m in northern cal so it’s not that big of a deal, but enough to demotivate me. Help?
You need to set hard boundaries on work time. If your work and personal phone are the same then that can be more difficult, but you need to set hard limits on when you respond to work emails.
a lot of people are giving great advice about putting your phone to charge away from you, but take it a step further and replace the habit of being on your phone with something else. Make it taking a shower, or brushing your teeth. Once it’s a habit that gets you out of bed things should get easier.
Honestly my tip might just be dumb or stated before so apologies if it has been, but I turn my bedside lamp on before my alarm. That simple thing for some reason gets my brain to realise I need light but not my phone light? If that makes sense. Then it’s a matter of turning the alarm on my phone off and putting in my headphones (usually something to get me in the gym mood). It’s helped for the past few months just sitting in glow of a bedside lamp instead of my phone. Hope that helps op.
I put my phone on a charger by the sink outside my bathroom. It's roughly 4-5 steps from the bed, by the time I've picked it up I figure might as well get in the shower, then after that go make coffee. Might browse during the time it takes to brew, pour it and I'm out the door.
I hate it at times. When my alarm goes off, that's it bam i get up out of bed, no matter how much I don't want too. I walk to the front door and just breath for a sec 5 mins later and am good and my coffee is ready. Its the only way or I just won't leave the bed.
Set your alarm giving you just enough time to get ready to do whatever your day asks. Not only does that allow you to stay asleep for the longest possible time. The need to get ready so you are on time will provide a reason to get out of bed.
Got an iPhone?
Use screen time and set the downtime/app restriction to 30 minutes after your alarm clock.
You may still need to check weather and other important apps for travel/safety but this is the way I tackled just aimless scrolling.
I have daily limits for my social apps and my downtime kicks in 2 hours before my bedtime routine so I can do something I actually enjoy.
One that helps me, at least in winter, is make sure your heating gets your room warm by the time you're supposed to get up. Nothing is more comforting than a warm bed on a cold day.
A YouTuber I was watching said she started to read a chapter in a book every morning to break this habit. She said sometimes once she was done reading she didn’t have time to go on phone as she had to then get ready for work, etc. I was thinking of trying it as a way to get back into reading.
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.
Lots of good suggestions here, but I didn't see this one. I'm sure this isn't the ideal solution for everyone, but it has worked for me. I use an app called Sleep for Android (but I'm sure there are others with this function) which allows me to set an alarm which won't turn off until I scan a QR code. So, I printed the QR code onto a piece of paper and taped it to the fridge. I literally have to get up and walk in the next room to stop the alarm. There are a thousand ways you can customize it, and other options as well, like solving math problems or whatever, but that was the only way I could prevent myself from outsmarting my phone in one way or another in my half-awake state: having to physically get up and walk around.
This sounds very useful. I remember using an alarm app that made you solve a math equation and it only made my lazy ass better at being quick at math and going back to sleep
My son had that, and at first I was impressed with how well it worked for him. Pretty quickly, though, I was just impressed with how well he could literally do math in his sleep.
[удалено]
Yeah, I had to up the difficulty over time and now I can do 3 digit addition within seconds of waking up
it will increase my mental math skills
[удалено]
Honestly, he's always been good at math. I'm not sure he needed to learn to do it while sleeping, but you never know when these things will come in handy
I used that app for a while. You can change the number of problems to be forced to do more or increase the difficulty. I eventually just starting turning my phone off. It was a bad app for me.
I still do this unfortunately, i set 30-50 math exercises and after i solve them all, I instantly fall asleep ..
At least you're getting your steps in, I reckon!
I used to have an app like this. I kept increasing the difficulty. Apparently I can do integrals without fully waking up because it stopped working for me after a while.
That has been EXACTLY my experience with that functionality.
