To find it impossible to wake up? HELP!

[teethingproblems]

Right, I'm a teacher which means I have to leave by about 07:30. For the last year I've been getting up (no exaggeration) about 8 minutes before I have to leave. My mornings are so rushed and it means I go into work feeling like a mess.

I set alarms for 06:30 but then always end up snoozing them or setting later ones.

Ive tried the trick of leaving your phone on the other side of the room - I simply get it, snooze the alarm and get back into bed.

Ive tried everything, I physically don't get up until I'm cutting it so fine that I may be late to lesson 1. IT is awful!

I would love an alarm clock that would gradually wake me up and perhaps gently play the radio or something, so I give myself 45 minutes to have breakfast, a shower etc. Any recommendations?

I also recommend a Lumie clock. I used to be like you and now I wake up with just the light and can get out of bed. It's a complete game changer (and I still go to bed quite late).

Lumie sunrise alarm here. I still hate getting out of bed when it's still dark outside, but Lumie definitely helps. Also having the lights off before 11pm. And regular exercise (not just before bed.)

@RoomOfRequirement

You can get up, because you get up to your phone then get back in bed. How about instead making the adult decision to not get back into bed? How do you not absolutely stink and look a mess, waking up 8 mins before you leave?!

Are you always this smart and helpful or are you making an exception on this occasion?

THIS............

You can get up, because you get up to your phone then get back in bed. How about instead making the adult decision to not get back into bed? How do you not absolutely stink and look a mess, waking up 8 mins before you leave?!

Go to bed earlier. The kids in your class deserve better.

Lumie! I love mine. Also find the five second rule by Mel Robbins helps. But genuinely, best getting ups start with going to bed at an hour that’s appropriate…

@teethingproblems

Do you guys have any recommendations of alarms...?

I recommend give me a job I will turn up in the morning and shoot you with nerf gun until you get up, I charge £12 an hour but I dont expect to be there longer than that.

I get this completely. Do you think you're depressed? Do you dislike teaching? Is it only in the winter or is the same in the summer?

Alarmy app changed my life. No exaggeration.

It makes you solve arithmetic problems. I have had to up the difficulty as I got better. I don't have the snooze active on it (I think you may have to pay for it. You get 1 minute per problem and the alarm stops for that time but if you get 3 wrong or let them time out it won't stop going off.

Currently I do 3 problems that are typically something like (94x6)-21.

Oh and once I got my mornings sorted I started naturally going to bed earlier.

Im naturally a night owl. I have to get up for work at 4am. I fixed my body clock with a sunrise alarm off Amazon. I don’t even need to use it any more.

I bloody hate mornings, but I've found I'm too vain to go to work with greasy hair so I purposely leave it till morning to force me out of bed early a few mornings a week. I have had to train myself though!

If that won't work try getting up one snooze earlier? Set alarm as normal (which you will snooze) then set a different sounding alarm for 15 minutes before you normally get up. Snooze until you hear the real alarm. Then do it 20 minutes before etc.

@teethingproblems

People saying "dude just get up" clearly don't understand what it's like and don't struggle I wouldn't be posting asking for alarm advice if I could just "get up"! X

but you CAN ‘just get up’ as you do that to get to the alarm across the room and you then make it into work on time! you’re ALREADY doing it but you’re choosing to turn your alarm off (once already ‘up’!)

What time do you go to bed?

OP, I have exactly the same problem. Those saying "just get up" really don't get it. It feels like I have been drugged. Only the adrenaline hit caused by panic thinking "I am going to be late, lose my job and be homeless" will get me out - like you at the very last possible moment to just about make it on time.

Go to bed earlier. Much earlier. I have the Lumie which wakes me up gently but I do sometimes go back to sleep after the 45 mins are up anyway and skip my morning workout.

I have this too OP.

I'm just not "conscious" when I wake up. I'm not sure where I am, what day it is, what planet I'm on or if I'm even human.

I've tried everything. Alarm on the other side of the room doesn't work because I turn it off in my sleep. I've tested those old school bell ones and I could hear it in the garden.

I tried a sunrise alarm with no luck. I tried one marketed for deaf people that shakes the whole bed. Nope.

The only thing that works for me is my doorbell ringing. A relative rings it 3 times on their way to work and though I answer the door "sleeping", the rush of air and the questions they ask mean I can go and make a cuppa and not go back to sleep.

Following in case there is a better solution

I have ten alarms set. That's the only thing that works for me, and they're set at 5 min intervals

Have you been tested for diabetes? I find if I eat crap the day before, I feel bone achingly tired the next day. A mental and physical tired. Also, how much caffeine are you drinking a day? I know some drink it to keep awake, then can't sleep and finally crash when it's over.

Ive tried the trick of leaving your phone on the other side of the room - I simply get it, snooze the alarm and get back into bed.

I totally get this and sympathise! I can also do this, I can get out of bed to switch an alarm off and back into bed all without actually waking up. Unless you are the same, you can't really understand, so all of the comments about just don't get back into bed are unhelpful. I actually broke my cycle of this with the help of a kind neighbour, who agreed to ring my doorbell every morning and keep ringing until I opened my front door - it got my brain into a routine of actually waking up and not hitting snooze. We did this for two weeks!

I came to realise the phone alarms are not helpful because they are so easily snoozed. Consider getting one of the old fashioned alarms with a bell. Also yes the lumie alarms are great.
Make sure you are hydrated, it's hard to wake up if you are dehydrated. Also, cut out sugar and caffeine in the evening, especially sugar, it's hard to wake up if you are in a blood sugar "low". And think about your mental health, when I have struggled to wake up it's because I don't want to wake up to the day I'm facing.

@HappySM1

OP, I have exactly the same problem. Those saying "just get up" really don't get it. It feels like I have been drugged. Only the adrenaline hit caused by panic thinking "I am going to be late, lose my job and be homeless" will get me out - like you at the very last possible moment to just about make it on time.

But lots of people DO feel like that in the mornings.

But they have responsibilities (kids, pets, elderly parents) and can't just lie in bed until they only have eight minutes to get to work on time.

There's no magic tricks - you just need to get out of bed and get on with it, no matter how awful you feel.

you’re ALREADY doing it but you’re choosing to turn your alarm off (once already ‘up’!)

If OP (and pps) are like me then it's seriously not a choice. I have no recollection of doing it. I've had conversations with people (on the phone or with ex-partner before they leave for work) I genuinely can't remember having because I'm not consciously present. It's like there are two states of being awake.

I'm similar, i have executive dysfunction generally though and seem to be physically incapable of getting up to the first alarm! There's about 8 set for each morning to wake me up enough to be on more than autopilot to be able to make a conscious decision!

I had a lumie which was fab, no idea where it went when we moved though! The wind down on it was good too

Can someone bring you a cup of tea of coffee? That is the only thing that perks me up enough to think about getting up! If that's not possible, could you have a kettle etc in your room to make your own?

@rainbowzebra05 interesting you mention executive dysfunction, I have adhd. Wonder if there is a link?