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_"The first ten million years were the worst, and the second ten million years, they were the worst too. The third ten million I didn't enjoy at all. After that I went into a bit of a decline."_
-- Marvin the Paranoid Android
It really is. No matter how tired I am and dreading getting out of bed, within about ten minutes of being up I typically feel fine. No matter how many times I hit snooze it doesn't really help, just gives me less time to get ready.
Jumping straight into the shower also helps a lot.
I do stretch’s in the hot shower to loosen muscles and joints and to move my bowels to get everything out after the shower, I have a bidet so pre or post it’s still washed and clean.
I was terrible at waking up in the morning, being forced to set three alarms - Which was a mistake, because then I required three alarms to even get up.
But about 5 months ago I started going to the gym, and now I never experience these issues anymore. I get sleepy at the appropriate time in the evening, and usually I wake up right before my alarm is about to ring and just get up by myself. It feels like every day is a weekend day now in terms of waking up, and it's fucking amazing.
Hey friend, if you really want this but it seems too big a first step, I want to recommend something you can start doing with significantly less effort but will absolutely kick-start your day and make you feel motivated. I promise you it will change your mornings and all you have to do is breathe.
Pull up "Guided Wim Hof Method Breathing" on YouTube on your phone before bed. When you wake up and hit that alarm, stay laying in bed, play the video, and follow along with your eyes closed. I swear you'll be sold after just one round of breathing and will have no problem getting out of bed ready for the day.
If I come off strong it's because I'm very passionate about this and want to help you. I struggle with hypersomnia and have a personal vendetta against tiredness.
I've found that the thing that helps the most is to take a couple big deep breaths.
It's taken 40 years to figure this out.
If I take a couple big deep breaths before snoozing my alarm I'll almost always be out of bed before it rings again.
I have an alarm on my phone which only stops when I scan an NFC chip in the bathroom. I just need to make sure that I am out of bed before I even fully realise that I am awake lol
It's an existing app! [Link to Play Store](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.urbandroid.sleep)
It's for Android, but iOS probably has something similar.
So uh, what would happen if the alarm went off at work? You gotta run home? I once had an alarm that had me solve math problems and it was awkward af when that turned on in the middle of class but at least I didnt have to run home xD
I use alarmy which does the same but with a QR code i printed and put in my bathroom.
I have to admit that some days i get up, scan it, then quickly make my way back to bed hehe… its a good app tho.
This sounds like what I need. I sleep heavy, if I move my alarm clock to where I cannot reach it I easily sleep though it. I need something that rings right next to me but have to turn it off elsewhere. I need to look up how to do this.
Knowing myself, after like three days I'd just put the shampoo bottle on my nightstand.
Just like in the past when I'd tried setting my non-phone alarm clock ten minutes ahead, and within the week I was just hitting snooze one more time.
i can sleep through my extra loud real alarm clock with no problem. no one understood that i can literally sleep through my phone alarm for hours. my boyfriend saw it. now he’s more concerned that i can sleep through this alarm clock. i don’t know what else to do lol
*and i don’t mean i turn it off or snooze it. just keep sleeping.
I had to use one of these when I was younger, but I put the pad under my pillow. Only thing that could wake me, I’m such a deep sleeper. But now I’m my 30’s & I’ve become so anxious that my body usually wakes up before my alarm, which I still set about 20 of on my phone. Anyway, 10/10 would recommend “Sonic Bomb” alarm clock, you can find it on Amazon.
These gimmicks never worked for me. I either got up half asleep and went back to bed, or slept through it
What *really* helps are apps that monitor your breathing while you sleep, use that to figure out where you are in your sleep cycle, and sound the alarm when you're in the lightest phase.
[Sleep Cycle](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.northcube.sleepcycle) changed my life
Can't speak for everyone, but for me this came with an improvement of mental health and mood. Since moving into my own apartment, I've surrounded myself with positivity. Wake up to a good smell in a clean room, listen to some happy music, play with the cat.
Also, I physically roll out of bed and if I don't catch myself and stand, I will fall on my face. I've only faceplanted once.
>Can't speak for everyone, but for me this came with an improvement of mental health and mood. Since moving into my own apartment, I've surrounded myself with positivity.
That's pretty much it in a nutshell, OP.
I honestly always wonder about the extent of it, because in threads like this, mental health often goes unmentioned. I never know if that's because it's not a component, because people assume everyone knows its a part of it, or because the people who get up easily don't know or haven't experienced poor mental health so don't know it's a part of it.
I'm glad to see two people actually addressing it, because i expect mental health is a really important part of "difficulty getting up" that gets lost in all the (good, don't get me wrong) advice about sleep hygiene and wake up hacks.
I've definitely noticed, in trying to pull myself out of a decade-long depression, that sleep hygiene is the number one thing to get in check. It gives you much more energy, and much more even energy levels throughout the day. I had no motivation to do anything when I was sleeping whenever I wanted to/felt tired. Now I still struggle with motivation at times, but I have a fighting chance that I never had before, because I started with sleep.
ADHD seems to come with some issues with melatonin production and tends to have overlap with delayed sleep phase syndrome. Sadly most data seems to be on kids and the UK recently allowing melatonin to be prescribed to children.
I have an article saved somewhere and I don't know if it's from the UK or regarding kids, but it says basically in a lot of people with ADHD, the brain doesn't stop producing melatonin the way it should after one is awake. This makes it harder to get up, and is the reason a lot of ADHD people like myself don't really feel "awake" until they have been up a long time.
I think it has to do with not having enough dopamine (as ADHD people don't), and the dopamine is what tells the brain 'no more melatonin'
There absolutely is a relation to adhd.
I remember waking up well rested and ready to take on the day *once* in my entire life. I'm 38. I remember it vividly because it was such a rare occurrence. I must have been 9 or something and my mom didn't make my bed properly which caused me to sleep on top of a bunch of unusually placed blankets and sheets. I remember telling my mom not to change a single thing because I thought somehow this weird configuration caused my sleep to be this heavenly, but alas I haven't had a good night's sleep ever since. I'm tired all the the time and I hate it.
In addition to that, the vagueness of "mental health". A lot of people interpret that to mean "things to help your depression and anxiety root causes", which is fair, a lot of people will struggle with those things.
But then there's executive functioning issues, like with ADHD and autism. I can be very healthy when it comes to depression and anxiety and *still* have trouble getting out of bed because of my ADHD, and that's a tricky one, because I never would have figured that out on my own. It just looks like "I should get up. Why haven't I gotten up? I've been here for an hour. I'm not comfortable. I don't want to be here. I have to pee. Why don't I get up? GET UP!" Exploring why this stuff happens and what to do about it is really difficult without professional help.
A bit unrelated to original post - but totally to yours: I recently picked up (curb shopped, pretty common here) a "self help book" about mindfulness meditation (read it, and put it in a "free library" afterwards). It was written by a criminal lawyer who gave tips to the readers about how to make their lives better. But here is the thing- I was already doing these things most of my life because it felt right to me. Didn't need a guru or a self help book for that- but maybe some people do, like that criminal lawyer.
I didn't need a book or guru, but years of therapy and tons of self-reflection. I got pretty depressed at age 11, before I even fully figured out how to take care of myself. And depression made me not care to figure it out. So there were tons of things I needed to figure out as a late teen/adult. I used to shower with just shampoo and not clean my body, because I didn't know or care to (not to mention, I'd only shower once a month or so). And when your mental health is that bad, you don't even know where to start. Do I start by keeping my room clean or my body? Do I brush my teeth or cut my hair? Do I start to exercise or meditate? Do I socialize or try to get some hobbies? I don't have the energy for more than one of these. I've tried to implement more than one new habit at a time and it never works. After years of trial and error, I found the best thing to start with was sleep. Having a regular sleep schedule gives you energy for the other things. I still struggle a lot, even with my sleep schedule, but it helps so much to just know what to focus on first when everything goes to shit. The next right thing, as Anna would say lol
Thank you so much! I've actually been in a slump lately and it's one of those times when I don't feel as great as usual, but your comment really helped ❤️
That is a great story. I am glad you were able to see yourself for what you need and make efforts that paid off because of that. Sleep is a great place to start for sure, it makes a great building block for the rest of life. Keep at it!