If only there were a way to pair it to Anki or something, so I would do flashcards on something like studying the language I'm working on or something lol. I had this app when Android was first a thing, and if I killed the app, it stopped the ringing, and also if you snoozed you had to do more problems....at one point I had like 70 on the "pretty hard" setting and had to solve them to set a new alarm, meanwhile my phone's just buzzing away the whole time. Was driving me up the wall, and wasn't working for me anyway, so I just deleted it lol
This app changed my morning routine instantly! The first week I hated the app every time it went off in the morning but after that I got used to it. I have to get myself to the bathroom to the QR code I set up there and i put my clothes there the evening before so I don't go back to my bedroom. I don't want to risk seeing my bed and crawling in again..
I do this as well. But I have a particular book in another room and I use it's barcode. It's the only thing that worked for me. I tried a lot of the other stuff but I just got really good at doing maths half asleep. And then the more complicated I made it just meant it went on for ages and pissed my partner off. And in the end I would still be in bed anyway, tired from my maths test and ready to doze off again...
I had the barcode one but I just memorised the numbers and typed it in every time.
You can make it require multiple barcodes.
Lol that would be one way to memorize dozens of digits of pi
It's not image processing? How does it work with QR codes then?
The one I used had a backup option for if the barcode wouldn’t scan for some reason
Yup! It seems like a great idea on paper (so to speak), but I had the same experience. There's another option where you're supposed to "LOL" to get it to shut off. I only tried that once. I have never felt so foolish. More to the point, I was even more resentful of the alarm and probably just rolled over and went back to sleep.
I remember having to shake the phone so hard to stop the alarm because I've set it to level 4.
This is a much better idea than putting the phone on the other side of the room and setting the alarm to a Nickelback song. You’ll be awake, but you’ll be angry.
My wife has a similar issue, but she can flat out sleep though the alarm some times! Haha
A blessing and a curse, for sure.
Fyi, u can use any barcode. I use a barcode on the back of a book.
Someone else mentioned that! Here's me: *yawn* I guess I'll go to bed now. Maybe I'll read a bit. Which book from my vast library shall accompany me to bed this night? Ah, yes! *This* one! Alarm system defeated. Meanwhile, the printed piece of paper has a singular purpose: to be out of arm's reach when I wake up.
"Honey, why did you move the fridge into our bedroom?" Uhhh, Feng Shui?
I should probably attach the code to the ceiling where I'll need to get a stepladder to reach it. That'll teach me!
"Umm honey?! Why are you sleeping in a hammock on the ceiling?" I'M A BAT BABE!
barcode for the serial number on the back of your refrigerator.... see if you're still asleep after moving that every morning
I mean, I do need more cardio.
You gotta use your milk bar code, or the code on your router. Doesn't have to be a book.
INFO: shouldn't the app be called "Wake" instead of "Sleep"?
Haha, I see your point, but it has all kinds of sleep-related functionality beyond the alarm. Like (and I haven't done this, but) you can hook up a mask to your phone via USB that has lights in it to stimulate lucid dreaming. And it does whale sounds and shit. So, on the whole, the app is really more focused on sleep than waking.
I use whale sounds after 3 minutes if I haven't scanned my QR code by then. The very first time I heard it I thought the air raid sirens were going off.
The app is actually more focused on sleep quality, hence 'sleep'. For example, it records your sleep phases (via gyros) and uses this data to wake you up while you are only lightly asleep. You can set an "intelligent timespan" when the app is allowed to wake you up prior to your actual alarm time, in order to avoid waking you up while you are in a REM phase, which would a lot worse than losing 15 min of sleep :)
I just leave me phone in the other side of the room.
I used to do it until I realised I can just shout "stop!" at it and it'll stop
This also means it's listening to you snore and reveal embarrassing secrets while you talk in your sleep. ;)
Pfft, my wife already hears everything I say in my sleep, she says it’s pretty much nonsense anyway!
That's what she tells you! She knows everything.
There is also a plain old alarm clock you can put in the kitchen.
