We've probably all been guilty of pushing that infamous snooze button on our alarm clocks or cell phones when we shouldn't. Do it frequently enough and it can become almost an automatic reflex. Experience has taught me that while that extra 10 to 30 minutes might seem good, you'll definitely be more productive and relaxed by using that time to get stuff done. Here's how to avoid the snooze and lose pattern:
Positioning Your Cell Phone for Optimum Use of Vibration Alarms
If you're using your cell phone to wake up every morning, we've mentioned how to place it optimally so that you can train yourself how to get up using only a vibration-based alarm. While that's an admirable goal for some, for all of you deep sleepers, this might not work since you tend to need an audible alarm to get out of bed. We haven't experimented yet with vibrating alarms placed around our wrists while we sleep. Some people have commented that they can get uncomfortable during long periods, and since the Jawbone UP isn't really a recommended buy, we've stayed with using our cell phones.
Positioning Your Cell Phone to Avoid Snoozing
If you tend to use the snooze button a lot, or simply quickly reprogram another alarm for a later time, then this is the way to proceed in your case. Simply place the alarm clock or cell phone away from your bedside. Once you actually have to get up to change the settings or push the snooze button, you're much more awake than just grasping it from the warm comfort of your bed. I've found over the last few months that even if I get up to change the alarm, the actual actions involved tend to wake me up a lot more, meaning that once I get back to bed, I'm too awake to slumber again. In either case, it will get you out of bed, which is the goal.
MORE WAKING UP ON APARTMENT THERAPY:
• Ways to Never Miss an Important Callback
• The Deep Sleeper's Guide to Vibrating Alarms
• Use Vibration Alarms to Wake Up without Disturbing Your Partner
(Images: Daniel's Graphic Life, Flickr member Anthony!! licensed for use under Creative Commons and Flickr member Jellaluna licensed for use under Creative Commons)
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Some people set their alarm clock deliberately early so they can snooze several times...what is the point of this? My partner does this and is on an earlier schedule than me. This means I hear his annoying alarm go off 3 times starting at 5 am. Please help me!
I keep my cell phone in the other room and I still get up multiple times just to set it back to snooze. I'm afraid there is no trick that works so incredibly well that it makes self discipline unnecessary.
I wake up without an alarm clock everyone morning. I guess I have an internal clock. It's weird.
I can't get up easily before the sun comes up. So winter (even in Florida) makes life a little harder for me. I have no problem waking easily after the sun is up even when I'm dead tired. But I cannot for the life of me justify (in my sleep) not snoozing until then.
I think I need a full spectrum lamp in the hall that turns itself on at 6AM...
My alarm clock is in my living room, and I still snooze multiple times. I've always been a deep sleeper. I dream of days when I don't have to use my alarm to get up.
The best way to avoid snoozing - get a dog! My dogs hear my alarm go off and then use that opportunity to start whining to go out. So even if I wanted to snooze, the horrible, high pitched whine they make gets me out of bed.
gotta say, i've been pulling your #2 suggestion for many years. it does not work. i can pop up, shoot across the room, slap snooze and fly back under the covers in about 2 seconds flat. the noise annoys me, but it does not dispell the grogginess. and i actually wake up about the same time everyday on my own, i just go right back to sleep.
some of us are hopeless.
For me, it's not wanting to sleep longer that's the problem. It's wanting to snuggle up next to my husband under the covers!
@MARAUDINGCAT, I do that because I can't not do it. Even with a proper amount of sleep, I'm just a bad waker-upper. On rare occasions, I actually feel awake enough to get up right away, and then I end up with some extra morning time. But on most days, I hit snooze and fall back into a solid, dreaming sleep.
As someone with terrible eyesight, I can't imagine having the clock across the room. I can barely read the clock's extra large display when it's right next to me, and it would drive me nuts to wake up and not be able to check the time.