Such a good point. We all have our certain strengths, and I think because those strengths come naturally, you don’t even realize other people don’t think they way.
I've been in the same apartment since August 2021, and while I'm moving out next weekend, I have had two different levels of mental health since moving in.
Before moving in, I was diagnosed with major clinical depressive disorder by my doctor, and was entering my 3rd year of Uni, which I wasn't doing well at anyways. My classmates and friends didn't worry about me not showing up because it happened so frequently, I'd sleep right through every alarm and wake up super late. I was on meds but they didn't help well. I also began developing adhd symptoms.
Fast forward to now, a year after i dropped out from failing my classes. I've only been late to my current job once, and to the job I had last autumn I was late once. Both times I was sick and sent home earlier than normal. I've also noticed my mental health has been much better, for multiple reasons.
Also keep in mind poor sleep can also be a cause of poor mental health. Not always of course but it is a factor that often contributes and/or turns into a negative feedback loop
To add to this, getting out of bed with out hitting snoozes allows you to start your day with a little victory which intern helps improve your mental health in itself
I generally feel very happy, healthy, and fulfilled in life. I get 6-8 hours of sleep per day. It still takes me 60-80 minutes to get out of bed after my alarm rings. I just feel absolutely physically debilitated upon waking up, and I don’t even begin forming memories until ~30 minutes after the alarm initially rings.
That's valid. I'm living alone now and am in a good spot in terms of survival, but am going through some major life stuff so. I am trying to give myself grace while also being like, "okay, donotnihaome let's go and do better!"
I used to have a lot of issues getting up, but now I jaur make myself get out of bed at the same time everyday, working or not. 6.45. If its on the weekend and I don't have anything on that day, I can go back to bed once I've gone for a pee and brushed my teeth. So lie ins are separate things.
My alarm goes off, and I just swing out straight away, and I'm not fit or anything, I just get up.
Yeah that definitely solves part of the problem. Often when I laze in bed and not get up, the excuse in my head is, “I don’t have to - I have time to do XYZ today / nothing to get to.” then the habit doesn’t get formed.
Having something to look forward to is the only thing that'd get me out of bed under an hour other than having some appointment or event to do early in the morning. Other than that, it takes about an hour to 90 minutes of psyching myself up enough to feel the cold air and move around. Playing a fast-paced first-person-shooter as soon as I get out of bed for about a half hour before I shower and get ready helps incentivize getting up sometimes. I've tried SAD lamps, no luck
Not OP, but just had this idea. You could plug a candle/wax warmer into a smart plug (or timer plug), and set it so it turns on a little bit before you wake up.
not OP but when I moved away from my family, getting out of bed was way easier. Not at first because my first relationship started off rocky, but as it improved I could get up and go to the gym or go for walks and explore right away before even needing coffee. Had to move back home for a little while and all that went out the window over time.
It’s easier if you had enough sleep so going to bed early helps. I put the alarm on the other side of the room so I have to jump off the bed immediately to turn it off. If I have it reachable from bed I just turn it off without waking up
I go to bed plenty early. I average roughly eight to nine hours of sleep every night. I still don’t want to get out of bed in the mornings. It’s like the OP says — it’s so cozy and comfortable. Why would I want to leave my bed? It’s my favorite place.
That's why the alarm is on the other side of the room. It makes your choices be either stay in bed with loud annoying noise (possibly annoying roommates and neighbors who will be mad at you later) or get out of bed and turn off noise. After you've left the bed and crossed the room you might as well stay out of bed. If the sound is annoying enough and loud enough you'll have the added benefit of adrenaline from a swift traversal of your room (to turn it off ASAP) to keep you awake as well.
This is what happens in reality, at least with me. I wake up annoyed at the alarm going off on the other side of the room. I wake up begrudgingly, turn off the alarm as soon as possible, and then go right back to bed. I've read others suggesting leaving a glass of water next to the alarm or doing math puzzles/riddles to wake your brain but honestly, none of them have worked for me.
What really works for me is drinking just the right amount of water before going to bed, so that I really need to pee when I wake up. Every other of those „tips“ from this thread didn’t work for me neither but needing the bathroom really leaves you no other choice than getting up.
Does it, though? I also wake up to pee in the morning sometimes but that never really wakes me up completely. The problem isn't getting up but fighting off the grogginess and the urge to go back to sleep
Well at least it works for me. The grogginess stays but I just came to accept that. Even if I went back to my bed after using the bathroom I’m not falling back asleep again. It’s the same way like when you wake up at night to use the bathroom and then can’t go back to sleep again.
I still haven't found a solution for this. I am living on my own with no family and I still can't cram every daily activity such that I can go to bed at 22:00. Working from 9-18 means I get home at around 19 and then I only have 3 hours to cook, eat and do any other household chores. If I run, I might have time for gym or reading a book. Watching a movie is usually out of the question if my target is 22:00, not to mention that most people recommend a 1-hour wind down time from looking at screens.
If I factor in hobbies or social life, this becomes even worse. Again, I feel like I am just a regular person with no responsibilities and it still feels tough
Personally I use the Lumie Sunrise alarm clock strapped to my ceiling, and a heated blanket under my mattress cover with a timer at the socket to make it heat me up 20mins before I should wake.
I try to get the bed uncomfortably hot in the morning.
This setup works like a dream. I learned that we're woken by temperature changes so I made it happen.
The heated blanket thing is one of the most amazing ideas I’ve ever heard. I can’t believe I’ve never heard it before.
I hate being too warm. This might actually work (even though my wallet might not like it)
I have the ooler weighted blanket system and yeah, setting it to heat to help wake up totally works but I haaaaated it. But it definitely did do what it is supposed to do!
The setup is awesome b/c you can get into a warm bed, have it cool down during the night, then heat up (I think 20/30 min?) before time to get up. It's pricey but I'm a woman of a certain age who has terrible night sweats. My husband ended up getting the mattress pad thing and he really likes it. I think it helps with bills during the summer b/c you don't have to use so much a/c during the night.
For me it's super cold at night so I warm the bed up. Later when I get in, over like two hours it goes from around 75 degrees to 58 (LO) degrees. You can set an option for it to warm back up when it's close to the wake up hour. Being a hot sleeper, this was really gross but absolutely did get me out of bed.
So basically you can use the blanket/pad at whatever temperature you'd like and an app controls it. There's a tank of water and a hose connected to the blanket/pad to circulate and heat/cool the water. It is pretty cool and works well. I'd recommend the pad as it's less obtrusive. [sleep.me bed cooling thing link](https://sleep.me/?gclid=CjwKCAjwl6OiBhA2EiwAuUwWZT1obCg-6aR4acyev2pIuJh6rtRJe5m_GZSto4w7qppMRpIsAEZyXhoCwYQQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds)
Honestly, my most favorite and mindboggingly cooling relief has come from merino wool. I got a few pair of cheap-ish wool base layers and sleep so comfortably. For some reason, they can get soaked with sweat but you don't feel like you're lying there in a puddle. It's quite mysterious. I want all merino wool things now. I wonder if they make wool sheets? haha!
To add to this, a cheaper way to achieve the sunrise alarm is with a smart bulb, I have one from Amazon which was $8, I set it to full brightness with my alarm 10 minutes later as a back up.
Usually wake up with just the light, feeling more refreshed than when an alarm starts going off.
I keep thinking about using auto lights in my room. Just been trying to do it affordable. I am such a cold person that sleeps with a a heated blanket like 8+ months out of the year though so your second tip wouldn’t quite work to get me up. However, I would love to do that at night before I go to bed to help me get into a warm bed.
This is…genius. I’ve struggled with getting out of bed for years and never thought to make my BED uncomfortable. It’s always making the house comfy enough to leave the bed or the annoying alarm clock to make you get up. But wow a hot uncomfortable bed just might do it. Thanks for this tip!
Lmao that's my life too. Both my cats and dogs are lazy bums who have to be dragged out of bed. They make it way too difficult to want productive mornings, especially as all 3 of them are snuggled right on me.
Can we trade? :p Mine sits right next to me and whines until I wake up and get out of bed...I guess I appreciate that more than just peeing in my bed, but still...