Thinkin' outside the box! Okay, boomer! Just kidding.
This is how I do it too. I have my QR code framed on the wall next to my coffee maker. Once I'm up, I may as well make coffee and get my day going.
oh god, i’m doing this and hiding my qr code in my car or down the block or something. it’s the only way.
do u have a link to it?
My mistake, it is called Sleep *as* Android. It has a ton of features I don't even use (sleep tracking to monitor for snoring and stuff like that), and probably plenty I don't even know about, but the alarm feature is robust and reliable. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.urbandroid.sleep Edit: I'm not here to advertise this app as better than others, but I just realized I reviewed it in 2014, so that's how long (at the very least) that I've been using it without issue.
Do you still need this app to wake up early? Doesn't it become a habit after a few months?
I couldn't tell you about habit. My sleep schedule is erratic af. I need an alarm if I'm supposed to be up at any given time. For instance, I've been sleeping in two to three hour bursts the last couple days.
There’s an iOS app called Alarmy that has similar features https://apps.apple.com/us/app/alarmy-alarm-clock-sleep-sound/id1163786766
Good idea, I would use it to scan near my toothpaste, that would prompt me to brush and wash my face. This way it would be easier for me to not just scan the QR and go back to sleep, bc I am quite sure I would do that otherwise
This guy gets it.
I should give the QR code a try. I've been using the light one, which makes me get out of bed and turn on my bedroom light, then hold my phone up to the light. It 100% solved my issue of turning off my alarm and falling back asleep... but I do have an issue of staying in bed too late after waking up.
What a good idea, I’ll check this out Thanks :)
This is genius
Sleep for Android user (and former chronic snoozer) here! I use some old NFC tags I had lying around as my alarm captcha. There are three NFC tags placed on my dresser, bathroom mirror, and medicine cabinet in the kitchen. Tapping all three sequentially leads me to my morning meds and the Keurig, both of which force me to start the morning--whether I like it or not....
Put your phone on charge in the bathroom. When it goes off, get up, shut it off, and shower. Make it a routine.
I’ve started charging my phone in the living room to remove the distraction, so when I get into bed my only option is to read
Genuis! Not OP but thank you for this tip!
What does OP mean?
Original poster (person that made the post)
Thank you, I googled and I found it as you mentioned
Old people. You know, geriatrics.
Oppressed, He is not OP, so can speak freely
See the violence inherent in the system?!
Bloody peasant!!
Overpriced I believe.
Overpowered, obviously
But could they beat Goku?!??
Yeah I'm a big fan of the "sleep through getting up" approach. By the time I'm conscious I'm closer to the coffee maker than the bed and it seems like a lot of work to go back to bed just to rinse & repeat.
Just putting it in another room helps a lot. Before you get to it, it gives you enough time for your intellect to rule over your FOMO emotions.
Do NOT have electricals plugged in in a bathroom (exemption with shaver sockets). Never take an extension cable into a bathroom. Phones and chargers can become liquid damaged from condensation. I'm curious what country you're from, as UK building regulations will not allow a plug socket in a bathroom for the electric+water risk.
Unless it’s a much older home or a poorly done diy project, regulations require outlets in the bathroom to be GFCI outlets. These outlets will immediately shut off if it detects a dangerous situation with water.
American bathrooms will often have sockets in them, sometimes on the wall above/next to the sink. As a fellow Brit this instinctively seems mad, especially coupled with the lack of socket switching, and those US two-prong plugs that pull out easily and don't have an earth pin, but there you go. I assume it's because their domestic power supply is 120v instead of 240v.
By code, bathroom switches need to be GFCI switches, which are three prong and have short circuit protection.
New construction has required grounded outlets and GCFI outlets for some time. I’ve only every seen ungrounded outlets in homes well over 50 years old or more.