Well, I was hoping this post would provide me with some novel trick I hadn't explored. I agree with other posters that the suggestion of putting a clock across the room, while bolstered by sound logic, does not actually work well for me. In some cases, it has had a negative effect because it makes me more likely to actually turn the alarm off instead of pressing snooze, increasing the likelihood that I'll actually fall fully back asleep.
I'm one of those people who deliberately sets an "early" alarm that I'm probably going to snooze through and then a later one for the real time I need to wake up. Luckily, it doesn't bother my partner since he's already on his way to work by then, but I could see how it'd be annoying for some people.
I will go all the way across the bedroom up to ten times to hit snooze. I tell myself it's ridiculous as I'm walking, but the bed always feels more comfortable each time I lay down. Maye some day I'll learn!
I go to bed at such a time that an alarm isn't necessary. Pressing snooze sounds like torture to me.
my tip is this- use a song you love to wake you up...less jarring. most of the time i actually want to listen to the song- and will lay there for 30s ...waking up to an actually ringing or some other harsh tones makes me so angry.
Or you could skip the clever tricks and do something that actually works: Go to bed earlier.
I just sleep right through the alarm. It's kind of worrying. I've slept through fire alarms and minor earthquakes. I have to count on my husband in case of emergency.
I too set my clock ahead ten minutes. Even with hitting the snooze, I am always surprised that I arrive at work 10 minutes early.
Another option is to give up Caffeine. No kidding. I actually cut out all caffeine many years ago. The most amazing thing happened. I wasn’t tired all day and really calm. Slept when it was time and got out of bed easily when the alarm went off. I was surprised by the “calm” part. Why did I stop? I can’t remember; I ‘m only on my first cup of coffee.
You're posting this like it's some novel idea? Why don't you spend less time posting useless articles, and more time planning out the functionality of your site, so that we don't have to sift through the same articles over and over to find something new buried inside.
Until about 2 years ago, I never ever hit snooze. Then I started getting a ride to work with a co-worker, and I had a few extra minutes to lie in bed each morning. So I started hitting snooze, and now I can't stop. My dog is the key to getting out of bed on time. He sleeps in the room with us, and when the alarm goes off, he starts getting fussy. I feel guilty making him wait to go outside, so I get out of bed. Once outside, I'm very much awake. Guilt is a great motivator!
On weekends, I don't sleep very late, maybe just an extra hour or so. I think going to bed a bit earlier would really help me get the right amount of sleep for easier mornings.
I set my tv timer to wake me up in the morning (yep, tv in the bedroom and i LOVE it - start the hate) and program some show I really like to start at the same time (Cheers right now). Hearing dialogue engages my brain in a way that songs and buzzers don't, and it makes me reach for my glasses so I can see exactly what Carla is doing to Diane this time.
The only downside is that I have to set it a little early so I have time to watch the whole episode once I get sucked in...
@maraudingcat - I'm guilty of doing this. I have mine set for 8:00, despite the fact I don't actually need to get up until 8:30/8:40, but I find that for me having that time to wake up over time split up in 10 minute chunks works better for me.
I even have my alarm on the other side of the room, but I manage to fall back asleep for 9 of each of those 10 minutes.
But this article has me thinking maybe I should try and move it a little later and just get up and stay up. I think I'm just used to the pattern at this point each morning.
I actually heard that our sleep cycles are in 90 minute increments so setting an alarm at a time that marks the end of a full sleep cycle, you're more likely to get up... So set your alarm for: 3hours, 4.5hours, 6hours, 7.5hours, 8hours from the point you go to bed and you'll be less likely to hit the snooze!
A coworker advised this to me today, haven't had a chance to try it but I am positively fascinated!
I'm also a person who needs light in order to wake up. This alarm lamp has helped me a lot: http://amzn.com/B003XN4RIC
Also, hitting snooze is a self-reinforcing behavior. When you hear an alarm, your immediate instinct is to hit snooze, not get out of bed. Some folks are big proponent of "alarm training," where you train yourself (during the day) to get out of bed upon hearing the alarm. Here is a good blog post on it (although some of the other self-help stuff on this site is a bit wacky to me, I thought that this was interesting): http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2006/04/how-to-get-up-right-away-when-your-alarm-goes-off/
I'm with LRS. I can't believe you guys are posting this like it's an original idea (or a good one for that matter). I know it's Friday, but give me a break. . .
