# What do you wake up to? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 24, 2019, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wake-up-to/832990 "2019-04-24T13:30:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wake-up-to/832990/1 "2019-04-24T13:30:48Z")
I’m pretty sure we’ve done this before, but I feel that it’s time for a reprise. The question is in the thread title, what wakes you up every morning? For me, on days where I have to be up before 7:30-8:00 AM, it is (and has been for years) a cell phone alarm that plays “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked” by Cage the Elephant. It just seems appropriate. On days where I don’t have to be up early, the sun shining through the bedroom windows wakes me. Also appropriate, me thinks. Et tu? ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wake-up-to/832990/2 "2019-04-24T13:33:50Z")
The default alarm on my Samsung phone. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wake-up-to/832990/3 "2019-04-24T13:39:02Z")
Dread. I wake up to dread. ---
**Author:** ![Swampwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Swampwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swampwolf)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wake-up-to/832990/4 "2019-04-24T13:44:53Z")
Either one cat kneading on my stomach, or another one sinking his claws into my nostril. Sometimes the unmistakable sound of a hairball coming up. ---
**Author:** ![Gus\_Gusterson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85f322/32.png) [@Gus\_Gusterson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gus_Gusterson)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wake-up-to/832990/5 "2019-04-24T13:50:55Z")
I wake up around 4 AM with no assistance, generally with an erection and an insistent need to urinate. ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wake-up-to/832990/6 "2019-04-24T13:53:44Z")
Most days I just wake up slightly before the alarm goes off. The alarm is default on my pixel phone. But lately, the dog has been telling me to get up at 5:30 by standing next to the bed and doing a really soft “Grrrr”. The same noise he makes when he’s gotten his toy stuck under furniture. He’s getting old and I think he needs to pee. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wake-up-to/832990/7 "2019-04-24T13:53:51Z")
Existential angst, the cold grip of fear, and a deadening depression. It’s quite the emotional cocktail. ---
**Author:** ![Alpha\_Twit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alpha_twit/32/265_2.png) [@Alpha\_Twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alpha_Twit)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wake-up-to/832990/8 "2019-04-24T14:00:21Z")
More often than not, it’s the querulous shriek of Dr. Bladder. ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wake-up-to/832990/9 "2019-04-24T14:06:47Z")
Mon - Fri I get up around 5:30. I have my iPhone set on the Bedtime function. The wake-up sound I use is called Sunny. But 90% of the time I wake up before the alarm goes off. Weekends I get up whenever I wake up - usually because I have to pee. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wake-up-to/832990/10 "2019-04-24T14:11:58Z")
I have no schedule, so I sleep whenever I want, and wake up whenever I want. Sometimes it’s my bladder, sometimes the cat hocking up a hair ball, sometimes birds outside the window. Or my husband, initiating some gentle love-making. ---
**Author:** ![somepumpkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@somepumpkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/somepumpkin)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wake-up-to/832990/11 "2019-04-24T14:13:51Z")
Currently, it’s “Oxford Comma” from Vampire Weekend. Other days (depending on the wake time) it’s “Freaky Hijiki” from the Beastie Boys. I change it often. I look for something with a _good_\* opening, b/c I’m really only going to hear the first 30 seconds or less. However, last week I substituted “Nights on Broadway” from those BeeGees. I did it because I had instilled that tune as an (annoying) earworm to my wife a few nights prior. It got a good chuckle from her that morning… she may have still been asleep as she uttered the chuckle… good stuff! I’ll recycle that one in a few weeks when (she thinks) she’s forgotten about it. Others on the list are “Honeybody” from Kishi Bashi and “Black on a White Ground” from Janko Nilovic. But the longest-lived tune in my alarm rotation is “Confessions” from BADBADNOTGOOD. \*effective without being arresting. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wake-up-to/832990/12 "2019-04-24T14:14:23Z")
Nothing. I haven’t had to listen to an alarm in the last 25 years. I’m awake at 4:30am whether I have to go to work that day or not. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wake-up-to/832990/13 "2019-04-24T14:21:22Z")
Most mornings I wake up on my own somewhere between one and 10 minutes before my alarm goes off. If it does go off, it’s a hideous beep-shriek from my 25 year old GE alarm clock that I can’t sleep through, no matter how hard I may want to. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wake-up-to/832990/14 "2019-04-24T15:07:30Z")
Bladder, almost always. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wake-up-to/832990/15 "2019-04-24T15:08:21Z")
When I’m waking up at 5 am for work it’s the Tomorrow ringtone from Samsung. On the days I’m sleeping in its either a whining dog, a three year old wanting attention, my bladder or just my natural time to wake up. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wake-up-to/832990/16 "2019-04-24T15:15:24Z")
[This](https://www.zedge.net/ringtone/5c93c448-4c87-3803-8b1f-38c3eb930635) at full volume. I usually wake up before it hits out of sheer self-defense. Turn your speakers down before playing. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wake-up-to/832990/17 "2019-04-24T15:28:18Z")
Either sunlight or the cat meowing for her breakfast. Gotta love retirement. ---
**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:** [April 24, 2019, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wake-up-to/832990/18 "2019-04-24T15:30:50Z")
Roughly 50% of the time I wake up to kicks/slaps. See, if I am sleeping on my right side I hear my phone alarm even though my hearing aid isn’t in my left ear. _But_ if I am sleeping on my left side, my right ear (close to 100% loss) hears nothing and my gf slaps/kicks me reflexively so that I will wake up and hit snooze. She likes 2 snoozes each morning. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21825_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wake-up-to/832990/19 "2019-04-24T15:44:16Z")
My clock radio is set to the DC NPR station. Reception is iffy where we live, but at a minimum, there’s static to disturb my slumber. More often than not, tho, I wake before it goes off. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wake-up-to/832990/20 "2019-04-24T15:47:18Z")
The best part of waking up, is Folgers in your cup. Just kidding, I’m not a coffee drinker. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-wake-up-to/832990.md?page=2)