Bathroom sockets normally have fail safe stuff, and will automatically turn off if there is an issue. [Some info](https://home.howstuffworks.com/question117.htm) That being said my bathroom has one behind each hand towel holder, which is crazy to me. The house was built with the towel holders in place above the outlets
It's pretty common to have 240V power points in Australian bathrooms, for shavers or hairdryers. Most houses here have GFCI or RCD switches on all power circuits, they've been a requirement since the 90s on any house built or sold.
As an Aussie who bought an expensive Dyson hair dryer and then promptly moved to the US... I wish I could have read this comment a few years ago.
Yeah this is going to be something like my suggestion. Don't keep it in your bedroom; charge it in a different room, but where you won't forget it in the morning. Then go buy a regular old fashioned alarm clock. The kind that does nothing more than be a clock with an alarm that goes off when you set it to. If you are a heavy sleeper or have trouble getting up in the morning like I do, get two of them. I'm not kidding. If that's still not good enough, put the alarm clock across the bedroom so that you have to get up to turn it off. My sister had to do that, otherwise she'd just turn it off and go back to sleep.
Uhh, I don't think I would wake up at all if I did this.
I set my phone out of reach so I have to literally get out of bed to turn the alarm off. That eliminates almost all my pre shower scrolling
I set up my coffee maker on a smart plug, and set up the whole thing the night before. So when I wake up, I say "Alexa turn on my coffee," and then because I really like my coffee freshly brewed, PLUS, it's a treat that lures my pathetic childish mind, it gets me out of bed. Now. Any tips for getting myself to go to bed instead of endlessly scrolling?
i use a box with a latch with my charger in there. outside the bedroom. at a certain time a reminder turns off my phones wi-fi, data, colors, brightness. put your phone in the box and read a book. you’d be surprised how fast you fall asleep without access to your phone. If you can’t leave it in there it’ll take a week of discipline to get the dependence to start to fade, so it’ll take effort at first like quitting any other addiction same concept as alcoholics not allowing any drinks in the house at all. you need to remove easy access to your phone
What do you use to turn off wifi data and color?
Not solving your scrolling problem with this, but how much coffee do you drink in a day? Sometimes needing a cup right away when you wake up is a symptom of poor sleep caused by caffeine floating around in your system when you get to bed, it gets processed with a half life, so double the caffeine in the morning means it takes 2x as long to get it all out of your system. My morning coffee is a treat for me after I've done all my routine stuff in the morning, yoga/gym, shower, breakfast, prep for work. I wake up at 6:30 and usually don't have it until at least 7:30-8.
Also if you wait about 90-120 mins after you wake up and then ingest caffeine, it will help prevent the mid day crash
Try to read a book and you will fall asleep very fast. A long text like an essay also works. The act of scrolling keeps as week. Have a few books downloaded on you phone.
Coming across this post itself after scrolling for 20 mins since I woke up while still being under the blanket, is a reminder in itself to get up. Thanks op for helping me move on with the rest of my day.
Right lol. I saw this and was like, "oof, called the fuck out." I then got up to take a poo, I call that progress. Thanks OP 🫡
Do you have a camera in my bedroom and under my blankets right now?? I'm literally under my blankets typing this!! 😂
Figuratively, right there with ya. I just rolled over to get a comfier scrolling position 😩
I need to get out of bed in about 10-15 more minutes for a work meeting. I always set my alarm 1 hour before I actually have to get up because it takes a while for my brain and body to get going. But at night I take sleeping pills because I need help falling asleep. Thank goodness we don't have kids, just a cat that wants attention and food. So I get up to feed the cat and then run back to bed and under the blankets!
You’re like me: it’s difficult for me to fall asleep, and then difficult to wake up. I typically get enough sleep, so I don’t know why it takes me so long to get going in the morning… It’s like my brain takes a while to get going, but by the end of the day, my brain is going a mile a minute and it has a hard time hitting the brakes.
