How do you feel about getting up in the morning? Do you need an alarm…or four?
When my alarm goes off on work days, I sometimes ask God to kill me. I don’t mean it, of course, but that gives you a taste for how much I hate waking up.
Thus, I use several alarms. To steal a phrase from Elvis, circa Aloha from Hawaii, I’d like to introduce the members of my alarm clock team to you, before we go any further:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gDa-50rYEc
For those of you counting at home, there were three alarm clocks in my reenactment video. Some of you might also remember Tocky, my fourth alarm clock who has been on the injured reserve list for several months.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDKJbKUBktk
While I waited to see if the Tocky people would send me a replacement (and they did, yea!), I purchased the light alarm clock in the first video. I thought it would be a more natural, less jarring way to wake up. Less jarring is right…zzzzzzzzzz. Also, the chimes gave me tinnitus. Well, I never stop hearing them anyway.
I had hoped being exposed to that light would make it easier to get out of bed in the morning. But that hasn’t happened. That will require more sleep.
A 14-year veteran of Catholic school, I find Lent to be a tonic for my otherwise weak will. So even though I’m no longer religious, I continue to make use of the Lenten season to work on stuff. I’m pretty sure Jesus won’t mind.
Even though I failed miserably last year, I still need to work on my sleep issues, so this year is Lenten promise: Sleep Edition, Part 2.
Lenten Promise 2012
1. No screens after 11pm.
2. In bed by midnight.
So let it be written…so let it be done.
Speaking of writing…since I do most of my blog-related crap during the late evening/night hours (as you can see by the clocks in the first video!), I expect my post frequency here to suffer. But if I get more rest, maybe I’ll make more sense when I do post. We can all look forward to that.
Do you give up anything/do something special for Lent?
NOTE: For the title, I wanted to use an animal group name that starts with “A” for alarm or “C” for clock. Did you know a group of tigers is called an “ambush?” Seemed appropriate for my alarms. Also seemed appropriate given the mini stuffed cheetah who stars in the first video. Dave gave him to me after I finished my first half marathon and I mistook it for a tiger because I am a moron.
So I call him “chi-ger” now. By the way, a group of cheetahs is called a “coalition,” which I considered using for the title (“a coalition of clocks”), but that sounded a little too civilized for alarm clocks.
I used to want one of those light up clocks, but I’ve heard bad things about them (the sleep clinic told me it’s better to wake up abruptly and get a few extra minutes of deep sleep rather than spend 20-30 minutes easing out of sleep and therefor not really getting any of the benefits of deep sleep). I want a Tocky! Do you still need an extra alarm when Tocky’s working?
I’m so sleep deprived that I don’t think the ~30 minutes of easing out of sleep is happening. While I was on Christmas vacation, the light would wake me up anywhere between 5 and 20 minutes before the chimes started going off. But now I don’t stir at all until the noise goes off. And it’s easy just to hit snooze over and over. The light shining in my face has no effect on my ability to fall back to sleep.
I just got Tocky 2 recently and haven’t set him up yet, I plan on doing that tonight. When Tocky 1 was working, I used him as my drop dead alarm–that is, the little beeping travel alarm would go off first, 10-15 minutes before Tocky, and then when Tocky went off, I’d really need to be up, which was easier since I put him all the way on the other side of the room.
It worked well until Tocky died. But it only helped with one side of the equation…getting up. I ended up getting LESS sleep when I used Tocky because I didn’t go to bed any earlier. Thus, the Lenten promise.
My cat is my alarm clock… he thinks 3 AM is the perfect time for breakfast. I disagree 🙂
We have a dog, but my husband does the morning walk (I have trouble getting up, remember?). When I’m forced to do it, I always pat Chuck on the head like it’s a snooze button when he comes over to wake me up. It actually works, he always gives me more time to sleep when I do that, and doesn’t piss on the floor. He is my sweet little fluffy muffin.
Tracy, I’m playing tag and I’m tagging you…http://cinquecentoproject.wordpress.com/2012/02/22/tag-youre-it/
I am imagining you rolling your eyes right now. Am I right? Do I know you just a little by now?
I actually like answering questions, it’s free blog content!!! But some of your questions are going to make me look douchey, I think. But c’est la vie.
I do cringe a little with the idea of tagging others for fear they will roll their eyes at me. And I’m nosy, so I can see my questions being too intimate! But I plan on playing.
Yay!!!
I’m really curious about your responses now – I don’t think you’ll look douchey…
I have to admit that I love sleep, so getting to bed early isn’t an issue for me. And while I get up at 5am during the week, it’s not a pleasant sight (but I leave work earlier that way and preserve some sanity.) I have two alarms though–one I sleep through that’s basically pointless and the real one I want to smash on the floor. That one works.
As for Lent, I’m not a practicing Catholic, so nothing is given up. However, I do try and make a conscious effort to add something beneficial to others in instead–extra time, an extra donation, etc. I just try and be more mindful, which is something I like to carry with me past Easter. But then I get writer’s block or the damn alarm goes off and, well, you know…;)
My sleep issues are like a case study of the neuroscience of happiness research I’ve read about the difference between wanting and liking.
I like sleep, I hate being tired. But I want more free time. So I stay up and steal time from sleep. It’s a powerful disconnect. So I can say truthfully that I want more sleep. But I don’t really want to go to bed earlier. So I don’t. Ugh.
I like your mindfulness idea.
What does “no screens” mean?
Also, I award you Liebster Blog Award!
http://cinquecentoproject.wordpress.com/2012/02/23/youd-better-be-liebster-it/
And, thanks for the awesome friendship comment
Screens = evil and seductive glowing electronics = TV, computer, iPad
They suck me in and make me lose track of time. And I’ve heard the blue light coming off them can mess up your body clock/melatonin.
RE: Liebster, danke! (That’s German, you know!!!).
RE: friendship: you always manage to write what I want to write, only better!
I’d have to kill Tocky. But I really really like that New Agey clock that lights up and plays New Agey music. Now *that’s* pretty cool. Not being religious myself, I sometimes wonder about the giving-up-for-lent stuff, although I understand it’s a method of working on one’s self-control and preserverence – even for just 40 days (that *is* the correct number of days, right?).
I just set up my new Tocky yesterday so I had to get out of bed to turn him off this morning. Little guy is annoying.
Well, there are 46 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter. I think Sundays aren’t supposed to count or something. It’s been a long time since my Catholic school upbringing!