I've always been someone who hits the snooze button a few times. I get 8 hours or more of restful, deep sleep every night, not counting the 30 to 40 minutes of additional snooze time. I just don't let getting up quickly, I never have, I find it jarring and unpleasant. I enjoying having half-hour to lay in bed and come slowly and dreamily awake, think about my dreams or my upcoming day or just snuggle with the cat. I've never understood why this is considered such a vice.
If you're chronically sleep-deprived and/or chronically late for work/school/appointments than you have a problem that to my mind has only the smallest connection to whether you use a snooze button or not. I'm a well-rested, caffeine-free, extremely punctual (even early) person.
I am also a proud and happy snooze button freak and I don't plan to ever give it up or apologize for it.
This is a tech blog. At least point us in the direction of an app or something - like Sleep Cycle, that tries to wake you up when you're at the lightest stage of sleep. Not a miracle worker, but might help some and does have the ability to disable snooze...
I use my cell phone as an alarm and leave it on my bedside. It goes off, then I snooze it and tuck it under my pillow so it doesn't disturb anyone except me when it goes off again. Then I snooze it for another 2-3 times before I'm ready to get up. I'm a pretty light sleeper, tho, so my snoozing is more about dozing and lazing around bed.
I do find it's easier to wake up in the mornings if the blinds are open, though. Something about the light helps w/ the sleep cycle.
I am NOT a morning person at all, but the thing that has helped me more than anything else is a $5 timer on a lamp next to my bed. I set it to turn on 15 minutes before my alarm, then it turns off again right as I'm leaving for work.
I have an alarm clock that gradually turns on a light over 30 minutes before the radio turns on. It is much less jarring waking up to light.
This was a completely pointless article, I'm sure we've all heard this advice and we've probably all tried it, it either works or it doesn't.....it doesn't for me.......no news here.....
i once read somewhere that it's helpful to tell yourself the night before that you want to wake up early in the morning. i mean, really think about it! and then i guess your subconscious is thinking about waking up on time while you sleep, so that it's easier to wake up when the alarm first goes off.
i notice it a lot on this website, but this post especially has pointed out to me that a lot of the commenters here are complete and total jerks. rude, snide, snarky, assholes. i think i might just stop bothering with reading the comments from now on, because i'm noticing it more and more. :(
in actual response to the post... alarm across the room sounds great, and i've done it before. but i think as a chronic night person that i need the opportunity for an easy snooze of the alarm. having to get out of bed to shut it off makes me almost want to just pretend i can't even hear it! and then there's the problem of building up so much rage to the sound of whatever cellphone ringtone i use for it, that i need to change it every month or so...
EMcNeill, I hear you! It's important to disagree nicely.
As for the post, the way I stop myself from snoozing is to turn on the light as soon as I hear the alarm. Still, my bed is warm and cozy and quiet, and my days now are loud and stressful and wintry, so it is VERY tempting to snooze.
I am another person who NEVER hit snooze until in my life... until I graduated from college. Ever since then, I can't manage to not "snooze" 30 min to an hour past my ideal waking time.
I also started drinking coffee about the same time in my life, so perhaps there is some truth to the caffeine theory? I definitely used to sleep a lot better. I guess the pressure of the working life has set in.
I actually used to hit snooze, but now the alarm is set to NPR and what's worse is that from time to time, I actually sleep clean through an hour of NPR and wake up when the alarm stops.
Putting it across the room isn't an option--I'd probably still sleep through it. Maybe I just need to set it later, but louder.
I found an app for my cell phone that recites whatever I type into it. I type reminders of what I need to accomplish that day. Being reminded of impending appointments or projects keeps me from falling back to sleep and gets my mind going.