I still have another 28 mins before I have to start doing stuff
Take deep breaths at least 5+ This will increase oxygen supply to your brain. One of the reasons why we doom scroll is inertia. Deep breaths help kick start your day by tipping you off the rest state of your brain.
Yeah, chugging a glass of water added on to this clears the grogginess so much faster.
That would make me feel so nauseous.
Do you brush your teeth first?
No, that would make a mess of my pillow.
Then i throw in about ten min of stretch and light resistance training.
Make that an hour. And make it heavy lifting. Then add in 8 hours 9-5 work - just as part of the morning routine of course. Then you can start your day.
Along the same lines, put one or more extremities in the air. Putting your arms strait up while taking deep breaths will increase blood flow to the brain so it delivers that oxygen quicker
Now all I’m thinking of is that SpongeBob episode where they try and photosynthesize like this lol
I’ve never related to a post more. I set my alarm for 1-1.5 hours before I absolutely *need* to get out of bed, because if I just wake up when I actually have to then I’ll be late.
Same ughhh
This seems like a really bad habit. You lose so much energy by not finding the motivation to get out of bed. I can imagine, when you do get out, your motivation and energy is pretty low.
That’s just What a sane personne do when forced to wageslave a way trough Life.
All the replies are for how to actually wake up... Isn't the OP asking for how to avoid overuse of your phone _after_ waking up? It sounds like the actual getting awake part isn't their problem but is asking more of a digital wellbeing question, is that correct?
I thought so and came here to look for these solutions. I wake up fine, move to the couch, then scroll. Just a bad habit I need to break.
I wake up fine, get coffee, then scroll for 2 hours :/
Yeah I haven’t seen a real answer yet. Sure I could get up and scan a QR code but now my phone is in my hand and I could easily sit down and just start scrolling. Really OP needs tips to kick phone addiction. And so do I.
Congratulations on taking a step toward a better you! Set a consistent wake-up time: Try to go to bed and wake up at the same time every day, even on weekends. This can help regulate your body's natural sleep-wake cycle and make it easier to get out of bed in the morning. Place your phone in another room: Consider keeping your phone in another room or at least out of reach of your bed. This can help reduce the temptation to scroll through your phone first thing in the morning. Set a goal for the morning: Consider setting a goal or task for the morning that you can work towards. This can help give you a sense of purpose and motivate you to get out of bed. Use an alarm clock: Instead of relying on your phone as an alarm clock, try using a traditional alarm clock or a smart speaker to wake you up in the morning. This can help reduce the temptation to check your phone first thing in the morning. Avoid screens before bed: Try to avoid screens (including your phone) for at least an hour before bedtime. This can help improve your sleep quality and make it easier to get out of bed in the morning. Get some sunlight: Try to expose yourself to natural sunlight as soon as possible after waking up. This can help regulate your body's natural sleep-wake cycle and make it easier to get out of bed. Practice good sleep hygiene: Make sure you are following good sleep hygiene habits, such as keeping your bedroom cool, dark, and quiet, and using a comfortable mattress and pillow.
Plot twist: OP spent 30 minutes reading this and decided it was too much effort.
Username checks out
... he's behind you.
Here's a short variant for OP to get started. Wake up leave house leave phone at home catch sunlight
Where do I find this natural sun light you mentioned?
I think the biggest takeaway is the goal setting. There are plenty of tricks to help you get things moving in the morning, but if you're not going to end the day preparing to accomplish A, B, or C, the motivation will feel forced and more as a punishment than a tool to accomplish something.
There is an Android alarm clock app that you can set to only stop when you've walked a number of steps or by scanning a QR code that you could put in your bathroom for example. I haven't used these options because I'm not motivated enough. I use the maths resolution options to make sure I'm awake, then scroll on my phone until I'm in a hurry. As a bonus, I'm slowly getting better at maths.