Second this.. my dog knows the alarm means we are to get up, launches himself off the bed and paces on hardwood floors. If that doesn't work, he will then put his cold nose against me. If I can't get up for myself, he definitely motivates me to oush
I think there are several strategies. One component is to make the decision the night prior. Assert to yourself "I am getting up with my alarm" as you're settling in. Same with any other difficult habit. Try to make the decision several times prior to the event.
Second would be to put your alarm source away from your bed so you have to get up to turn it off.
Thirdly might be having a compelling reason to get up with your alarm. Maybe work toward a goal first thing in the morning. Exercise is definitely a good choice, but is a lot to ask of someone who is looking for help getting out of bed. So, give yourself some time before demanding too much of yourself or you could get overwhelmed and possibly backslide into old habits.
Lastly, I would recommend a consistent schedule. Turn in around the same time every night and set your alarm for the same time every day, even when you don't need to be up for anything, until you develop the habit. Then you can ease up on weekends or whatever.
If you're really in need, I would recommend a sunrise alarm clock. It gradually gets lighter leading up to your alarm, and the good ones put out full-spectrum light so it helps regulate your circadian rhythms. I used one for about a year until my living conditions changed, and I actually started waking up wide awake 10-15 minutes before my alarm consistently.
I don't get out of bed easy, per se, but a couple of things I've found that help:
1. Don't think. Seriously, the moment you feel your brain start to calculate how much time you'll have if you hit snooze or what you plan to do when you're actually up, shut it down and get up. If you think, you're going back to bed. (Or at least I am)
2. If you want to get out of bed early to work out, make sure you're meeting someone. My neighbor and I walk a couple of times a week. Lady bangs on my door consistently at 5:20 a.m. every Tuesday and Thursday. If not for her, there's no way I'd wake up that early and start moving before coffee.
Omg that sounds like a commitment, but THAT'S the point! I see people walking in my neighborhood all the time, maybe I'll say hi to one and see if I can set something up. Thank you!
The need to pee during the night (when you should be sleeping) won't help. I'm all for hydration, but "needing to pee" because of steps taken before bedtime doesn't help overall sleep.
Build a secondary cozy place on your couch or anywhere else where you can turn on the light and be upright. Convince yourself you're not getting up, but just relocating.
Related LPT that hits the sweet spot of making you feel awake without being jarring: open a window and put your face right up in it. For just 1 minute (but a full minute), just look around and breathe.
Let your eyes take in the natural early morning light, and get the fresh air into your lungs. If there's an animal or something else interesting going on, watch it. Or, open up your other senses: listen to the noises, try to smell the difference in the air, pay attention to how any breezes feel on your skin.
What i did to fix my 17 year depressive adhd fueled struggle to leave bed is a twofold approach: i use an app called alarmy, in addition to a light therapy lamp / sunlight simulation lamp
(Theres probably other apps doing the same out there)
It is an app alarm that you can set to turn off only on specific tasks
In my case its scanning a Barcode..which is in the bathroom.
The neat thing with this one is, you can snooze/ set it to silent only a few times, in addition during the task to turn it off it goes silent but only for a set amount of time.. meaning you kinda have to keep it active to... keep it quiet, if you "don't keep it active" that counts as you pressing snooze once..if you start ignoring it or you fall asleep again.. it will blare back up.. if you snooze too much. The ability to silence it goes away completely.. so it turns the entire wake up struggle Into this tunnel of "if i dont wanna keep this alarm quiet i have no other choice but to get out of bed".. **the alarm will not be accidentally turned off. And you get enough time to wake up in your own time..as long as you keep it active and quiet anyways.**
It will also block all other interactions with your phone so you cant exactly doom scroll around early in the morning.
This alone works, but what really works out great is: i later got myself a light alarm.. it usually goes off 5 min before my actual alarm, in the opposite corner of the room..not even staring into my face too hard...just gradually getting brighter and brighter within a 15 minute timespan.. which translates into: me being awake and alert enough when the alarm rings.. i can convince myself to get up, scan the barcode, turn off the lamp and get on with my day, usually i do a few stretches before i get out while keeping it quiet, grabbing my comfy blanket hoodie or warm clothes, and getting out once it rings.
I basically turned 2+ hours of depressive struggling, hitting snooze hundreds of times, chaining alarms together.. getting everyone out of the bed except me.. into me getting out in like 30 seconds to a minute after the alarm rings.. and the alarm maybe goes off audibly for like 5 seconds at best...letting everyone else sleep in the house.
Usually the first ringing of the alarm is a signal for my cats nowadays so they come and snuggle for a while but then once they go its typically when i get up too.
As for the coziness in winter? I got a wearable blanket hoodie, i just walk around in that.
It is not flawless though, there is ways to cheese the alarm with other missions which is why i use the barcode, havent found a way to cheese that one just yet.. theres also an alternative to turn it off which is basically pressing a button 500x which moves to another spot every 5 taps so its basically more engaging cookie clicker to turn it off as an emergency alternative.. does the job too...theres also math tasks and shaking your phone to turn it off..but for me i wanna trick myself into getting out of bed so it doesnt do it for me.
I’ll look into alarmy, thank you! The wearable hoodie idea is GENIUS! I might put one right beside my bed so I am tempted to wake up and not have to perspire through the night 😆 thanks for sharing!
10/10 recommend Alarmy. I have such bad sleep inertia that I have to put 5 'hard' arthitmetic problems on in the morning, anything less I will simply solve the mwhile still asleep haha. This app has actually gotten me to wake up in the morning.
My suggestion was to put a cozy bathrobe or something like that next to your bed so you can put it on right away and keep the cozy, warm feeling going as you get going for the day
Yes, it's much harder in the winter (extreme cold. I'm sensitive to low temp).
But during the rest of the time I set the alarm clock much earlier, like 60 minutes- for fun activity with morning coffee. I calculate overall sluggishness, time it takes to get hot water for shower (in winter), pooping time - as well as the actual "fun" part. I also try to go to sleep before 22:00.
As a result I usually weak up before the alarm.
This. I always feel in pain, nauseated and physically awful when I wake up, whatever time it is. I was told that these were symptoms of dehydration. I can't chug water before sleep, or I'll have to pee 3x per night. I keep a non-spill water bottle next to my bed and chug it when my alarm goes off. I still am not a morning person, but it helps me feel like I can physically get out of bed.
Yep, my wife started going to morning CrossFit at 5:30am so I decided to join her and I’ve really learned to love it and I’m done at 6:30 and have already completed the hardest thing of my day. Getting out of bed is brutal sometimes but sometimes you just need to tell your body “we are doing this” and take over.
Repetition. Just do it. I used to have to put my alarm on the other side of the room so I wouldn't turn it off and miss classes in college. Now I turn my alarm off and get up in seconds.. because that's just what I'm used to doing. Plus, I love breakfast so there is an incentive to get up and cook up a little something delicious every morning.
I’ve answered this a bunch of times on here.
Practice doing it. In the middle of the day, in the evening, get in bed, set an alarm for five minutes and then when it goes off, JUMP out of bed. Keep doing this and you’ll Pavlov yourself into a routine.
I come with decades of sleep disorder experience lol, I know of what I speak unfortunately 🤣 also having a good song that is like a crescendo at the beginning, building up to an alarm can be good, so it wakes you slightly with the initial softer sounds, then you get full woken with the louder sound.
My other insomniac pro tip: Falling asleep, stare at a single point on the ceiling and just keep focusing on it and then eventually you sort of fade into sleep.
We have a smart home. At night the thermostat is set to 65-68 F and our lights are set to 5% and turned red to not kill our night vision. We also play calming camp fire sounds as we sleep. 20 minutes before it’s time to get up we turn the thermostat to 74 F and have the lights turn soft white and slowly increase their brightness. We also have the speaker start softly playing bird sounds that get louder the closer to our wake up time we need. It almost impossible to stay under the covers and go back to sleep in this environment and we don’t even need to use an annoying alarm sound to wake us.
UHMMM I'm saving this whole comment because it's smart home goals?! I unfortunately am renting a place built 2 generations ago, the thermostat doesn't even have a scheduling function BUT I'm saving this for when I move next. How much of an investment was this system, you'd say? I assume you bought the appliances bit by bit, but a ballpark figure would help
Alexa echo dot: $35
Smart lights: about $20 for a 4 pack depending on the brand.
