# Help me make an advanced alarm clock to deal with my personal oddities **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 6, 2016, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-make-an-advanced-alarm-clock-to-deal-with-my-personal-oddities/767797 "2016-10-06T20:06:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2016, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-make-an-advanced-alarm-clock-to-deal-with-my-personal-oddities/767797/21 "2016-10-08T09:01:53Z")
Large truck horn in the next room with the backing beeper 2 minutes later under the bed with the switch for that in a third room with the combo lock idea from up thread. Or just quit working. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2016, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-make-an-advanced-alarm-clock-to-deal-with-my-personal-oddities/767797/22 "2016-10-08T09:12:41Z")
You could combine several pressure sensitive pads with LEDs so that you have to hit two or three pads as they light up: a sort of Simon-type thing. That would be fun to code. Or you could experiment with beverages until you find the right volume of the right liquid that will activate your need to get up at the right time. Cranberry juice tends to work pretty well. ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2016, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-make-an-advanced-alarm-clock-to-deal-with-my-personal-oddities/767797/23 "2016-10-08T09:30:00Z")
As someone who also used to be a serial snooze button abuser I feel with you, and as an engineer my first thoughts also were about engineering solutions (in the day, I seriously thought of building a bed frame with an actuator that very slowly rotated the bed frame by 30° or so on its long axis, forcing me to get up or get dumped to the floor.) However. The solution I’d like to recommend is to **go to bed early so that when the alarm sounds you are done sleeping anyway.** That works very well for me. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2016, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-make-an-advanced-alarm-clock-to-deal-with-my-personal-oddities/767797/24 "2016-10-08T10:51:36Z")
What about building a trebuchet bed? ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2016, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-make-an-advanced-alarm-clock-to-deal-with-my-personal-oddities/767797/25 "2016-10-08T11:06:23Z")
Put an old style bell alarm clock in a thin lockable metal box kept beside your bed. Put the key for the box in a bucket of water in the furthest corner of the bedroom. And read [Morning haze: why it’s time to stop hitting the snooze button](http://theconversation.com/morning-haze-why-its-time-to-stop-hitting-the-snooze-button-35611) > [@](#): > > So when you hit snooze and fall back asleep, your sleep cycle starts from the beginning. Except this time when your alarm goes off, if you’re in a deeper stage of sleep, it’s a lot harder to wake up. > > The end result is that the last proportion of your sleep becomes highly fragmented. This means you miss out on the recovery benefits of consolidated sleep, and your ability to function effectively during the rest of the day may be impaired. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2016, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-make-an-advanced-alarm-clock-to-deal-with-my-personal-oddities/767797/26 "2016-10-08T13:07:08Z")
I think something more general than the clock in a padlocked box is needed. A person could easily memorize the code to an extent that they will be able to unlock it in their sleep. I think a varying code is needed. E.g., a 3 digit LED display of a randomly selected code plus a keypad. You have to enter the current code to turn off the alarm. Maybe add extra difficulty like the screen going blank after you hit the first digit. So you have to remember all 3 or start over with a new triple. (And maybe a penalty klaxon if you enter them wrong.) Let me recheck the thread. Aha, I see **Macca26** has posted about a captcha app on a phone. That’s along these lines but I find captchas sometimes too hard even fully awake. Memorizing 3 random digits should suffice. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2016, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-make-an-advanced-alarm-clock-to-deal-with-my-personal-oddities/767797/27 "2016-10-08T21:44:33Z")
Another vote that the solution is to solve the sleep issues, not build a better alarm clock. There is some tiny chance the OP has some deep-seated atypical sleep problem. Far more likely she’s some combination of exhausted, sleep deprived, and depressed. ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2016, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-make-an-advanced-alarm-clock-to-deal-with-my-personal-oddities/767797/28 "2016-10-08T21:52:17Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Another vote that the solution is to solve the sleep issues, not build a better alarm clock. There is some tiny chance the OP has some deep-seated atypical sleep problem. Far more likely she’s some combination of exhausted, sleep deprived, and depressed. Probably caused by staying up all night trying to build an undefeatable alarm clock. ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2016, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-make-an-advanced-alarm-clock-to-deal-with-my-personal-oddities/767797/29 "2016-10-12T22:26:35Z")
> [@GusNSpot](#): > > Or just quit working. 😃 I tried that! It worked really well, except for the whole “more money going out than coming in” bit [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-make-an-advanced-alarm-clock-to-deal-with-my-personal-oddities/767797.md?page=1)