Waking Up

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Jacob,
After many years of starting work at 6AM there is no substitute for a getting to bed at a decent time. However the best way to make sure you get up on time is to have a first period gym class. Gym teachers are not nearly as sympathetic as parents or other teachers when you are late to class. This is a fool proof, no fail, method of fixing the problem permanently.

[Cartwright]

I too have a fair bit of trouble getting up, and though I don't have it any more, I used to have this alarm clock that had "wacky wake up calls" where it had a cycle of recorded messages. It broke a while back, but having human voices waking me up instead of music or a buzzer really seemed to help!

[Grant Cox]

I've heard of that "sonic bomb" alarm clock before, let us know if it actually works well. I could really use something good to wake me up in the morning.. I'm a user of the "hit snooze until your mom comes in" method, which kinda sucks..

[Schnabel]

I have to say it, even as anti-FIRST spirited as it is, you need to try to catch a few more Z's. Now for me though, I have found that a regular alarm modified to where the switch to turn it off is attached to a Hex Bug so you have to get up and find the switch every day in a different spot. You need a long wire, but it gets you out of bed!! Personally I have 4-5 alarms daily. I have a regular alarm, then my stereo turns on, then when it shuts off it clicks real loud, then another regular alarm. Then I sleep another 15 minutes before finally getting up.

[Dan Petrovic]

Maybe you aren't getting a good enough sleep because of your matress?

Some people naturally prefer firm beds, some people naturally prefer soft beds. That probably makes a difference.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

I also remember a movie I watched once where the main charachter in college had a hard time waking up so he tried all kinds of inventions throughout the movie. During the closing credits, a voice would announce "You have 1 minute to leave the bed before 220 volts will be applied to your bed springs!" "You have 30 seconds..." It counted down 'three, two, one' and then dipped to black at zero with a lot of yelling and electrical SFX.

[cooker52]

Originally Posted by InfernoX14

Maybe you aren't getting a good enough sleep because of your matress?

Some people naturally prefer firm beds, some people naturally prefer soft beds. That probably makes a difference.

I'll vouch for that. Sometimes I look forward to just thorwing my sleeping bag on the ground and sleeping on the hard floor. Other nights, the bed is the easiest (especially these last few weeks. Between schooling and our school musical, I've just completely been exhausted! You don't even want to see my room!

Originally Posted by Bharat Nain

Sleep works in patterns so once you train your biological clock to wake up in the morning, it will automatically wake you up. The key is to set a schedule for yourself and follow it. The first few days might be harder but it gets easier. Read this page for more info.

I can never sleep any later than 8 o'clock. Don't know why. Truthfully, I would rather it be around 7, more time to do... whatever! Make some French Toast, Get an early bike ride, Chief Delphi.

Originally Posted by Budda648

My alarm is across my room... however, I just go right back into bed after I turn it off... I've missed several 8AM math classes because of this... no big deal though. Heh...

Every night, I turn my alarm on. Every morning, I wake up and it is off and I have no recolection of turning it off. Maybe I should turn my Cellphone's Alarm on, and My MP3 Players alarm on.

As for getting to school, walk or ride your bike. It'll save you some money and give you a good exercise.

[DonRotolo]

Sleep is indeed a pattern. Once your body is trained to wake up at a certain time - takes about 2 weeks - it will do that on its own unless outside influences occur. the key is consistency - always go to bed at exactly the same time, no matter what. I go to sleep just as Futurama comes on Adult Swim on Cartoon Network (22:30 EDT). (Bonus: I think I'm sleep-learning the scripts).

Waking up was never easy for me, but now that I'm ancient 6:45 am works just fine. Consistency.

To help you wake up, get some sugar in your system as soon as you get up. Not refined sugar or HFCS,instead try some orange juice. If you can manage, wake up 30-60 minutes early, drink a glass of juice, then snooze (yes, go back to sleep!) until it's time. You will be amazed at how easy it is to get up, because your body is already working.

Use that routine without any variation at all for 2 weeks, then tell me what happens. You'll be amazed.

Oh, I should mention: It is remotely possible that you have a sleep disorder, it is not uncommon, and in reality you might not be getting any good sleep at all. The ideal is to have a sleep study (your doc can help there). The cheap (but not a good substitute) alternative is to set a video camera on yourself all night and watch it the next day (on fast forward) - how well do you sleep? Toss and turn? Stop breathing? Or sleep like a rock?

Final alternative: Wire up a servo to dump 1 liter of water on you, that'll wake you up.

You definitely have to address this, it can have serious consequences. Ins chool the worst you get is an F, in the real world you get fired. And, at college, there's no one who cares to bother waking you.....

Don

[whytheheckme]

Originally Posted by Ogre

I have to say it:

Go to bed earlier.

If I could do this, I would love it! Unfortunatley, I have a lot of stuff to do, plus I'm a night person. So, good tip, but not too much of an option for me.

