Tricks to waking up

[tubashaman2]

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[bort]

Well James, I'm right there with you...I had the same trouble in college.

The only *real* way around it is to discipline yourself. The Snooze button is not an option. Maybe put an alarm clock across the room, so you will *have* to physically stand up and turn it off. Be realistic about when you set your alarms too. If you need to be up at 6:00, don't set the alarm for 5:00 and tinker around for an hour...you *will* oversleep. If you have a friend in the class, maybe he/she can give you a wakeup call.

Also, I've heard (and seem to believe) that sleep comes in 90 minute cycles. The closer you can get to having full 90-minute cycles, the better. (So if you have to wake up at 6:00, either midnight or 1:30 would be the best times to go to sleep.)

Or, the old standby for emergencies, drink a few glasses of water before you go to sleep. Nature's alarm clock.

[tubashaman2]

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[MartyNeilan]

I get a kick out of all the college kids who freak out over 8:00 classes. What about when you enter the real world???
I have to be at work at 7:30 AM, and it takes 30 minutes to get there on a good day...
And, if you ever have babies, you can forget about going to bed early...

I am NOT a morning person by any means, and I cannot drink caffeine either.

Life is tough

For me, the best thing is to make a beeline to the shower after my alarm goes off.

Oh, and I physically removed the snooze button several years ago with a screwdriver.

(And, I am still late more often than I need to be...)

[THE TUBA]

When waking up early, you have to realize that you are your own wost enemy.

~Try sleeping with your window's blinds up. It is easier to wake up when there is a huge beam of sunlight in your face.
~Make sure your room is an adequate temperature- it is pretty hard to wake up when it is too cold to get out of bed.
~Put your alarm clock on the other side of the room, but leave stuff in your way so that you will trip, fall, and wake up.
~Put a sticky note on your alarm that says "EXAM TODAY" or something that will catch your attention.
~Use an additional cell-phone alarm, then hide your phone somewhere in your room that will require extra attention to find.
~Use a computer alarm clock that plays music you like (You will be less tempted to turn it off)
~Never ever hit snooze
~Once you wake up, try not to sit down again and definitely do not sit on your bed
~Plan a breakfast that you can look forward to (I'm sure the TNFJ can provide great ideas)

[iiipopes]

Like most of us, I don't have to get up really early, but I do have to "hit the ground running" so to speak to help get ready and help my son get ready for school, and out the door at the same time every morning, regardless of how I may have felt the night before.

It's not just "going to bed early," although going to bed at the same time consistently is a key to the body getting reset every morning.

Alcohol doen't help a person sleep. It seems to, being a general depressant (a person gets drowsy) but then it affects the autonomic parts of the brain and actually prevents true restful sleep.

[Kayla]

I've been having the same problem with getting up in the mornings, but it's usually due to lack of a good night's rest. What I use is a "Big Ben" alarm clock (I call it that because it's freaking loud), and use an online alarm clock (I can PM you the site), which has a variety of settings. I use the electronic sound because it's loud, high-pitched, and extremely annoying. Make sure your computer is far away enough so that it makes you get up and turn it off.

I also put out my clothes and my towel on a chair so when I see them, it just clicks in my head to get in the shower.

Routine is what's really helping me, so set up something so it becomes ingrained in your head once you wake up.

I second the no snooze button.

Just some things from my experience that might help you. Everyone else has given excellent advice.

[tubashaman2]

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[Rick F]

You could get one of those 'run-away-alarm-clocks'

• An alarm clock that runs away and hides to make sure there is no chance you won't wake up. After you hit the snooze button, Clocky rolls off your nightstand and wheels randomly around the bedroom, looking for a hiding place.
  After one to 9 minutes your choice, Clock's alarm goes off again - and it won't turn off until you get out of bed and find him. Runs on 4 AAA batteries.

... or at the very least move your alarm clock across the room. I've always had to do that to force me to get up.

[TubaRay]

Let me begin by stating that I am just not a morning person. For my early years(high school & before), I had a lot of trouble waking up and getting up in the morning. When I left for college, I got the biggest, baddest alarm clock I could find. I came to hate, passionately, that very alarm clock. Or any other alarm clock, for that matter. However, it would wake me up in time to drag my butt out of bed and off to class.

