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Alarm clock for a student who cannot wake up

63 replies

MotherofMigraines · 16/09/2022 07:08

DD is off to uni next week and I don't know how she is going to make lectures as she relies on me to wake up. Her phone alarm doesn't rouse her even when going off for an hour. Has anyone got any recommendations for an alarm clock that would rouse the dead? She is not going to get value for money from her tuition fees otherwise.

OP posts:
TigerRag · 16/09/2022 07:38

Would a vibrating / alarm clock with light be better than one that makes noise?

MotherofMigraines · 16/09/2022 07:44

Perhaps, although her phone vibrates. I'll look at ones with light. Need something to penetrate her sleep!

OP posts:
IceStationZebra · 16/09/2022 07:46

I don’t struggle to get up but much prefer the alarm on my Apple Watch. There must be something available that vibrates or alerts on a wrist strap?

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ZuzuMyLittleGingersnap · 16/09/2022 07:56

This might do the trick?

Possibly by sheer irritation.

www.menkind.co.uk/jumping-alarm-clock

LaaDeeDaaa · 16/09/2022 08:15

I had the same issue but dd is in halls so can't have a super loud alarm or everyone will hate her.

She is going to use her Alexa and a song that irritates her and a battery alarm clock that beeps so she can put it right next to her face.

I've also told her she's paying for the lectures so she needs to go to them.

TigerRag · 16/09/2022 08:32

I have a Hatch clock. They're not cheap though. Alternatively, a Fitbit?

MotherofMigraines · 16/09/2022 08:34

Thanks some good suggestions - I think a vibrating pad might be worth a try as she's in a shared flat and won't be popular if she wakes them all.

OP posts:
Poppins2016 · 16/09/2022 08:39

Would it help to look at the reason she can't wake up? If my alarm doesn't wake me, it's almost always because I've gone to bed too late and/or practiced poor "sleep hygiene" leading to poor quality sleep and reduced ability to wake up...

msbevvy · 16/09/2022 08:40

TigerRag · 16/09/2022 08:32

I have a Hatch clock. They're not cheap though. Alternatively, a Fitbit?

In my experience the vibration on a Fitbit isn't powerful enough to wake me.

Maybe there is something designed for the hard of hearing that would work.

She could also try getting a lamp with a timer or smart bulb set to shine in her face in the morning.

hobbledyhoy · 16/09/2022 08:44

I was your DD once, my mum used to call me to make sure I was up! Alongside that I had one of those old fashioned alarm clocks with the bells.
Appreciate that's not a long term strategy but might help get her into a routine and put the door.
I'm much better now but I still like my bed!

keiratwiceknightly · 16/09/2022 08:46

I'm properly deaf (wear hearing aids) and an old fashioned double bell alarm clock wakes me. I did have to apologise to the people in the next door rooms when I lived in halls but they were nice about it. And you can't snooze an alarm like that so it only went off briefly.

museumum · 16/09/2022 08:47

A sunrise alarm clock was a game handed for me. The proper “lumie” that emits daylight frequency light. It comes on gradually by my face/head for half an hour before then beeping loudly when the light is at its brightest.
I still need the beeps to wake me and sometimes snooze it but I’m FAR less deeply asleep by then due to the light.
nothing worked before this.

Nocaloriesinchocolate · 16/09/2022 08:47

Whichever alarm clock she gets she should put it out of reach of the bed so she has to get up to switch it off

Kellie45 · 16/09/2022 08:48

Good loud alarm and tell her to put the clock out of reach so she has to get out of bed to turn it off. And she must remember the secret of getting up in the morning is going to bed at night!

Regularsizedrudy · 16/09/2022 08:50

When I was a student I got one of those old fashioned ones with a bell and hammer! I used to put it in a wardrobe drawer so I had to route for it when it went off, it was the only thing that would wake me up!

StnNurse · 16/09/2022 08:50

I use this, I’m hearing impaired and on occasion I don’t always hear my phone alarm, especially if I’ve got an ear infection or some such. DD2 (13) uses one too as dye id also hearing impaired.

Alarm Clock for Heavy Sleepers or Hearing Impaired, OCUBE Loud Alarm Clock with Bed Shaker, Deaf Alarm Clocks with Vibrating, Adjustable Dimmer and Volume, Snooze,USB Charging Port amzn.eu/d/i5ZnlDi

TheOrigRights · 16/09/2022 08:51

I didn't have anyone making sure I was up, so I put my alarm clock on the other side of the room.

I think your young adult child needs to take responsibility for getting herself to lectures.

Volterra · 16/09/2022 08:55

DS has a sunrise alarm plus 4 set on his phone at varying times which seemed to work.

BuildersTeaMaker · 16/09/2022 08:58

first, teenagers do struggle with early mornings generally as has now been proven by controlled studies.There is a strong argument that older teens should start school later around 10am form some quarters. It has to do with the surge of brain development taking place during puberty.

theconversation.com/the-biological-reason-why-its-so-hard-for-teenagers-to-wake-up-early-for-school-88802

so, it may be helpful to share this with her , and then discuss if she may, through that, have got into habits of late wakening. But now she through that puberty part, she should be able to train herself to wake earlier and not feel like death warmed up.

then work with her on establishing an early rise in these last couple of weeks before she leaves- get her to switch her body clock forwards but going to bed unusually early and maybe using something like Kalms or even antihistamine for a couple of nights to help her break the cycle.

sure, equip her with alarm clocks of her choice.

BUT, then leave her to it. She is an adult and has to take responsibility for getting herself up. If she misses lectures it is her money she is wasting and her future she is jeopardising. Bear In mind she will not be the only one struggling. I had a mate at uni who was useless at waking, I’d bang on her door loudly on way to breakfast to help her. She’ll probably get disturbed by noise of other students stirring and crashing around grumpily in the morning .

my eldest DS was terrible at waking. Even at uni. but I left him to it and it was his problem not mine. He did get his shit together by 2nd year, and now, at nearly 30, wakes early and is never late for work. As I say it’s a combo of how young peoples brains are developing, and habit and they do, in most part, learn to manage or grow out of it

Kellie45 · 16/09/2022 08:58

Make sure she has some practice at getting herself up before she goes!

hewouldwouldnthe · 16/09/2022 09:02

An old fashioned ⏰ clock that looks like this? Rings loud enough to wake the dead.

NerrSnerr · 16/09/2022 09:05

Are you sure that alarm clocks don't wake her because she knows that you'll always do it?

My MIL tells me that my husband sleeps do deep he couldn't hear his alarm clock as a child so she had to wake him every single day. When he went to university he managed, he has held down a job for 20 years and has never over slept (and I didn't take over the job as mum so he of course gets himself up).

TigerRag · 16/09/2022 09:10

msbevvy · 16/09/2022 08:40

In my experience the vibration on a Fitbit isn't powerful enough to wake me.

Maybe there is something designed for the hard of hearing that would work.

She could also try getting a lamp with a timer or smart bulb set to shine in her face in the morning.

Shakawake do vibrating alarm clocks that are stronger than Fitbits.

CatsAreCrackers · 16/09/2022 09:26

www.amazon.co.uk/Rolling-Sleeper-Bed-Room-Clockie-Run-away/dp/B004MSMUGI/ref=sr_1_5?crid=C7K1OSYMR20H&keywords=clocky&qid=1663316753&sprefix=cloc%2Caps%2C949&sr=8-5

Get a Clocky... Hideous thing, runs across the room and the noise would wake the dead!

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