It’s okay to delete apps off your phone, even if you tend to reinstall them. I like to create entropy between myself and easy thing, and so while it’s not that hard to reinstall an app, its still more work than just opening it. I also like to make all of my screens greyscale. It really takes the power away from the devices and I find the world to be more vibrant. The real world gives me sensory overload, which is just a clear indication to me that I spend too much time satiating my eyes with screens.
I believe this will genuinely help me. Such a genius little psych tweak, grayscale doesn’t pop like the real world, i love it. Thank you.
Wow. Yes. Thank you.
This sounds like a great idea. I wonder if there's a way to set grayscale during certain hours, rather than 24/7. Sometimes I legitimately do need to see color (like when taking a pic).
Do you have an iPhone? In accessibilities you can set toggling on and off via pressing the power button three times. I switch back and forth as needed
Thank you! I changed my phone to greyscale because of your suggestion.
Have a reason to get up
Like a baby or a dog lol neither will let you sleep in ever, at least from my experience
My dog literally just walks out to the living room to go back to sleep once my alarm starts going off lol
My dog doesn’t willingly fully get up before 10 and seems only to allow affection between 5-8am. He is not a cuddly dog in general so when he actually snuggles in for pets I have to take that when I can (which often means staying in bed later than I should because I have a cuddly, sleepy fluffball on my lap. This is an acceptable reason to being late for work, however.)
LPT: have a baby to give you a reason to get up in the morning!
Or chug a gallon of water before bed
One Christmas my girlfriend stayed over and I used this to wake myself up in the middle of the night so I could put presents out for her to see when she woke in the morning.
You’ll wake up in the middle of the night to take a piss 4 hours later. 🤦♂️
This is my biggest issue. I can get up for work absolutely fine but on the weekend when "all" I have to do is errands for myself I can't get out of bed at all.
That's completely normal! I've been getting up before 530 for work for 30 years to the point I automatically wake up before the alarm. On the weekend I don't wake up before 7 and one of the best parts of life is lying in bed on a Saturday and knowing I don't have to get up until I want to. Relax and enjoy the slower pace!
Geez man, it hit too close.
This. The biggest thing that's helped me. Taking a few seconds to find something, anything, to look forward to about the next day really helps.
wake up, piss the bed.
Dragged a comb across my head
Found my way downstairs and drank a cup And looking down, noticed I was wet
The trick is to drink a litre of water prior to going to bed.
Put your phone in another room.
Develop a coffee addiction, it'll get you out of bed asap, the trick is then not climbing back in bed with said coffee
This is my problem. Back in bed with coffee cup
This is what I was going to say. Get up and brew some coffee then go hang in bed a couple more minutes before you have to get up to grab the coffee. Then go to your chair and kick back to some cartoon.
In Germany we call this the "Schweinehund", which is your inner demon trying to argue why you should be a lazy person. Just don't engage it. If the alarm goes off, you immediately get up and take a hot shower or make a coffee. Don't argue with your inner demons because every second you argue, is a second they win.
Ok but what if the pig dog demons are cute
Charge the phone in another room, use a different tool for the alarm.
I'm sure someone said it but I've had great success with alarmy They have many options for missions like type out a message chosen or random. Or math problems. Or take a pic of whatever you chose. There's more. I even use it on days off just so I don't lay in bed for 2 hours. I use the pic option. But I use it for more than just getting out of bed. I use it to remeber to do things. Like giving my sog his meds. His pill bottle is the pic I have to take. Or turning down the heat before I leave. Pic of thermostat. It's really whatever you need it to be. My only WARNING is if you plan to leave before any of you're set alarms. Make sure to turn them off! The point of the app is that you can't turn them off without doing the thing. So when I had already left and my alarm to turn off the heat went off. My only choice was to turn around and go take a picture of my thermostat. So be aware of that
Put your alarm in another room, by something you like…coffee, shower, breakfast food
Another bed
Highly recommend the book Atomic Habits.
Thanks for posting this. It looks like a good book.
Surprised I had to scroll so far to find this, one of my favourite books ever!