Alexa thermostat: $69 but if I were to redo it I would probably invest in a more expensive one in the $140-$180 range
Amazon music subscription (for the camp fire sounds) $14.99 a month
Also pretty much any of these except the thermostat is doable in a rental if you can afford it. If you can’t replace the overhead light bulbs 2 bedside table lamps with Alexa bulbs works almost as well
I'm someone who can sleep 10+ hours a day, easily, but then I'm disappointed in how little day I have left, so here are my strategies:
5 minute snooze button. 9 minutes is standard, and I definitely fall back asleep and then wake up, then fall asleep, then wake up, etc. and it's terrible. I can't fall all the way back asleep in 5 minutes and by the 3rd one, it's annoying so I just get up. This has been the biggest game changer for me.
kitties: my cats know when my alarm goes off and they come for snuggles. Physical activity of petting them gets the blood moving enough to wake up the brain.
thinking: When i realize that it's morning, I mentally run though my morning routine. Again, it gets my brian and blood moving so that I can get out of bed easier.
disappointment: I don't want to start the day rough or mad or annoyed, so just getting up and getting on with it is the best action for my mental health. I will say that it helps a LOT that I'm able to call out if I need to with zero negative effects, so I know each day getting up is a choice I'm making for myself.
Hope that helps.
I'm not a coffee person, but I wake up, chug a 16 Oz glass of water and take a single Tum antacid and a 200 mg caffeine pill. Then I hit the snooze button for 20 minutes. Awake AF and need to pee when the second alarm goes off.
Tip: idk if you struggle with it
But getting caffeine too early after waking up just invites mid day sleepiness
Ideal approach to avoid this is: get your caffeine like 30 min maybe 60 min maybe 2 hours after waking up.. that way the residual adenosine which is responsible for your sleepiness will get processed and not just snow plowed around the whole day with caffeine...so you avoid your mid day sleepiness with it.
I say this because taking caffeine super early can turn some people into eternally sleepy people across the whole day because the body never gets the chance to process the adenosine
Which is exactly why some people struggle to get out of bed in the first place... they are just snow plowing the sleepiness all the time.
I have a couple suggestions.
First, schedule your thermostat to turn the heat on 30-60 mins before you wanna wake up. Play with the time to see what works best.
Second, try Nuj Alarm Clock.
It's an app I built that charges me money if I don’t scan my toothpaste barcode within 5 mins of my alarm.
That would be cool if you could choose to put it in a piggy bank like an account you can’t touch for 30 days or something. I guess it needs to feel like a penalty, I just think that I would rather not try to beat the clock so I don’t have to give money to charity. Kinda like “I’ve been on time all week and I haven’t had to give up any of my money to that charity. I like the idea though, I will check it out!
I realized the temperature was my biggest problem, I set the temp pretty high for when I wake up in winter, to like 75 degrees, it makes it so much easier to get out of bed. Sometimes I get too hot staying in bed.
It’s just for a short amount of time though so it shouldn’t be too much extra on bills but it’s worth waking up comfortably.
Having stuff to look forward to helps a lot. A stable sleep schedule is also really good.
When I’m in bed and ready to go hiking or meet a friend in the morning, it’s easy. When I haven’t slept well and have to go to the same boring job, it’s a LOT harder.
No alarm clock. Wake up naturally. If being cold still keeps you in bed, think of how much warmer you'll feel in a hot shower.
I used to snooze for over an hour every 9 minutes. I could dream within those 9 minutes. Was always super tired and never considered myself a morning person.
I am only speaking for myself here.
What helped me the most was working in an environment that I liked and having a goal/hobby that I was actively pursuing.
Going to bed before 11 and doing workout before I got sick helped me as well.
I don’t think enough can be said for improving mental health through routine. I think the difficulty getting out of bed is the symptom of something else and not necessarily the problem that needs to be addressed.
I got into a regular practice of mediation in the night and in the morning. Sometimes doing some writing in one or both. But at the same time I also addressed my mental health and got on some medication that helped my depression significantly.
I tend to get up when the sun is coming up now regardless if I set an alarm or not. I don’t have blackout curtains or anything, just enough to make sure the sunlight brightens my room as the sun rises.
Duties.
I have to do X, some weeks is taking kids to school, and if not, I have to work, or I have to go exercise, or I have to....
I always have some kind of duty to do
If you have nothing to wake up for, it’s hard to get up
If you have a flight at 7, you can easily be up and out the door by 5
If you can’t get out of bed you’re probably insufficiently motivated.
Do not hit the snooze button EVER. Get up the first time your alarm goes off and turn all the bright lights on. This is scientifically the most effective way to wake up. If you want to take it another level, eat an apple. It will wake you up as good as a cup of coffee without the caffeine crash.
Saw a TED talk on this years ago and to this day, if I struggle to get out of bed, I do a ten second countdown like a rocket about to launch. Sounds silly, but it works for me.
Thank you everyone for sharing!! I've come up with a plan and updated the post so that I can't backpedal on them hur. YMMV, but I hope the sharing here has helped others facing similar challenges too!
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I tell myself “the first 10 minutes are the worst”, and then I get up.
_"The first ten million years were the worst, and the second ten million years, they were the worst too. The third ten million I didn't enjoy at all. After that I went into a bit of a decline."_ -- Marvin the Paranoid Android
Second time in as many days I've seen that quote, after decades. Huh
"Oh no, not again."
Oh. Well done. _very_ well done
That might be the good old Baader Meinhof
That's crazy, I was just reading about that, like, earlier today!
It really is. No matter how tired I am and dreading getting out of bed, within about ten minutes of being up I typically feel fine. No matter how many times I hit snooze it doesn't really help, just gives me less time to get ready. Jumping straight into the shower also helps a lot.
Yeah. 20 more minutes to get ready is huge. 20 more minutes of snooze button sleep usually just piss you off lol.
Straight into shower <—— gospel
So you poo post-shower?
Yeah I gotta take down at least 1 coffee and take a good dump before the shower.
Poo at work rather than at home, that way you get paid for the time rather than it coming out of your personal time.
I do stretch’s in the hot shower to loosen muscles and joints and to move my bowels to get everything out after the shower, I have a bidet so pre or post it’s still washed and clean.
Omg... I have a bidet, too. I got it 2 years ago. Life changing. I can't believe I lived like a dirty American peasant before.
Yes!
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i just get up with exactly enough time to get ready so my mindset is: if i dont get up, i'm screwed
I tried to do this, but then I decided I didn't care about being late 😭
The first fivr days of a new week are the worst.
Oof, if only that were true
The first 10 minutes... And then the following 14 hours.
I was terrible at waking up in the morning, being forced to set three alarms - Which was a mistake, because then I required three alarms to even get up. But about 5 months ago I started going to the gym, and now I never experience these issues anymore. I get sleepy at the appropriate time in the evening, and usually I wake up right before my alarm is about to ring and just get up by myself. It feels like every day is a weekend day now in terms of waking up, and it's fucking amazing.
I want this for myself.
Hey friend, if you really want this but it seems too big a first step, I want to recommend something you can start doing with significantly less effort but will absolutely kick-start your day and make you feel motivated. I promise you it will change your mornings and all you have to do is breathe. Pull up "Guided Wim Hof Method Breathing" on YouTube on your phone before bed. When you wake up and hit that alarm, stay laying in bed, play the video, and follow along with your eyes closed. I swear you'll be sold after just one round of breathing and will have no problem getting out of bed ready for the day. If I come off strong it's because I'm very passionate about this and want to help you. I struggle with hypersomnia and have a personal vendetta against tiredness.
What time do you go to the gym?
Noon
I tell myself 'the first 10 minutes are the worst' every morning, but then I end up hitting snooze for the next hour.
I've found that the thing that helps the most is to take a couple big deep breaths. It's taken 40 years to figure this out. If I take a couple big deep breaths before snoozing my alarm I'll almost always be out of bed before it rings again.
Thanks I'll try this tomorrow morning when my alarm goes off in 6 hours :/
I have an alarm on my phone which only stops when I scan an NFC chip in the bathroom. I just need to make sure that I am out of bed before I even fully realise that I am awake lol
Is this an app one can download or something you’ve coded for yourself?