Due to that extreme hatred of alarm clocks, plus the fact that I don't like to be disturbed by anything in the mornings, I have learn what has proven to be a very valuable technique. I have learned to wake up without an alarm clock. Well, not without any alarm clock. I have learned to be my own alarm clock. Each night when I go to bed, I set my "inner" alarm clock. I look to see what time it is when I crawl into bed. I then tell myself what time I need to get up the next morning. I then compute how long of a time period that is. Then I go to sleep. I usually wake up 10-20 minutes ahead of that time. This works out wonderfully because I really don't like to have to jump right out of bed. For me, this can spoil the entire day. You're probably wondering: don't I ever oversleep. The answer is that this is extremely rare. Usually, if I screw up, it is by waking up too early. This does not happen often, though.

For anyone that thinks this sounds like something they would be interested in developing, I will tell you how I stumbled on to it. Since I hate alarm clocks, I began attempting to wake up shortly before the alarm clock would go off. This way I could turn it off before it rang and made me even crankier than I usually am. After doing this for several weeks, it dawned on me that I was consistently waking up before the alarm would ring.

Obviously, this probably is of little to no value for James. One has to begin solving his problem with developing the discipline to get up when it is time to get up.

Another obvious conclusion: YMMV!

[TubaCoopa]

Attach a timing mechanism to a motor and attach that to an airhorn. If that doesn't wake you up, I'm sure your neighbors will!

BTW, the sudden popularity of this thread is bizzare!

[eupher61]

Get up at 6, get your horn out at 7 and warm up for a half hour.

Double duty, Radcliffe.

[Tuba Guy]

Nah, you're all telling him wrong. I had been having a ton of trouble waking up for my 8AM classes,but lately I figured out a really good way to be on time.
I set my alarm for 6 AM, then hit snooze a couple of times (my roommate loves that...even though he's the one who did crew last semester...but I digress). At about 6:30, I can roll out of bed and get dressed...go to the conservatory building, and do an hour warm up before my first class. Get a coffee, and go to class. The first day I did this, I noticed that my low notes in band were speaking a lot louder and more easily, and the whole horn was just playing way more freely.

[Tuba Guy]

OR
Every time you wake up without having to hit the snooze button, reward yourself with a beer. You'll be able to get out of bed more easily in no time

[OOMPAH]

[LoyalTubist]

When I was in junior high, the principal sent a letter to my parents that if I didn't get to school on time, I would be facing major consequences. The letter went out on Friday. My dad had to leave for work at 6:30 am, so when he got up for work he'd get me out of bed. And if I wasn't out, he'd have some ice water to throw on my head. That was Friday that my parents received the note...

Monday, February 9, 1971... I felt something shaking my bed... I was on the top bunk... I thought my little brother was trying to get in the act... My bed was shaking so violently, I fell out of bed and onto the floor...

"OK, Dad!" I yelled. "I'm out of bed now."

I heard a sleepy voice down the hall, "I'm not up yet, son..."

That was the day of the violent Sylmar Earthquake (6.6 on the Richter scale). 65 people were killed and thousands injured (I was one of them).

[Jeffrey Hicks]

While I never had a problem getting up when I was a freshmen in college I had a roommate who could never make it to his 8 am class. So the resident director of our dorm asked me to help him. After trying the normal methods I resulted to the Bee Gee's greatest hits at 630 AM. After that quit working I moved on to Hank Williams Sr. Your cheating heart at full volume that early is something to wake the dead. YMMV

[MaryAnn]

Set the alarm for the very latest time that you can just barely make it to class on time. Then when it goes off, you will be so frantic that you will be awake.

If your room is small and you can "inadvertently" shut it off during the night, put it outside your door. Get a LOUD one.

Go to bed at the same decent hour, EVERY night, without fail. Get up at the same time EVERY day, without fail. This includes weekends. Your body will adjust to this schedule in a surprisingly short amount of time, and your problem will be solved.

MA

[TubaRay]

The entire premise is sophomoric.

If some beautiful young lady suggested meeting for breakfast at 8:00 A.M....or someone offered to sell a 2009 Ford Mustang for $20 at 8:00, there would be no problem waking up.

We all do precisely what we want to do.

That about nails it, doesn't it?

[MartyNeilan]

The entire premise is sophomoric.

If some beautiful young lady suggested meeting for breakfast at 8:00 A.M....or someone offered to sell a 2009 Ford Mustang for $20 at 8:00, there would be no problem waking up.

We all do precisely what we want to do.

That about nails it, doesn't it?

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