Waking up without an alarm?

[direrael]

I've always envied people who are able to get up consistently on their own, but I read somewhere that anyone can do it. Apparently the key is to choose a set time in the morning, and then get up the first time the alarm goes off at that time, repeatedly, until your internal clock adjusts and you start waking up at that time on your own. Also, going to bed on time every night is supposed to help.

 

Do any of you wake up without an alarm, or have you transitioned into the habit? How did you do it?

[Gilfren]

For years i was a master of the 'snooze button karate chop'. I even began to PLAN to hit the snooze the night before..

 

I bought a fitbit zip wristband about a month ago and it vibrates at wake up time. It does not have a snooze button. If I do not get up at that time, I am screwed. Ever since this, i have noticed that I wake up about 5-10 minutes before the alarm. Even on weekends.

 

HOWEVER.

 

It is not a full state of awake. It's enough to look at the clock, but not really do much else. Also, if I've had a busy day the day before, or a heavy meal, I sleep through that shiz.

 

I would be interested to see exactly how successful these "internal clocks" are when it comes to consistency.

[Shivani]

When I was at school, I often woke up just before my Dad came to wake me as he left for work, but it wasn't consistent. If I'd stayed up particularly late the night before, or I wasn't feeling well, I slept through until he knocked on the door. So it can happen, but I'd recommend keeping the alarm anyway, just in case. 

[SeeingRed]

When I was at school and consistently waking up at 5:30 am and going to sleep around 10 pm. I would always wake up two minutes before my alarm clock went off. That is why I have a strong dislike for the number 28. Those last two minutes of sleep are big, haha. 

[Incantor]

A few years ago I was working from home and had no need for an alarm clock.  I woke up earlier than at any other time in my life.  At first I woke with the sun, but after awhile I started waking up at about 5:30 am.  I don't even have a clock in the room anymore as the illumination interferes with my sleep and I kept waking up, checking the time, and calculating how much sleep I had left before I had to get up.  Sometimes it was difficult for me to fall back asleep, and I felt like my sleep was very shallow because of all this time anxiety always intruding.  So I think removing the clock had something to do with it - I just got up when I woke up, and over time that naturally settled at 5:30am.

 

Then I got an office job and found that I wasn't waking up early consistently anymore and started keeping my phone in my room to utilize its alarm function.  I fell into bad habits with the snoozing, and wanting just a little more sleep even though such "sleep" isn't really sleep at all and is completely unproductive.  Snoozing makes me more tired that if I just get up.  One of my challenge goals is to stop using the snooze function and to just get up when the alarm sounds - or even better - before.  If I wake and think it's morning and look and there is 2 minutes until the alarm sounds, I'm going to just get up then - I hate hearing the alarm sound and I think that is part of why I started using the snooze.  Even though it meant I heard the alarm even more.  I dunno, I'm not really rational when I am half asleep!

 

So anyway, yes it is possible, but you have to get up at the same time every single day, never sleep in, even on weekends.  It helps immensely if you also go to bed at the same time each day, never stay up late.  It gets your body into a routine.  Which will be ruined with the daylight savings time shifts, grrr.

[Kunai]

I wish I could do this. I use 7 alarms (2 on the alarms clock and 5 on my phone) that all have to be turned off independantly when I have to be awake at a certain time. Can't remember what it's called but I have these weird dreams where I wake up late and rush my whole morning only to realize i"m dreaming and wake up in my bed again lol.

[Daithi]

I always wake up 10-30 mins before my alarm, Doesn't matter if I'm sick, exhausted or was out drinking no matter what time the alarm is set to I wake up before it.

[Incantor]

Daithi, on 08 Jun 2013 - 13:32, said:
I always wake up 10-30 mins before my alarm, Doesn't matter if I'm sick, exhausted or was out drinking no matter what time the alarm is set to I wake up before it.

 

Do you get up then or snooze until it goes off for real?

[bloom]

I usually get up 30-60 minutes before my alarm goes off. My body wants to be up around 7:00 for some reason even though I set my alarm for 7:45.  Once I'm awake at that point, I am usually incapable of going back to sleep. When I was younger, I'd often wake up about a minute before the alarm went off. I've always been this way though, definitely a morning person and not a night owl.

[Zorch]

I've always envied people who are able to get up consistently on their own, but I read somewhere that anyone can do it. Apparently the key is to choose a set time in the morning, and then get up the first time the alarm goes off at that time, repeatedly, until your internal clock adjusts and you start waking up at that time on your own. Also, going to bed on time every night is supposed to help.

 

Do any of you wake up without an alarm, or have you transitioned into the habit? How did you do it?

 

I (usually) get up without an alarm - It's really exactly as you've said - get up the same time every day, and your body will adjust - and don't do anything to sabotage your sleep cycle, like staying up late or having caffeine in the evening.

 

The trick for me was to keep my alarm clock out of reach from the bed, so I had to get up, out of bed - no hitting the snooze button, so I was up and moving consistently.  This really helped me get into a routine, and now most days I'm up a little before the alarm.  Not staying up late is also important, as if you're too tired you may sleep in anyways.

 

I still recommend keeping the alarm clock as a fall-back - once again, out of arm's reach so you have to get up to turn it off.

[dkz]

I don't really believe in waking up without an alarm, since I'd be so paranoid about not waking up the night before so I wouldn't be able to sleep. One thing that I do recommend for a "softer" wake up is to get one of those wakeup lights. It slowly turns on the light for some 20 min before the set time and on the set time it slowly fades in the radio. It's an amazing wake up. These lights are also fairly cheap if you don't buy the fanciest one.

[direrael]

Yeah, I probably would keep a regular alarm as a backup, just in case.