I’m working on a piece on dropping the snooze button habit. There is nothing more miserable than sleeping in 9-minute increments. If you’ve come up with a system to stop using the snooze button, I’d love to hear from you! As usual, lvanderkam at yahoo dot com.
My main alarm is across the bedroom from me, so by the time I turn it off, I’m already up. But between having small kids (who wake me up pretty early anyway) and being self-employed (so I rarely have to be somewhere at a certain time), I tend not to set an alarm most days. How about you?
I get up when my little one gets me up. I haven’t needed an alarm in a few years. Even if they happen to sleep in, my work start time is usually flexible, and I’m a naturally early riser. There is no way I’m going to be late for work.
Yep, I have mine across the room too. If I have to get out of bed and walk across the room to turn it off, I rarely get back in bed.
I am a master of the art of getting ready in very little time. That means I get up when DH goes into the shower, since I take less time to get ready than he does.
But even before that I never used the snooze button. What a huge waste of precious sleep. Inefficient. When I got up to the alarm, that meant I didn’t have any more time left, so if I snoozed I’d be late. I got used to it and would wake right before it went off. So my advice is to set the alarm later so you can’t use the snooze button. Why allow yourself that extra time?
When I wasn’t teaching (or taking) a morning class and didn’t have to take a kid to elementary school, I’d just get up refreshed and happy when I was done sleeping. No alarm clock necessary. That’s the main point of having a flexible career, in my mind. (Too bad children mess that up, but it’s only temporary.)
Although I still like to trick myself into thinking that I’m getting a little more sleep, I like for it to be on my terms instead of the alarm clock’s preset parameters for snoozing. I have an alarm clock that has allows me to set two different alarm times. Presumably one is for weekdays and the other for weekends. I just use both for weekdays. I usually set the first alarm for 3:45 a.m. and the second for 4:00 a.m. Rarely do I really get up for the first alarm. I just hit stop. But I’ve convinced my brain that another 15 minutes is a nice luxury. And I also know that I have to be up with the second alarm. There is no continuously hitting of a snooze button.
Before my second kid was born, when my first was finally sleeping all night and not waking until around 7 or 7:30, I used an app on my phone called Sleep Cycle. It uses movement and the phone’s motion sensor to determine (roughly) when you’re at the lightest sleep level. It worked pretty well, and I usually was able to get up when my alarm went off (although I’ll confess to lying veeerry, veeerrrry still when I woke before it went off, to keep from having to get up right away).
However, now that I have a 6-month-old, I’ll take any sleep I can get, even if it’s in 9-minute increments. I definitely miss the days of getting up an hour before the kid to have “me time”, but if I did that now, I’d have to be up at 4!
I will go back to using the Sleep Cycle app once the baby is sleeping all night — I did like it a lot.
I’d prefer to be on the treadmill withmy novela (soap opera ) at 5:45 a.m.
but I fall asleep with my kids a lot and I breastfeed the 2nd one still which has all been this cuddling great part of parenting that I’m not willing to trade (I never did crying it out an dI never let them alone a dark room to figure things out) …. which is a choice and I celebrate it but also do wonder like how nice it will be when they sleep in and I can get back to the alarm at 5:45.. sept is nice b/c they go to school and are more tired at night which means early bedtime so maybe as an adult you can get up earlier… I’m neither a big night person nor a big early person at this time in my life so 5:45 seems so great … like a goal to aim for
I also set my alarm across the room. The best way I’ve found to get up immediately – well almost immediately – is to have a good book waiting for me (not on my bedside table). A few minutes of pleasure reading is my reward.
I agree. Some very brief moments reading helps me to jump start in the morning. It’s almost as if that is a signal to my brain that is really is awake and needed.
I think I’ll try this. I worry that I’ll get sucked in and not want to stop reading, though!
I pretty much only set an alarm if I have an early-morning flight or other non-negotiable morning commitment.
After doing this for a while, I think I’ve set my body clock to know that 7:15 is usually the right time to wake up, and if I sleep later, I know I needed the sleep and may need to go to bed a little earlier the next night. Not setting an alarm helps me go to bed at the “right” time. (I don’t have kids and have a job where it’s okay to come in a few minutes late or take an hour of sick/vacation time in the morning if I need to.)
Oh, I used to love the snooze. Something about dozing, actually, that’s really pleasurable.
I haven’t set an alarm in several years, as my almost two year old wakes earlier than I’d like (and need). There have been a few occasions we’ve overslept by about 20 minutes but man did we need that sleep.
I’m looking forward to the days I’m well rested enough to wake on my own.
@gwinne – it is a beautiful, beautiful thing to wake up on your own completely rested. Some day!
I’ve got the clock across the room, too, but actually I often like to use one “snooze” to climb back into bed and snuggle the hubby.
I set my alarm for the latest possible time to get myself ready for boot camp class or to meet my friend for a run. If I hit the snooze button, I won’t work out or see my friends, and that’s a good incentive for me.
I also decided to give up on getting up early and just set my alarm clock for 5:30 when I really really really have to get up. My little guy almost always wakes at 5 to nurse, so he’s my human snooze button. I doze for a little bit with him and then I’m ready to go right before (don’t want to wake him) my alarm goes off.
Snoozing is a huge problem for me – I’ve got to write and submit my doctoral dissertation in just about three months time… I am not just running against the clock but crashing against it. I’ve got a five year-old girl who has the energy level of, well, a meteor may be… I am tired at nights and busy during the day. If I sleep late working on my work (which is hard to focus on ‘coz am tired), then I’m rushing to get my girl to school. If I wake up early, the day’s works are already impinging on my mind. So no matter when I sleep, I hit the snooze button for more sleep 🙁 Any tips???
My snooze escape strategy was inspired by my dog. I noticed her stretch every morning resembled child’s pose. Now when the alarm on my phone sounds, I turn it off and shift into child’s pose. I’m still snug under my covers, and it’s a very gentle stretch for a few minutes but not so comfortable that I slip back to sleep.