WAKING UP!!!

[Dylan]

How is this done people? I have the hardest time waking up when I'm asleep. I've set 3 alarms for myself one time... nothing. (I also always tell myself repeatedly when I go to bed, I will wake up to my alarm.) One time my dad dragged me out of bed and on to the floor.... I didn't wake up. That was, obviously an extreme case. But I'm asking about this because I want to start trying to wake up briefly in the middle of my sleep and then go back to bed... "Wake Back To Bed" I believe it's called. There are different techniques, but all of them require waking up first! I know this is sort of silly, but the last time I tried setting the alarm in the middle of the night, it just woke the rest of the house up and not me. Any suggestions for things I could do? Cheers, Dylan

[nightowl]

you must be an extreme deep sleeper. I was going to suggest to blast your alarm clock, but like you said, you might run the risk of waking everyone up... the only other thing i can suggest and drinking some caffeine right before bed or drink LOTS and LOTS of water(and hope you wont mistake your bed for the toilet). hopefully this will wake you up because of the urge to pee badly

[Dylan]

My alarm actually gets louder and louder the longer you leave it ringing. But yeah... that's a problem for everyone else. I love the pee idea though ahha... I drink lots of water anyway, no harm in a couple extra glasses before bed. One time I had to wake up for a particular reason in the night... I taped my cell phone to my stomach and set it to vibrate at the time I wanted to wake up........ yeah it woke me up... it scared the fucking shit out of me . I'd really prefer a way that isn't so... weird ... and uncomfortable as well. If worst comes to worst I guess I might just have to resort to that again. Hopefully more ideas though?! Cheers, Dylan

[havock]

heh, I had that problem when I had insomnia and would fall asleep an hour before I had to wake up, which was probably worse than not going to sleep at all. Of course, I wasn't that heavy of a sleeper so I just put my alarm on the opposite side of the room which would force me to get up and turn it off. Of course it doesn't seem that would help you out since it would awaken everyone else and not you... I do the phone thing whenever I crash at somebody elses house and need to get somewhere early, just place it in your pocket with a vibrating alarm on near the crotch area and you will wake up, guaranteed. It is scary as hell, especially knowing I get scared by a text message because my phone suddenly vibrates. I would try the bladder one though, but this could be a bit difficult to set a time for.

[LewisM]

One night, try going to bed really early. I dont know your current bed-time, but how 'bout you go to bed half-an hour or an hour before that? This means that you'll have finished all your sleeping by morning time. Perhaps if you get into the routine of going to sleep early and waking up early, you will be able to go to bed a bit later but still wake up early.

[Dylan]

I'll give it a shot tonight. I'm going to bed about 2-4 hours before I normally do... (It's almost midnight. I usually go to bed at 2 or 4 am..... kinda scary huh). 1. lots of water 2. "early" bedtime 3. "i will wake up blah blah" chant Fellas... I'm all set. Cheers, Dylan

[mustachecake]

My god. That is crazy. You are crazy! That is soo funny. Try going to bed at a normal hour. Yes that means midnight isn't a normal hour. I'm talking around 10PM maybe even 9. What time do you wake up every morning?

[incognito]

Normal is subjective. I've worked a night job for the past four years of my life, so I'm usually getting off work anytime between 1 and 4 in the morning (over the past couple of years, at my current job it's always between 12 and 2), so going to bed at 4am is a normal hour. I remember one time when I was a kid that I passed out so hard on my living room couch, I didn't even notice when my dad came and got me and moved me into my own room, so when I woke up I literally started freakin out not knowing where the hell I was... it was my room but because I didn't fall asleep there it all looked foreign to me. Another time I woke up and my alarm clock was out in the hallway and I was 10 minutes from being late for lunch with a friend. What kind of noise does your alarm play? I used to fall asleep constantly with music or some other such noise on, and I've developed the ability to sleep through almost anything as long as it's rythmic. If it's random, it'll wake me up - so the "beep-beep-beep" of my alarm doesn't do a thing, whereas if I put it on radio static really loud, it'll wake me up no problems.

[Dylan]

Hey I think you might be right. I know exactly what you mean about that rhythmic thing, it just kinda makes you pulse along with it. Often it encorporates itself into my dreams... One time i was having a conversation with someone and suddenly they stood up and started bobbing their head forward and saying "BOOP BOOP BOOP BOOP" i got so weirded out, i was like "what the fuck are you doing", taking a couple steps back... haha. Where would I get an alarm that plays random rhythms though... Cheers, Dylan

[incognito]

Doesn't it have a buzzer/radio function? Radio static, like I mentioned, usually works great for me. Actually it works a little too well, when I first figured out that it worked I put it up almost as loud as I put the buzzer on, and it almost gave me a heart attack a few mornings cause it sounded like a nuclear warhead was launching nearby... Either that, or my friend has an old school clock that's shaped like an army general, and it starts yelling and cursing at you till you wake up. You might be able to find one of those somewhere. If you do, tell me where, by the way, cause I want one of my own. Other than that... develop a system based on strings and pulleys and small white lab mice that will trigger at a particular time of morning and dump a bucket of water on your head. Good luck remembering your dreams let alone who you are after that happens tho.

[Dylan]

Oh my god... Ok well I think I've just found the answer! Last night I wanted to test something out with my sound clock thingy (you may have read about it in another post, but if you didnt it's pretty much an alarm clock that plays different relaxing sounds, like 'ocean waves', 'rain forest', etc. Well, last night I set my alarm half an hour earlier and I had a rain tropical forest noise on realy quietlty, regardless, I woke up IMMEDIATELY. (I had still set a real alarm for half an hour later just in case it didnt work... but it did) Unfortunately I woke up so fast I wasn't able to remember what I was dreaming... But it's really funny, I'm so hard to wake up, and then this really quiet sound can do it.. I guess it was what you were saying incognito, unrhythmed. Yay! Now I just have to find a way to use it and still be able to remember dreams... Cheers, Dylan

[mustachecake]

How many times has your method worked? Just because you didn't remember your dream that specific time, doesn't mean it's impossible to remember your dream when trying that method. I would think that getting up so instantly would make me remember my dream more likely than if I were to wake up slowly

[Crucible]

Well, ginkgo biloba may actually help. What it does is increases blood pressure. This will cause you to have increased memory which also helps your dreams. One thing I noticed when using it is that I wake up many times in the night. So not only would it increase dream recall, it would also help you not be such a deep sleeper.

[Dylan]

Is that stuff bad for you at all though? I don't know, I never really feel good about taking strange herbs to try to improve lucid dreaming. Tell me a little bit more about your experience. Dylan

[Crucible]

Well, the only side effects I noticed were a very mild headache that did not bother me and slight sleeplessness. It also increases dream recall and helps you during the day. Other than that I would say google it...

[dream-scape]

Originally posted by nightowl drinking some caffeine right before bed I would not recommend that unless your goal is to become a stressed out insomniac.