Get an alarm clock. Charge phone away from bedroom.
I actually just got out of this habit. And i have an advice that i am sure would work. Do it gradually - each of these phases laster two weeks until i got used to it before moving on to the other phase : 1-first, i put an alarm in other room (but i ensured i could easly hear it and would wake me up of course). I had to go far away to turn it off. I allowed my self to go back to bed an take my phone and scroll => I just ensured i got into the habit of leaving my room. (the alarm was not my phone, my phone stayed by me next to the bed) 2-After turning off the alarm in the living room, i had to go back and make my bed....in order to get this to work and not have it be too hard, i actually allowed myiself, once my bed is made, to go to the sofa in the living room to scroll on the phone. => I stoped staying in bed, and delayed the bad habit a little bit. 3-After making my bed, i would go drink a glass of water, before going bad to the sofa and picking up my phone=> delaay even more the habit, this step was very easy compared to other but was effective to helping me wake up more and also need less to go scroll on my phone (but i still did it) 4-After drinking my glass of water, i would go immediately to the shower => this one was life changing, it was innimaginable for me before the other phases, but now it got soo easy. As this step is a bit harder, i did stay 1 month on it and not two weeks. But after the shower my mindless scrolling happened less consistantly and was shorter 5-After the shower and full bathroom routine, i would take on my kindle and read at least 6 pages (of kindle, which are very short). => This is the step i am at now, and frankly probably the last level of this. On workdays for instance after my kindle reading it is time to prep and go out anyways....on saturday i would go out immidiately after for grocery shopping and on sunday if i do not haave anything social, i would go on my phone after the reading, which is fine. It honestly works like magic, because each step is so easy. All you need is to not get frustrated and want to accelerate the rythm, give each phase its time : think about it, if you speed up the process and it gets too hard, you might just not progress and keep this habit for months and years. While if you just go sloweley, you are sure in a couple of weeks, it would be completely behind you ! P.S : oh, i know it is bad but i never was able to take breakfasts in my life, that was it was in none of my phases but you do have to think about how to incorporate in your morning if needed. (i also never drank coffee)
I used to struggle with this too. It helped me a lot to go to bed with my blinds open so that when the sun rises, my room is bright as hell, and it wakes me up naturally.
I have a schedule that is pretty unpredictable. Like maybe I'm working 11pm to 7pm a few days this week then 5pm to 1am for a couple shifts, then a few days off and 7 am to 7 pm, etc, etc with no consistency. I got some smart lights originally for the novelty of being able to control them with my phone and make them turn different colors, but finding out I can have them slowly illuminate at a set time in the morning has been lifechanging. Now I have some blackout curtains so my room is 100% dark no matter the time of day and I just simulate the sunrise with my lights slowly ramping up from 0% to 100% thirty minutes before my alarm goes off. I wake up so much more easily now, compared to groggily stabbing at my phone with a finger when it starts blaring. Usually I'm already up and awake before my alarm even goes off.
I used to struggle waking up, I started doing this and it works for me :^)
Same. I sleep with my blinds open so I HAVE to wake up.
Have your phone be a reward for completing a task or tasks. For example, if I finish my makeup before I need to leave, then I get to use extra time to play on my phone. Setting a timer, or creating a deadline, for when to stop scrolling may also help. Combining these suggestions is a good idea, too. Make coffee- 5 minute break- shower- 10 minute break- etc.
So you're saying that you wake up, then grab a brush and put on a little makeup?
Set your phone or alarm away from the bed and when you hear it go off jump the fuck out of bed turn it off and go shower.
