I cant wake up myself in the morning!

[Irishinparis]

hi,

is anyone else an insanely deep sleeper? how do you wake yourself up?

I've always been a deep sleeper and am now in my early 20s and still live at home and my parents wake me up everyday or else I would sleep in for work every single day. Usually my mum has to physically shake me to wake up, I can just sleep though shouting etc and I have to be roughly shaken to even wake up. Its not that I dont want to get up- I do, and I get up as soon as im woken- its that my body doesn't wake up. I've tried doing it myself without my parents and I just sleep through any alarm- even the extra loud ones for people with hearing loss. I dont even wake up to switch it off, I just sleep through it. It was ringing for 2 hours once without me waking up at all (but I forgot my bedroom window was open and my poor neighbour heard it in her garden for 2 hours it was so loud- I did get her chocolates to say sorry!!)

I recently had an MRI for something unrelated and fell asleep in the scanner. I was given some foamy earbuds but they somehow fell out so I was actually asleep with all the clinking and clunking which is pretty loud. I didnt wake up for 90 minutes for the scan and had to be woke up by the technician because they thought something was wrong because they called out something on the speaker and I just didnt respond lol. They woke me up by shaking my shoulders a bit and were obviously worried and said they'd never seen such a deep sleeper before!

im sure you get the point now haha, im a deep sleeper. so I guess im asking, does anyone else have this problem and have any advice or anything I could try or any products I could purchase to wake up?

its become a running joke in our house that I could sleep through a storm and my parents dont mind waking me up because ive always been like this, but obviously I want to move out soon and I need to be able to do this myself!

if anyone could suggest anything it would be great! thank you 😊

I think it might be a good idea to consult your doctor.

I’ve never even heard of anyone sleeping that deeply. I think you probably need proper medical advice and a sleep clinic.

I did mention it before but they weren't really concerned, tbh most people usually have the problem so im lucky to be a good sleeper. I remember they did say that if I was falling asleep unintentionally that would be different (like narcolepsy) but its not like that, I just cant seem to wake up once im asleep. they said to try different alarms until I find one that works but so far I haven't had any luck, hoping someone here knows of something good I can try!

*the problem of not being able to sleep

Have you tried a vibrating alarm if shaking helps?

(and just to clarify with the MRI example I didnt actually mean to fall asleep because I normally try to avoid sleeping on buses/trains etc because I know I just wont wake up, I only accidentally fell asleep in the scan because it was so warm and I had been up for hours waiting for it so I was absolutely knackered haha)

At the risk of sounding like my husband, probably going to bed before 1am might help😅
I also fell asleep during an MRI. I can sleep anywhere apart from when it comes to actual bedtime

@Clarinet1 I tried a vibrating watch but it didnt really help, I'll have a look online and see if maybe there are any other vibrating type alarms to try. thanks for the idea!

@Tinyant haha good point to be fair, late nights definitely wont help. although I do usually try to go to bed around 10-11 ish, tonights a rare late night lol

That sounds exactly like my 19 year old DS. We asked the doctor a couple of years ago because it was affecting his school attendance. The doctor brushed it off saying "everyone knows teenagers sleep a lot"

@Terfosaurus

sorry to hear your DS has the same problem, if I find anything that helps ill send you a PM with it 👍

Thanks. I keep nagging him to go back to the doctors, but then that would require being awake at 8am!

I really struggle waking up early. My lovely Mum used to wake me up when I was a child .We're all different

I wonder if you are a hyper somniac too and need more hours of sleep. Do you go to bed early enough? If you are still in deep sleep when it's time to wake up it might suggest you didn't get enough hours of sleep

My daughter was like this. When she went to uni (and nearly slept through matriculation) I bought her the Geemarc Sonic Bomb - Extra Loud Alarm Clock
Problem gone. That thing can be set at deafening volume if you want, and also has a pad to go under the mattress which shakes the whole bed.
She grew out of it as most people do and at 25 uses a regular alarm clock, much to the relief of her housemates.

I could have written your post!! I am in my early/mid 20s too and a really deep sleeper, some of the things you have described in your post are exactly me.
I do think part of it is the psychological knowing that your parents will make sure you wake up. I haven’t lived at home for years. Once I moved out, I KNEW no one else was going to wake me up. It was either I get up or I’m hours late for work and have to deal with the consequences, simple.
Completely understand it’s difficult to implement that mindset while you are still living at home, but I do strongly feel a lot of it is psychological. I’m a lot better now at knowing once my alarm goes off, no one else is going to come and make sure I’m awake.
Other than waking up for work, I do remain a very deep sleeper and don’t often wake up from noise.

I also use a sunrise clock, they are amazing at getting you more awake as it is so easy to fall back to sleep when you wake up in the pitch black in the winter.

Do you have dyspraxia? My daughter is like this and I’m sure that the dyspraxia is responsible. Alarms have no effect at all. I have to wake her up, and it’s not easy!

Have you tried drinking a load of water before sleep? Needing the loo wakes you up?

I have my lamp on a smart plug and the extra light is really helpful in waking me up!

This really does not sound normal, have you been to a sleep clinic? The famous one is Millpond Sleep Clinic and they do telephone consultations.
I would get it checked out as it sounds more than just “deep sleep”… maybe sthg related to narcolepsy

It sounds like you do have an issue but to be fair an MRI can be relaxing. I nearly fell asleep in mine and the staff said it was quite common. I think it's the white noise.

Have you tried a sunrise alarm too?

This was me as a child / young woman - I slept through a uni fire alarm and I hadn't been drinking!

It flipped to completely the opposite in my 20s when I had my babies (I was really worried I wouldn't wake up when they cried). So not sure, but for me it seemed circumstantial? I do go to bed very early though because I need a lot, lot more sleep than average just to feel normal.

I used to be like this and to a point still am, I absolutely love my sleep and if I allowed myself to I could fall asleep anywhere at any time! These days when I know I have to be up for work waking myself up isn't a problem and I sometimes have ridiculously early starts. Days off when I can wake up naturally I generally sleep for about 10 hours. I think it's partly psychological, there's nobody to wake me up as I live alone so if I want to keep my job I have to wake up! I also have a light on a timer which comes on half an hour before my alarm goes off, I think that helps as I'm coming round gently before the blast of the 2 alarms! A cat also helps 😂 mine leaves me alone when I don't set an alarm, when I do as soon as it goes off she gets on my head bless her!