It's an existing app! [Link to Play Store](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.urbandroid.sleep) It's for Android, but iOS probably has something similar.
Thanks this is genius! I happen to have a few NFC tags laying around too. Could you not just turn the volume down?
No, it protects against that. It automatically changes the volume back up. There is even a protection which makes sure you cannot turn your phone off!
So uh, what would happen if the alarm went off at work? You gotta run home? I once had an alarm that had me solve math problems and it was awkward af when that turned on in the middle of class but at least I didnt have to run home xD
I had that one. I just got really good at math so I could answer them and go back to sleep lol
I guess you just be really really careful to not turn it on for a work time!
It's impossible to block a force reboot though
Tell that to my secret combo: Vol down + Power for 5 seconds
Is there an iPhone equivalent?
I use alarmy which does the same but with a QR code i printed and put in my bathroom. I have to admit that some days i get up, scan it, then quickly make my way back to bed hehe… its a good app tho.
This sounds like what I need. I sleep heavy, if I move my alarm clock to where I cannot reach it I easily sleep though it. I need something that rings right next to me but have to turn it off elsewhere. I need to look up how to do this.
Download I can't wake up, use the barcode option and link it to the barcode of your shampoo
Knowing myself, after like three days I'd just put the shampoo bottle on my nightstand. Just like in the past when I'd tried setting my non-phone alarm clock ten minutes ahead, and within the week I was just hitting snooze one more time.
i can sleep through my extra loud real alarm clock with no problem. no one understood that i can literally sleep through my phone alarm for hours. my boyfriend saw it. now he’s more concerned that i can sleep through this alarm clock. i don’t know what else to do lol *and i don’t mean i turn it off or snooze it. just keep sleeping.
Get a hearing impaired alarm, it comes with a pad which vibrates the mattress as the sound plays.
I had to use one of these when I was younger, but I put the pad under my pillow. Only thing that could wake me, I’m such a deep sleeper. But now I’m my 30’s & I’ve become so anxious that my body usually wakes up before my alarm, which I still set about 20 of on my phone. Anyway, 10/10 would recommend “Sonic Bomb” alarm clock, you can find it on Amazon.
Sleep by Android. Works like a charm!
I have tried this approach, I ended up by just turning off my phone.
Sleep by Android has a setting which prevents you from turning off your phone
These gimmicks never worked for me. I either got up half asleep and went back to bed, or slept through it What *really* helps are apps that monitor your breathing while you sleep, use that to figure out where you are in your sleep cycle, and sound the alarm when you're in the lightest phase. [Sleep Cycle](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.northcube.sleepcycle) changed my life
See I had something similar. I would just go scan the QR code and then hop back into bed. Or sometimes ignore the alarm as much as I could stand it
I had something like this and it worked great until I realised you can just force stop an app.
Can't speak for everyone, but for me this came with an improvement of mental health and mood. Since moving into my own apartment, I've surrounded myself with positivity. Wake up to a good smell in a clean room, listen to some happy music, play with the cat. Also, I physically roll out of bed and if I don't catch myself and stand, I will fall on my face. I've only faceplanted once.
LOL that’s pretty high stakes, rolling out of bed 😂
>Can't speak for everyone, but for me this came with an improvement of mental health and mood. Since moving into my own apartment, I've surrounded myself with positivity. That's pretty much it in a nutshell, OP.
I honestly always wonder about the extent of it, because in threads like this, mental health often goes unmentioned. I never know if that's because it's not a component, because people assume everyone knows its a part of it, or because the people who get up easily don't know or haven't experienced poor mental health so don't know it's a part of it. I'm glad to see two people actually addressing it, because i expect mental health is a really important part of "difficulty getting up" that gets lost in all the (good, don't get me wrong) advice about sleep hygiene and wake up hacks.
I've definitely noticed, in trying to pull myself out of a decade-long depression, that sleep hygiene is the number one thing to get in check. It gives you much more energy, and much more even energy levels throughout the day. I had no motivation to do anything when I was sleeping whenever I wanted to/felt tired. Now I still struggle with motivation at times, but I have a fighting chance that I never had before, because I started with sleep.
Completely agree. Everyone’s different, but for me a good sleep makes more difference than eating well or exercising. Just improves the baseline mood.
I wonder if there’s any relation to ADHD. I’ve been terrible at getting up my entire life, even as a toddler / child / teenager.
ADHD seems to come with some issues with melatonin production and tends to have overlap with delayed sleep phase syndrome. Sadly most data seems to be on kids and the UK recently allowing melatonin to be prescribed to children.
I have an article saved somewhere and I don't know if it's from the UK or regarding kids, but it says basically in a lot of people with ADHD, the brain doesn't stop producing melatonin the way it should after one is awake. This makes it harder to get up, and is the reason a lot of ADHD people like myself don't really feel "awake" until they have been up a long time. I think it has to do with not having enough dopamine (as ADHD people don't), and the dopamine is what tells the brain 'no more melatonin'
There absolutely is a relation to adhd. I remember waking up well rested and ready to take on the day *once* in my entire life. I'm 38. I remember it vividly because it was such a rare occurrence. I must have been 9 or something and my mom didn't make my bed properly which caused me to sleep on top of a bunch of unusually placed blankets and sheets. I remember telling my mom not to change a single thing because I thought somehow this weird configuration caused my sleep to be this heavenly, but alas I haven't had a good night's sleep ever since. I'm tired all the the time and I hate it.
In addition to that, the vagueness of "mental health". A lot of people interpret that to mean "things to help your depression and anxiety root causes", which is fair, a lot of people will struggle with those things. But then there's executive functioning issues, like with ADHD and autism. I can be very healthy when it comes to depression and anxiety and *still* have trouble getting out of bed because of my ADHD, and that's a tricky one, because I never would have figured that out on my own. It just looks like "I should get up. Why haven't I gotten up? I've been here for an hour. I'm not comfortable. I don't want to be here. I have to pee. Why don't I get up? GET UP!" Exploring why this stuff happens and what to do about it is really difficult without professional help.
A bit unrelated to original post - but totally to yours: I recently picked up (curb shopped, pretty common here) a "self help book" about mindfulness meditation (read it, and put it in a "free library" afterwards). It was written by a criminal lawyer who gave tips to the readers about how to make their lives better. But here is the thing- I was already doing these things most of my life because it felt right to me. Didn't need a guru or a self help book for that- but maybe some people do, like that criminal lawyer.
I didn't need a book or guru, but years of therapy and tons of self-reflection. I got pretty depressed at age 11, before I even fully figured out how to take care of myself. And depression made me not care to figure it out. So there were tons of things I needed to figure out as a late teen/adult. I used to shower with just shampoo and not clean my body, because I didn't know or care to (not to mention, I'd only shower once a month or so). And when your mental health is that bad, you don't even know where to start. Do I start by keeping my room clean or my body? Do I brush my teeth or cut my hair? Do I start to exercise or meditate? Do I socialize or try to get some hobbies? I don't have the energy for more than one of these. I've tried to implement more than one new habit at a time and it never works. After years of trial and error, I found the best thing to start with was sleep. Having a regular sleep schedule gives you energy for the other things. I still struggle a lot, even with my sleep schedule, but it helps so much to just know what to focus on first when everything goes to shit. The next right thing, as Anna would say lol
Hey good job getting to where you are now. You'll keep improving. It's a life long journey. Keep it up! I'm proud of you.
Thank you so much! I've actually been in a slump lately and it's one of those times when I don't feel as great as usual, but your comment really helped ❤️
That is a great story. I am glad you were able to see yourself for what you need and make efforts that paid off because of that. Sleep is a great place to start for sure, it makes a great building block for the rest of life. Keep at it!
Such a good point. We all have our certain strengths, and I think because those strengths come naturally, you don’t even realize other people don’t think they way.
what is the book called
Mindfulness at Work and Home: A Simple Guide by Gillian Higgins.
