Get Rid of Your Alarm Safety Net to Fix Your Sleep [Sleep]

Sometimes it's incredibly hard to get yourself up in the morning. You might even set up multiple alarms to guarantee you'll wake up. However, as blogger Nate Wienert points out, that's not fixing the problem. To really train yourself to get up in the morning, you have to go all in and remove that safety net.

The multiple alarm clock trick is something many people have tried, but as Wienert points out, it's training you to ignore your alarm, not respond to it. In order to get his sleep schedule on track, he killed those extra alarms:

A few months ago I decided to try a little experiment. I changed my alarms to go off one at 8:00 AM and one at 8:05 AM. I wanted no room for error; either I got up for my alarm, or I was late. The other thing I did was to disable the snooze. My theory was that knowing I had to get up would help with my consistency.

And, it worked. Every morning when my alarm sound, I had no choice. Like my mom in middle school throwing open my bedroom windows and bellowing to me to "GEEEET UPPP", I was absolutely forced into getting up (without all the pain of bright lights shining in my eyes).

I've done this same thing for myself, and it works. I used to set four (maybe even five) alarms that would go off in the morning starting with an "optimal wake up time" (enough time to get up, shower, eat, and relax, before work), and ending with a "last chance" alarm (literally the last moment I could get up and make it work). Because of that structure, I woke up at slightly different times every morning, and I trained myself to ignore the alarm.

But, like Wienert, I eventually removed the safety net, set up a single alarm to go off when I wanted to wake up, and let it happen. Over time, I've trained myself to wake up at the first crack of the alarm. No snoozing, and no wondering what time it is.

The benefit of Wienert's trick is that you form a solid morning routine, and you end up having more energy throughout the day. If you're the type to set a lot of alarms because you're worried you won't wake up, getting rid of that safety net might be the kick you need. Head over to Wienert's blog for his full story.

Remove your alarm safety-net & fix your sleep | Nate Wienert

Photo by Bernt Rostad.

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/7-WxNDEAIIg/get-rid-of-your-alarm-safety-net-to-fix-your-sleep

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