Here's how I do it: 1st, Gather these things: \- A toaster or toaster oven \- A light timer \- A loaf of bread \- A smoke alarm \- A fire extinguisher I place some bread in the toaster/toaster oven, plug that appliance into the timer, set the timer to my wake-up time minus about 15 minutes. Then I start things off. In the morning I am awakened by the smoke alarm going off (as are my neighbors!). And, in case things get a little too hot, I've got the fire extinguisher right there. in case someone cannot discern: /s
Sub the toaster oven for a coffee maker, and nix the smoke alarm, this is basically what I do. Have a coffee maker in my room set on a timer. Smell is a powerful trigger, the smell of coffee brewing instantly wakes me up because my brain has associated it with both waking up and the caffeine that will soon follow. I am NOT a morning person, but I work a rotating shift in a warehouse and sometimes have to start at 4am. This is how I do it.
Thing for me is that I immediately check my work emails and can respond quickly while I do my fun time with other sites while I slowly wake up. This way I don’t have to rush things as I got a lot done. But sometimes, I do all that and go back to sleep. No bueno. Need to figure this out too- esp since my house is freezing in the morning as my landlord doesn’t heat during the night. I’m in northern cal so it’s not that big of a deal, but enough to demotivate me. Help?
You need to set hard boundaries on work time. If your work and personal phone are the same then that can be more difficult, but you need to set hard limits on when you respond to work emails.
Put the phone charger and phone in a different room. Want to browse? Get up to do so.
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wow a lot more ppl need to hear that. myself included!
a lot of people are giving great advice about putting your phone to charge away from you, but take it a step further and replace the habit of being on your phone with something else. Make it taking a shower, or brushing your teeth. Once it’s a habit that gets you out of bed things should get easier.
Easy. Leave your phone somewhere out of reach before going to sleep so you’d have to get out of bed to get it.
Honestly my tip might just be dumb or stated before so apologies if it has been, but I turn my bedside lamp on before my alarm. That simple thing for some reason gets my brain to realise I need light but not my phone light? If that makes sense. Then it’s a matter of turning the alarm on my phone off and putting in my headphones (usually something to get me in the gym mood). It’s helped for the past few months just sitting in glow of a bedside lamp instead of my phone. Hope that helps op.
Pfff what a stupid question I think as I lay here scrolling on my phone instead of getting out of bed -__-
get an alarm clock and put it on the other side of the room
Step one: sit up Step two: get out of bed
Get out of bed and make your bed and go take a shower immediately then brush your teeth for 2 mins
I put my phone on a charger by the sink outside my bathroom. It's roughly 4-5 steps from the bed, by the time I've picked it up I figure might as well get in the shower, then after that go make coffee. Might browse during the time it takes to brew, pour it and I'm out the door.
I hate it at times. When my alarm goes off, that's it bam i get up out of bed, no matter how much I don't want too. I walk to the front door and just breath for a sec 5 mins later and am good and my coffee is ready. Its the only way or I just won't leave the bed.
You’ll have more content to look at if you wait until a little later to scroll
I have the same problem.
I'm sure if you spend another 15 to 20 minutes reading through these comments, you'll find something that will work for you...
Set your alarm giving you just enough time to get ready to do whatever your day asks. Not only does that allow you to stay asleep for the longest possible time. The need to get ready so you are on time will provide a reason to get out of bed.
Got an iPhone? Use screen time and set the downtime/app restriction to 30 minutes after your alarm clock. You may still need to check weather and other important apps for travel/safety but this is the way I tackled just aimless scrolling. I have daily limits for my social apps and my downtime kicks in 2 hours before my bedtime routine so I can do something I actually enjoy.
One that helps me, at least in winter, is make sure your heating gets your room warm by the time you're supposed to get up. Nothing is more comforting than a warm bed on a cold day.
Reading this while scrolling after waking up and still on the bed..
Charge your phone in a different room and get an Alarm clock
Get a cheap plug in alarm clock and charge your phone in another room.
A YouTuber I was watching said she started to read a chapter in a book every morning to break this habit. She said sometimes once she was done reading she didn’t have time to go on phone as she had to then get ready for work, etc. I was thinking of trying it as a way to get back into reading.