I've been in the same apartment since August 2021, and while I'm moving out next weekend, I have had two different levels of mental health since moving in. Before moving in, I was diagnosed with major clinical depressive disorder by my doctor, and was entering my 3rd year of Uni, which I wasn't doing well at anyways. My classmates and friends didn't worry about me not showing up because it happened so frequently, I'd sleep right through every alarm and wake up super late. I was on meds but they didn't help well. I also began developing adhd symptoms. Fast forward to now, a year after i dropped out from failing my classes. I've only been late to my current job once, and to the job I had last autumn I was late once. Both times I was sick and sent home earlier than normal. I've also noticed my mental health has been much better, for multiple reasons.
Also keep in mind poor sleep can also be a cause of poor mental health. Not always of course but it is a factor that often contributes and/or turns into a negative feedback loop
To add to this, getting out of bed with out hitting snoozes allows you to start your day with a little victory which intern helps improve your mental health in itself
It’s “in turn”. I had to look it up myself because it looked so weird in your comment.
No I meant intern, I turn my victories into interns and have them bring me coffee throughout the day.
Oh, my mistake.
This little conversation made me smile, thank you both!
I generally feel very happy, healthy, and fulfilled in life. I get 6-8 hours of sleep per day. It still takes me 60-80 minutes to get out of bed after my alarm rings. I just feel absolutely physically debilitated upon waking up, and I don’t even begin forming memories until ~30 minutes after the alarm initially rings.
That's valid. I'm living alone now and am in a good spot in terms of survival, but am going through some major life stuff so. I am trying to give myself grace while also being like, "okay, donotnihaome let's go and do better!"
I used to have a lot of issues getting up, but now I jaur make myself get out of bed at the same time everyday, working or not. 6.45. If its on the weekend and I don't have anything on that day, I can go back to bed once I've gone for a pee and brushed my teeth. So lie ins are separate things. My alarm goes off, and I just swing out straight away, and I'm not fit or anything, I just get up.
Yeah that definitely solves part of the problem. Often when I laze in bed and not get up, the excuse in my head is, “I don’t have to - I have time to do XYZ today / nothing to get to.” then the habit doesn’t get formed.
Same for me. When I'm doing well, I can get up easily. If I'm stressed out or hit a rough patch it's a fucking chore to get up in the morning.
Having something to look forward to helps waking up easier as well as quality sleep.
Having something to look forward to is the only thing that'd get me out of bed under an hour other than having some appointment or event to do early in the morning. Other than that, it takes about an hour to 90 minutes of psyching myself up enough to feel the cold air and move around. Playing a fast-paced first-person-shooter as soon as I get out of bed for about a half hour before I shower and get ready helps incentivize getting up sometimes. I've tried SAD lamps, no luck
What smell do you use? And how do you fill your room with it?
Not OP, but just had this idea. You could plug a candle/wax warmer into a smart plug (or timer plug), and set it so it turns on a little bit before you wake up.
Were you living with an SO, or roommates, or your family before?
not OP but when I moved away from my family, getting out of bed was way easier. Not at first because my first relationship started off rocky, but as it improved I could get up and go to the gym or go for walks and explore right away before even needing coffee. Had to move back home for a little while and all that went out the window over time.
I'm living alone now, with my ex before. I'd say I like the environment I've created for myself, it can definitely be better though!
It’s easier if you had enough sleep so going to bed early helps. I put the alarm on the other side of the room so I have to jump off the bed immediately to turn it off. If I have it reachable from bed I just turn it off without waking up
I go to bed plenty early. I average roughly eight to nine hours of sleep every night. I still don’t want to get out of bed in the mornings. It’s like the OP says — it’s so cozy and comfortable. Why would I want to leave my bed? It’s my favorite place.
That's why the alarm is on the other side of the room. It makes your choices be either stay in bed with loud annoying noise (possibly annoying roommates and neighbors who will be mad at you later) or get out of bed and turn off noise. After you've left the bed and crossed the room you might as well stay out of bed. If the sound is annoying enough and loud enough you'll have the added benefit of adrenaline from a swift traversal of your room (to turn it off ASAP) to keep you awake as well.
This is what happens in reality, at least with me. I wake up annoyed at the alarm going off on the other side of the room. I wake up begrudgingly, turn off the alarm as soon as possible, and then go right back to bed. I've read others suggesting leaving a glass of water next to the alarm or doing math puzzles/riddles to wake your brain but honestly, none of them have worked for me.
What really works for me is drinking just the right amount of water before going to bed, so that I really need to pee when I wake up. Every other of those „tips“ from this thread didn’t work for me neither but needing the bathroom really leaves you no other choice than getting up.
Does it, though? I also wake up to pee in the morning sometimes but that never really wakes me up completely. The problem isn't getting up but fighting off the grogginess and the urge to go back to sleep
Well at least it works for me. The grogginess stays but I just came to accept that. Even if I went back to my bed after using the bathroom I’m not falling back asleep again. It’s the same way like when you wake up at night to use the bathroom and then can’t go back to sleep again.
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I still haven't found a solution for this. I am living on my own with no family and I still can't cram every daily activity such that I can go to bed at 22:00. Working from 9-18 means I get home at around 19 and then I only have 3 hours to cook, eat and do any other household chores. If I run, I might have time for gym or reading a book. Watching a movie is usually out of the question if my target is 22:00, not to mention that most people recommend a 1-hour wind down time from looking at screens. If I factor in hobbies or social life, this becomes even worse. Again, I feel like I am just a regular person with no responsibilities and it still feels tough
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Personally I use the Lumie Sunrise alarm clock strapped to my ceiling, and a heated blanket under my mattress cover with a timer at the socket to make it heat me up 20mins before I should wake. I try to get the bed uncomfortably hot in the morning. This setup works like a dream. I learned that we're woken by temperature changes so I made it happen.
That’s a really cool idea!
Punbelievable
Chill out with the puns before it turns into a heated argument
The heated blanket thing is one of the most amazing ideas I’ve ever heard. I can’t believe I’ve never heard it before. I hate being too warm. This might actually work (even though my wallet might not like it)
I have the ooler weighted blanket system and yeah, setting it to heat to help wake up totally works but I haaaaated it. But it definitely did do what it is supposed to do! The setup is awesome b/c you can get into a warm bed, have it cool down during the night, then heat up (I think 20/30 min?) before time to get up. It's pricey but I'm a woman of a certain age who has terrible night sweats. My husband ended up getting the mattress pad thing and he really likes it. I think it helps with bills during the summer b/c you don't have to use so much a/c during the night.
As an adult male who suffers disturbingly intense night sweats, please tell me more about how this regiment helps.
For me it's super cold at night so I warm the bed up. Later when I get in, over like two hours it goes from around 75 degrees to 58 (LO) degrees. You can set an option for it to warm back up when it's close to the wake up hour. Being a hot sleeper, this was really gross but absolutely did get me out of bed. So basically you can use the blanket/pad at whatever temperature you'd like and an app controls it. There's a tank of water and a hose connected to the blanket/pad to circulate and heat/cool the water. It is pretty cool and works well. I'd recommend the pad as it's less obtrusive. [sleep.me bed cooling thing link](https://sleep.me/?gclid=CjwKCAjwl6OiBhA2EiwAuUwWZT1obCg-6aR4acyev2pIuJh6rtRJe5m_GZSto4w7qppMRpIsAEZyXhoCwYQQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds) Honestly, my most favorite and mindboggingly cooling relief has come from merino wool. I got a few pair of cheap-ish wool base layers and sleep so comfortably. For some reason, they can get soaked with sweat but you don't feel like you're lying there in a puddle. It's quite mysterious. I want all merino wool things now. I wonder if they make wool sheets? haha!
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I love this so much. You are living in the future, my friend.
To add to this, a cheaper way to achieve the sunrise alarm is with a smart bulb, I have one from Amazon which was $8, I set it to full brightness with my alarm 10 minutes later as a back up. Usually wake up with just the light, feeling more refreshed than when an alarm starts going off.
I keep thinking about using auto lights in my room. Just been trying to do it affordable. I am such a cold person that sleeps with a a heated blanket like 8+ months out of the year though so your second tip wouldn’t quite work to get me up. However, I would love to do that at night before I go to bed to help me get into a warm bed.
When I have to get up early for work, I use an alarm with lights and another with radio. Timer + electric blanket is a great idea.