Originally Posted by Billfred

I agree, go to bed earlier--but at the same time, consider some alarm where the ability to shut it off requires leaving your bed.

I know this works because I'm living proof. My alarm clock is on the far side of my desk, a couple of steps away over a precarious trek of Standard Dorm Room Pile Of Something. Meanwhile, my iBook (which I have an alarm set on that I use more frequently) is within arm's reach--and it usually gets a snooze button that puts myself half an hour off the pace before I roll out of bed.

YES! This is a great tip. I forgot I used to do this. I used to put my laptop under my bed (I'm in a loft) so that I had to climb down the ladder to shut it off. This worked until my parents complained about the music being too loud.

Originally Posted by Budda648

My alarm is across my room... however, I just go right back into bed after I turn it off... I've missed several 8AM math classes because of this... no big deal though. Heh...

My problem right now. Sure, I'll wake up to the clock, but there is nothing preventing me from turing it off. I don't even remember turning it off.

Originally Posted by MGoelz

A while back I remember reading about a few crazy alarm clocks, and I managed to find these again. They are pretty entertaining if nothing else. And most or all (I can't remember) force you to leave your bed.

http://www.hemmy.net/2006/03/06/puzzle-alarm-clock/

http://www.aarontang.net/design/product_clock.html

http://www.nandahome.com/products.clocky.html?

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/gadgets/m...ere-141731.php

If all else fails you could invest tons of money into constructing your own android that you could program to wake you up.

Some of that stuff is crazy. I ordered the Sonic Bomb mentioned earlier.

Originally Posted by Jaime65

In stores i have seen pillows that you can hook up to your ipod or radio how about getting one of those and have your radio come on at a certain time and have it turned up loud enough for you to wake up in the morning all you have to do is sleep on the pillow also if you have a cell phone have some of your friends that wake up at the same time as you call you for a morning wake up call that always work for me

My sister's friend has one of these. It's not terribly loud.. probably design for music to put you to sleep, not to wake you up ... good suggestion tho. Constructing an alarm clock pillow would be fun.

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

Jacob,
After many years of starting work at 6AM there is no substitute for a getting to bed at a decent time. However the best way to make sure you get up on time is to have a first period gym class. Gym teachers are not nearly as sympathetic as parents or other teachers when you are late to class. This is a fool proof, no fail, method of fixing the problem permanently.

I'm done with my gym credits ... No more disgruntled gym teachers barking in my ear in the morning .

Originally Posted by Cartwright

I too have a fair bit of trouble getting up, and though I don't have it any more, I used to have this alarm clock that had "wacky wake up calls" where it had a cycle of recorded messages. It broke a while back, but having human voices waking me up instead of music or a buzzer really seemed to help!

Hmm. This is a thought. Perhaps I'll set my alarm song to The Pi Song... three point one four one five nine two six five....

Originally Posted by GeeForce

I've heard of that "sonic bomb" alarm clock before, let us know if it actually works well. I could really use something good to wake me up in the morning.. I'm a user of the "hit snooze until your mom comes in" method, which kinda sucks..

Will do.

Originally Posted by Schnabel

I have to say it, even as anti-FIRST spirited as it is, you need to try to catch a few more Z's. Now for me though, I have found that a regular alarm modified to where the switch to turn it off is attached to a Hex Bug so you have to get up and find the switch every day in a different spot. You need a long wire, but it gets you out of bed!! Personally I have 4-5 alarms daily. I have a regular alarm, then my stereo turns on, then when it shuts off it clicks real loud, then another regular alarm. Then I sleep another 15 minutes before finally getting up.

Good use of hexbug! Sounds like an EE project!

Originally Posted by InfernoX14

Maybe you aren't getting a good enough sleep because of your matress?

Some people naturally prefer firm beds, some people naturally prefer soft beds. That probably makes a difference.

This is a good point. I have recently switched matresses, and I sleep a lot better. I don't think that the problem is my quality of sleep, rather, my length of sleep.

Originally Posted by Don Rotolo

Sleep is indeed a pattern. Once your body is trained to wake up at a certain time - takes about 2 weeks - it will do that on its own unless outside influences occur. the key is consistency - always go to bed at exactly the same time, no matter what. I go to sleep just as Futurama comes on Adult Swim on Cartoon Network (22:30 EDT). (Bonus: I think I'm sleep-learning the scripts).

Waking up was never easy for me, but now that I'm ancient 6:45 am works just fine. Consistency.

To help you wake up, get some sugar in your system as soon as you get up. Not refined sugar or HFCS,instead try some orange juice. If you can manage, wake up 30-60 minutes early, drink a glass of juice, then snooze (yes, go back to sleep!) until it's time. You will be amazed at how easy it is to get up, because your body is already working.

Use that routine without any variation at all for 2 weeks, then tell me what happens. You'll be amazed.

