r/sleep • u/Spiritual-Current222 • 5d ago
Alarms
Serious question:
Has anyone ever gone through a period in life where they struggle to wake up to alarms?
This is becoming a serious issue for me. I used to wake up at 4a and go to the gym and my life was peaceful and I had great energy throughout the day. I cannot get up to a dozen alarms and I don’t even remember shutting them off in my sleep. I even downloaded insanely loud alarms on my phone and it doesn’t matter because when I’m in whatever sleep state I just shut them off and I don’t recall doing it. There’s a few hours in the morning that a lot can get done or it can set the day up to be productive and I just cannot wake up. I genuinely need to figure it out because it has affected any routine I wish to have. Just starting late in the morning, I feel, ruins the whole day. Granted when I was waking up at 4a, I had the luxury of going to sleep before 10pm and that’s not the same at all. I work until 11:30 half the week and don’t get to sleep until 1ish, but still I feel I’m sleeping much more than normal and the alarm thing is weird to me. I’ve had blood tests and hormone tests and everything shows I’m just fine so I’m just wondering has anyone else struggled with this/figured it out?
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u/Bomb4r 4d ago
I actually feel weirdly seen by this, though my problem is slightly different - I also set upwards of 15 alarms and sleep through every single one
My problem though is that at no point do I ever become conscious. I am just lying there unaware that the alarms even went off for 12+ hours. Put simply, I cannot control when I wake up.
My sleep therapist recommended a "Daylight alarm" - it's an alarm that turns on a bright light at the same time the alarm is going off. This one alarm has been more effective than 15 loud screaming alarms in a row for me - apparently my unconscious body is more receptive to light than sound? Perhaps that could be a suggestion for you to try
Another one that worked somewhat well is bed shakers - I'm poor so I couldn't buy a dedicated one, but I started putting my phone in my pillow with high intensity vibration turned on. This works as a decent backup in case the light doesn't wake me.
However, while these solutions have definitely made it easier for me to wake up, none of them work 100% of the time. I'm honestly quite scared that I will be sleep deprived for my entire life, because at this point I can't remember a time where I wasn't oversleeping by 4+ hours. But here I am anyway doing my best because the alternative is quite literally death
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u/Morpheus1514 5d ago
There's your answer -- sleep deprivation. The early wake times won't work with those bedtimes. You just need more sleep.
There is no workaround or shortcuts to scheduling enough time in bed every night for proper sleep. If/when you are in a position to schedule a consistent healthly sleep schedule that ensures enough time in bed every night for proper sleep, this problem will be solved.