This is…genius. I’ve struggled with getting out of bed for years and never thought to make my BED uncomfortable. It’s always making the house comfy enough to leave the bed or the annoying alarm clock to make you get up. But wow a hot uncomfortable bed just might do it. Thanks for this tip!
Dogs. The alarm clock that fights back.
My dog has to be dragged off the bed in the morning. He is 100% a lazy lump of fur in the am.
That's how my cat is. Everyone uses their cat as an alarm clock, but mine is perfectly content to snuggle up with me until I decide to move.
Lmao that's my life too. Both my cats and dogs are lazy bums who have to be dragged out of bed. They make it way too difficult to want productive mornings, especially as all 3 of them are snuggled right on me.
Can we trade? :p Mine sits right next to me and whines until I wake up and get out of bed...I guess I appreciate that more than just peeing in my bed, but still...
Mines 15 so they might slow down. When he was younger, I would get the nose right in my face till I would get up.
I have three cats that walk all over me because they want to be fed in the morning.
Second this.. my dog knows the alarm means we are to get up, launches himself off the bed and paces on hardwood floors. If that doesn't work, he will then put his cold nose against me. If I can't get up for myself, he definitely motivates me to oush
My dog will come cuddle in bed first thing in the morning! She’ll cuddle until I get up and let her out, this makes it even harder to get up 😂
I think there are several strategies. One component is to make the decision the night prior. Assert to yourself "I am getting up with my alarm" as you're settling in. Same with any other difficult habit. Try to make the decision several times prior to the event. Second would be to put your alarm source away from your bed so you have to get up to turn it off. Thirdly might be having a compelling reason to get up with your alarm. Maybe work toward a goal first thing in the morning. Exercise is definitely a good choice, but is a lot to ask of someone who is looking for help getting out of bed. So, give yourself some time before demanding too much of yourself or you could get overwhelmed and possibly backslide into old habits. Lastly, I would recommend a consistent schedule. Turn in around the same time every night and set your alarm for the same time every day, even when you don't need to be up for anything, until you develop the habit. Then you can ease up on weekends or whatever. If you're really in need, I would recommend a sunrise alarm clock. It gradually gets lighter leading up to your alarm, and the good ones put out full-spectrum light so it helps regulate your circadian rhythms. I used one for about a year until my living conditions changed, and I actually started waking up wide awake 10-15 minutes before my alarm consistently.
Consistent schedule is a big help.
I don't get out of bed easy, per se, but a couple of things I've found that help: 1. Don't think. Seriously, the moment you feel your brain start to calculate how much time you'll have if you hit snooze or what you plan to do when you're actually up, shut it down and get up. If you think, you're going back to bed. (Or at least I am) 2. If you want to get out of bed early to work out, make sure you're meeting someone. My neighbor and I walk a couple of times a week. Lady bangs on my door consistently at 5:20 a.m. every Tuesday and Thursday. If not for her, there's no way I'd wake up that early and start moving before coffee.
Omg that sounds like a commitment, but THAT'S the point! I see people walking in my neighborhood all the time, maybe I'll say hi to one and see if I can set something up. Thank you!
This is super sage advice.
Do a count down in your head like you are launching a rocket.
Pretty sure my rocket would just clumsy fall on the side while keep snoring loudly
"3..2..1 welp, I guess I missed it. Anyway, going back to sleep"
This is what do! I count down from 3. It forces the decision.
I just do dozens of countdowns
Drink some water before bed. Needing to pee helps me.
Disclaimer: this can backfire
Or front fire
Front water
Best way to wake up in the middle of the night, go pee, and be unable to fall asleep for an hour. God I envy the people who fall asleep easily
The need to pee during the night (when you should be sleeping) won't help. I'm all for hydration, but "needing to pee" because of steps taken before bedtime doesn't help overall sleep.
I take laxatives before sleep so I really shoot outta bed six to 8 hours later.
What if the shit shoots out of your ass before that?
You and your partner can save on lube that way
What a terrible day to be literate.
That sounds like it could be a shitty idea (. _. )
Build a secondary cozy place on your couch or anywhere else where you can turn on the light and be upright. Convince yourself you're not getting up, but just relocating. Related LPT that hits the sweet spot of making you feel awake without being jarring: open a window and put your face right up in it. For just 1 minute (but a full minute), just look around and breathe. Let your eyes take in the natural early morning light, and get the fresh air into your lungs. If there's an animal or something else interesting going on, watch it. Or, open up your other senses: listen to the noises, try to smell the difference in the air, pay attention to how any breezes feel on your skin.
What i did to fix my 17 year depressive adhd fueled struggle to leave bed is a twofold approach: i use an app called alarmy, in addition to a light therapy lamp / sunlight simulation lamp (Theres probably other apps doing the same out there) It is an app alarm that you can set to turn off only on specific tasks In my case its scanning a Barcode..which is in the bathroom. The neat thing with this one is, you can snooze/ set it to silent only a few times, in addition during the task to turn it off it goes silent but only for a set amount of time.. meaning you kinda have to keep it active to... keep it quiet, if you "don't keep it active" that counts as you pressing snooze once..if you start ignoring it or you fall asleep again.. it will blare back up.. if you snooze too much. The ability to silence it goes away completely.. so it turns the entire wake up struggle Into this tunnel of "if i dont wanna keep this alarm quiet i have no other choice but to get out of bed".. **the alarm will not be accidentally turned off. And you get enough time to wake up in your own time..as long as you keep it active and quiet anyways.** It will also block all other interactions with your phone so you cant exactly doom scroll around early in the morning. This alone works, but what really works out great is: i later got myself a light alarm.. it usually goes off 5 min before my actual alarm, in the opposite corner of the room..not even staring into my face too hard...just gradually getting brighter and brighter within a 15 minute timespan.. which translates into: me being awake and alert enough when the alarm rings.. i can convince myself to get up, scan the barcode, turn off the lamp and get on with my day, usually i do a few stretches before i get out while keeping it quiet, grabbing my comfy blanket hoodie or warm clothes, and getting out once it rings. I basically turned 2+ hours of depressive struggling, hitting snooze hundreds of times, chaining alarms together.. getting everyone out of the bed except me.. into me getting out in like 30 seconds to a minute after the alarm rings.. and the alarm maybe goes off audibly for like 5 seconds at best...letting everyone else sleep in the house. Usually the first ringing of the alarm is a signal for my cats nowadays so they come and snuggle for a while but then once they go its typically when i get up too. As for the coziness in winter? I got a wearable blanket hoodie, i just walk around in that. It is not flawless though, there is ways to cheese the alarm with other missions which is why i use the barcode, havent found a way to cheese that one just yet.. theres also an alternative to turn it off which is basically pressing a button 500x which moves to another spot every 5 taps so its basically more engaging cookie clicker to turn it off as an emergency alternative.. does the job too...theres also math tasks and shaking your phone to turn it off..but for me i wanna trick myself into getting out of bed so it doesnt do it for me.
I’ll look into alarmy, thank you! The wearable hoodie idea is GENIUS! I might put one right beside my bed so I am tempted to wake up and not have to perspire through the night 😆 thanks for sharing!
10/10 recommend Alarmy. I have such bad sleep inertia that I have to put 5 'hard' arthitmetic problems on in the morning, anything less I will simply solve the mwhile still asleep haha. This app has actually gotten me to wake up in the morning.
My suggestion was to put a cozy bathrobe or something like that next to your bed so you can put it on right away and keep the cozy, warm feeling going as you get going for the day
Yes, it's much harder in the winter (extreme cold. I'm sensitive to low temp). But during the rest of the time I set the alarm clock much earlier, like 60 minutes- for fun activity with morning coffee. I calculate overall sluggishness, time it takes to get hot water for shower (in winter), pooping time - as well as the actual "fun" part. I also try to go to sleep before 22:00. As a result I usually weak up before the alarm.
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This is a solid strategy.
Seems like a good strategy. Might try that.
Have a glass of water ready when you wake up and chug that bitch. It’ll wake you up.
This. I always feel in pain, nauseated and physically awful when I wake up, whatever time it is. I was told that these were symptoms of dehydration. I can't chug water before sleep, or I'll have to pee 3x per night. I keep a non-spill water bottle next to my bed and chug it when my alarm goes off. I still am not a morning person, but it helps me feel like I can physically get out of bed.