Oh, I should mention: It is remotely possible that you have a sleep disorder, it is not uncommon, and in reality you might not be getting any good sleep at all. The ideal is to have a sleep study (your doc can help there). The cheap (but not a good substitute) alternative is to set a video camera on yourself all night and watch it the next day (on fast forward) - how well do you sleep? Toss and turn? Stop breathing? Or sleep like a rock?

Final alternative: Wire up a servo to dump 1 liter of water on you, that'll wake you up.

You definitely have to address this, it can have serious consequences. Ins chool the worst you get is an F, in the real world you get fired. And, at college, there's no one who cares to bother waking you.....

Don

This is a good point. Right now, I have no set sleep schedule, and wind up going to bed anywhere between 1 and 4 (AM EST). My wake time is pretty consistant howeverl; About 1.5 minutes before the bus leaves my house.

As far as the sugar, I have been doing this for a while. As soon as I get on the bus, I have a 10 FL OZ bottle of grapefruit juice. Juice, not drink. Tropicana.
This makes me totally on the ball when I get to school, so I'm happy with this. I'm not one to eat in the morning (usually around 11-12 is when I have breakfast), so this small amount is fine for me.

And as far as sleep disorders, I think I have SAD. I did an Invention Convention project in 5th grade about a cure for SAD, and created a device that mounts in-line with your light circuit which 'cures' the disorder. Essentially, you set the timer for when you want to get up, and it slowly brings up the lights in your room gradually over 45 minutes before you get up, to simulate natural sunrise. It's a pretty corny invention, and I haven't used it in years. Maybe I should consider finding it again...

Thank you, everyone, for your suggestions. I haven't had to pay this fee yet... and I can't wait until my Sonic Bomb Clock gets in.. that should be fun!

Jacob

[Bertman]

Have you considered that the volume you require to get you up is damaging? You might consider adjusting your sleep habits, like getting 3 hours at night and taking a 3 hour nap in the afternoon. Or maybe a full nights sleep. I know it's a radical concept, but I suspect you are a radical type guy. In short, I recommend you sleep enough to stay healthy and don't use anything to wake you that is potentially damaging.

[MGoelz]

Originally Posted by Budda648

My alarm is across my room... however, I just go right back into bed after I turn it off... I've missed several 8AM math classes because of this... no big deal though. Heh...

I have a problem with alarm clocks as well. I think I turn them off in my sleep. If I manage to not turn it off in my sleep (only happened when I found a corner on the opposite side of the room to put it), I wake up to a horse sound. Actually, it is rather amusing, because normal alarm clocks don't wake me up. I got this alarm clock free (I don't remember where) but it sounds like a neighing horse. It's really annoying though. The only thing that saves me from waking the rest of my family up with it is the fact that their bedroom are upstairs, and mine is down.

So maybe just trying abnormal, random sounding alarm clocks.

Also maybe try different psychological approaches. I once did an experiment about waking up. In one, I fell asleep thinking about what time I had to wake up, and I ended up waking up a few minutes before that time. I don't know if that was just a fluke or if it would really work.

Yeah, I do agree with setting a sort of pattern though. That used to work for me. You go to bed at the same time, wake up at the same time, and establish a cycle. It would take some effort, but it might work.

[John Gutmann]

I hate to say it but go to bed earlier. Trust all of us and trust me I am the same way and college was a big eye opener and I get up easier now. No offense but I highly doubt that your too busy to get everything done to go to sleep early. What do you have to do that you HAVE to do. go to school, come home do hw, eat and shower. there is no was you have 6 hours of homework every night. How much time do you spend on CD? How much time do you spend on aim? How much time do you spend watching tv?

-John

[whytheheckme]

Originally Posted by John Gutmann

I hate to say it but go to bed earlier. Trust all of us and trust me I am the same way and college was a big eye opener and I get up easier now. No offense but I highly doubt that your too busy to get everything done to go to sleep early. What do you have to do that you HAVE to do. go to school, come home do hw, eat and shower. there is no was you have 6 hours of homework every night. How much time do you spend on CD? How much time do you spend on aim? How much time do you spend watching tv?

-John

Most of my time is consumed running my $1M company. I'm lucky if I get all my schoolwork done (usually not), let alone TV (I don't watch any... at all.) Then there is the act of going to school, and eating and stuff. As far as CD, its open on a monitor in my cubicle, and I respond when I see something cool, or need advice.

So I guess every minute that I'm awake I'm doing something productive. I wish there were more hours in a day, or rather, days were broken up differently, to accommodate for people like me.

But yes, I will try to get as much sleep as possible. Thanks for the tip.

Jacob

[EricH]

If you weren't so close to the ceiling, I'd suggest making a device attached to your bed that would, at a given time, tip the bed. Result? You are on the floor, (hopefully) fully awake. (The problem with extra height is that you would need padding at the bottom to avoid hurting yourself.)

[sanddrag]

Originally Posted by whytheheckme

Most of my time is consumed running my $1M company.

huh?