On another thread, there’s a discussion of the human relationship with alarm clocks.
It’s a terrible, terrible thing (IMHO) that we all must program a machine to begin our days, very suddenly, by startling the crap out of us.
I wonder what has been tried, and what if anything seems to work, to wake a person up gradually, as if it’s a Saturday morning, but on time.
There are alarm clocks that play the radio (or a user chosen CD) quietly for 10 minutes, then a bit louder for 10 minutes, then a bit louder and so on.
Saturday morning wakeups are peaceful (I assume) because they’re based on internal body conditions. No matter how an external alarm clocks chooses to wake you up, it doesn’t know when you are “ready” to wake up. In fact, that’s kind of the point of an alarm clock, to wake you up when you are not ready to wake up (or else you wouldn’t need it). So whether it makes a noise, tickles you, blows a fan, or anything else, it’s never going to feel as peaceful as waking up on your own.
I think an additional factor is which stage of the sleep cycle you are in when you wake up/are woken up.
When I wake up naturally, I often remember the dream I just had. I believe this is because I just came out of the REM portion of the sleep cycle. If my alarm clock wakes me up near the end of a long dream, it usually doesn’t bother me (meaning I don’t feel too groggy–I may be pissed about it interupting a good dream) because I’ve nealy completed that sleep cycle.
When I wake up groggy from the alarm clock, I’m usually not aware of being awoken from a dream, so it might be that I’m in a different part of the sleep cycle (i.e., alpha sleep or beta sleep).
I don’t remember the finer details of sleep cycle facts, so this is just speculation based on prior knowledge that has slowly decayed into half-assed “I think I know what I’m talking about” knowledge.
Sometimes a friendly bedmate can rouse a person to rise and shine without startling them awake.
You could try a Dawn Simulator alarm clock, which gradually turns on a light, simulating the slow increase in light of a sunrise. The sunrise speed is adjustable, too.
Get a dog. They know when it’s time to go out. However, you may have to decide which awakening is less rude: Loud alarm clock, or dog butt on your face.
The Zen Alarm Clock.
At the time you set it for, it rings a chime once. Then, about 4 minutes later, it rings it again, and then again at decreasing intervals. After about 10 minutes it’s continuously ringing about every 5 seconds.
It doesn’t solve the problem of having to wake up when you’re not ready, but it makes the transition much more gradual and peaceful. No bolting upright because of a blaring radio or buzz. It almost feels like it’s pulling you out of sleep, rather than forcing you awake. I highly recommend it.
When I was a teen I was able to “Program” myself to wake up at whatever time I wanted to, and 99% of the time I would wake right up, wide awake with no (or little) grogginess. I wish I remembered how to do this. All I remeber is that it had something to do with staring at the clock for a while and alot of concentration.
Do a google, it may have tips on how to train your natural internal clock.