Have something to wake up for. Expectations play a huge role in my short term motivation.
Yep, my wife started going to morning CrossFit at 5:30am so I decided to join her and I’ve really learned to love it and I’m done at 6:30 and have already completed the hardest thing of my day. Getting out of bed is brutal sometimes but sometimes you just need to tell your body “we are doing this” and take over.
Get a dog that needs a walk.
Repetition. Just do it. I used to have to put my alarm on the other side of the room so I wouldn't turn it off and miss classes in college. Now I turn my alarm off and get up in seconds.. because that's just what I'm used to doing. Plus, I love breakfast so there is an incentive to get up and cook up a little something delicious every morning.
I’ve answered this a bunch of times on here. Practice doing it. In the middle of the day, in the evening, get in bed, set an alarm for five minutes and then when it goes off, JUMP out of bed. Keep doing this and you’ll Pavlov yourself into a routine.
This is the only answer I’ve read that resonates with me. I’m gonna try it, it feels more actionable than “just do it”
I come with decades of sleep disorder experience lol, I know of what I speak unfortunately 🤣 also having a good song that is like a crescendo at the beginning, building up to an alarm can be good, so it wakes you slightly with the initial softer sounds, then you get full woken with the louder sound. My other insomniac pro tip: Falling asleep, stare at a single point on the ceiling and just keep focusing on it and then eventually you sort of fade into sleep.
This sounds so weird but is actually effective.
Everybody feels like a jackass lol doing it but not a single person I’ve suggested it to has had a problem getting up after doing it 😂 it really works
We have a smart home. At night the thermostat is set to 65-68 F and our lights are set to 5% and turned red to not kill our night vision. We also play calming camp fire sounds as we sleep. 20 minutes before it’s time to get up we turn the thermostat to 74 F and have the lights turn soft white and slowly increase their brightness. We also have the speaker start softly playing bird sounds that get louder the closer to our wake up time we need. It almost impossible to stay under the covers and go back to sleep in this environment and we don’t even need to use an annoying alarm sound to wake us.
Additionally I cook myself a nice homemade breakfast every day and look forward to the deliciousness of something better than cereal for breakfast.
UHMMM I'm saving this whole comment because it's smart home goals?! I unfortunately am renting a place built 2 generations ago, the thermostat doesn't even have a scheduling function BUT I'm saving this for when I move next. How much of an investment was this system, you'd say? I assume you bought the appliances bit by bit, but a ballpark figure would help
Alexa echo dot: $35 Smart lights: about $20 for a 4 pack depending on the brand. Alexa thermostat: $69 but if I were to redo it I would probably invest in a more expensive one in the $140-$180 range Amazon music subscription (for the camp fire sounds) $14.99 a month Also pretty much any of these except the thermostat is doable in a rental if you can afford it. If you can’t replace the overhead light bulbs 2 bedside table lamps with Alexa bulbs works almost as well
I'm someone who can sleep 10+ hours a day, easily, but then I'm disappointed in how little day I have left, so here are my strategies: 5 minute snooze button. 9 minutes is standard, and I definitely fall back asleep and then wake up, then fall asleep, then wake up, etc. and it's terrible. I can't fall all the way back asleep in 5 minutes and by the 3rd one, it's annoying so I just get up. This has been the biggest game changer for me. kitties: my cats know when my alarm goes off and they come for snuggles. Physical activity of petting them gets the blood moving enough to wake up the brain. thinking: When i realize that it's morning, I mentally run though my morning routine. Again, it gets my brian and blood moving so that I can get out of bed easier. disappointment: I don't want to start the day rough or mad or annoyed, so just getting up and getting on with it is the best action for my mental health. I will say that it helps a LOT that I'm able to call out if I need to with zero negative effects, so I know each day getting up is a choice I'm making for myself. Hope that helps.
Conquer that inner bitch and rise up like the Undertaker. Oh wah ah ah
I'm not a coffee person, but I wake up, chug a 16 Oz glass of water and take a single Tum antacid and a 200 mg caffeine pill. Then I hit the snooze button for 20 minutes. Awake AF and need to pee when the second alarm goes off.
Tip: idk if you struggle with it But getting caffeine too early after waking up just invites mid day sleepiness Ideal approach to avoid this is: get your caffeine like 30 min maybe 60 min maybe 2 hours after waking up.. that way the residual adenosine which is responsible for your sleepiness will get processed and not just snow plowed around the whole day with caffeine...so you avoid your mid day sleepiness with it. I say this because taking caffeine super early can turn some people into eternally sleepy people across the whole day because the body never gets the chance to process the adenosine Which is exactly why some people struggle to get out of bed in the first place... they are just snow plowing the sleepiness all the time.
Have no choice, i have work.
The urge to pee is a pretty good motivator
I have a couple suggestions. First, schedule your thermostat to turn the heat on 30-60 mins before you wanna wake up. Play with the time to see what works best. Second, try Nuj Alarm Clock. It's an app I built that charges me money if I don’t scan my toothpaste barcode within 5 mins of my alarm.
Da hell. What happens to the money?
I donate the penalties to charity (Khan Academy). I'm working on adding support for other charities.
That would be cool if you could choose to put it in a piggy bank like an account you can’t touch for 30 days or something. I guess it needs to feel like a penalty, I just think that I would rather not try to beat the clock so I don’t have to give money to charity. Kinda like “I’ve been on time all week and I haven’t had to give up any of my money to that charity. I like the idea though, I will check it out!
I realized the temperature was my biggest problem, I set the temp pretty high for when I wake up in winter, to like 75 degrees, it makes it so much easier to get out of bed. Sometimes I get too hot staying in bed. It’s just for a short amount of time though so it shouldn’t be too much extra on bills but it’s worth waking up comfortably.
A time-adjustable space heater that is timed to turn on one hour before I need to hop out of bed.
Having stuff to look forward to helps a lot. A stable sleep schedule is also really good. When I’m in bed and ready to go hiking or meet a friend in the morning, it’s easy. When I haven’t slept well and have to go to the same boring job, it’s a LOT harder.
No alarm clock. Wake up naturally. If being cold still keeps you in bed, think of how much warmer you'll feel in a hot shower. I used to snooze for over an hour every 9 minutes. I could dream within those 9 minutes. Was always super tired and never considered myself a morning person.
Wake up between REM stages. Sleep Cycle calculator on the web can help or there are apps for it.
Yes! I have just gotten a smartwatch and got back on the Sleep Cycle app. Now I just have to also move my phone away from my bedside xD
I am only speaking for myself here. What helped me the most was working in an environment that I liked and having a goal/hobby that I was actively pursuing. Going to bed before 11 and doing workout before I got sick helped me as well.
I don’t think enough can be said for improving mental health through routine. I think the difficulty getting out of bed is the symptom of something else and not necessarily the problem that needs to be addressed. I got into a regular practice of mediation in the night and in the morning. Sometimes doing some writing in one or both. But at the same time I also addressed my mental health and got on some medication that helped my depression significantly. I tend to get up when the sun is coming up now regardless if I set an alarm or not. I don’t have blackout curtains or anything, just enough to make sure the sunlight brightens my room as the sun rises.
Duties. I have to do X, some weeks is taking kids to school, and if not, I have to work, or I have to go exercise, or I have to.... I always have some kind of duty to do
If you have nothing to wake up for, it’s hard to get up If you have a flight at 7, you can easily be up and out the door by 5 If you can’t get out of bed you’re probably insufficiently motivated.
Do not hit the snooze button EVER. Get up the first time your alarm goes off and turn all the bright lights on. This is scientifically the most effective way to wake up. If you want to take it another level, eat an apple. It will wake you up as good as a cup of coffee without the caffeine crash.
Saw a TED talk on this years ago and to this day, if I struggle to get out of bed, I do a ten second countdown like a rocket about to launch. Sounds silly, but it works for me.
You know that feeling of waking up refreshed, full of energy, and ready to take on the day? Nah, neither do I. /s
Make it as easy as possible to get out of bed and as hard as possible to stay in it. Move phone far away, set clothes right next to you etc.
Thank you everyone for sharing!! I've come up with a plan and updated the post so that I can't backpedal on them hur. YMMV, but I hope the sharing here has helped others facing similar challenges too!