Why Can’t I Wake Up In The Morning?
I can’t sleep because I woke up late. I wake up late because I slept early. It’s a vicious cycle. I thought willpower alone could eventually overcome it, or the power of prayer would do if I couldn’t do it myself. I was wrong.
It is almost impossible to maintain an early riser routine if you don’t know how but relying on willpower or spiritual means. Alarm clock doesn’t work. It only makes you feel grumpy by jarring you out of bed, and then only to have you press the snooze button and fall back into sleep.
I later discovered that I might be very sensitive to light, and have the Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome (DSPS)! Even if I forced myself to wake up very early, it would only be temporary and I would fall back into my old sleeping habit soon. Guys, don’t be like me. Don’t try to fight this uphill battle like I did.
If you can quickly fall into sleep at will, and wake up early naturally, then you have finally become a true early riser, but before that, you are still forcing it. Force won’t work on this one.
Since you are also struggling with the same problem, you might also have the DSPS, and this is why we are coined the Extreme Night Owls. We sleep late, or very late (near morning), and wake up late if it is up to us, or holiday.
If you force yourself to wake up early, you will only become groggy and negative the majority of the day. It is not good for productivity.
Good news, the solutions are ridiculously simple.
Control Indoor Lightings
If you can control the intensity of your indoor light, you can control your energy. You can wake up early in the morning, and fall into sleep much faster, by exposing yourself to strong light in the morning, and only allowing dim light at night.
There are light therapy grade device that is proven to increase energy and improve mood. In many cases, these devices can even cure depression. Many people don’t know they have Seasonal Affective Disorder.
Normal people can benefit from the light therapy devices too, as many ancedotal reports showed that users were able to wake up naturally with the help of sunlight clock, and increased their energy significantly by using light therapy device to cast simulated sunlight on them.
These sleep products are much cheaper than sleeping pills. In the long run, the benefits of increased productivity, energy, and positive attitudes are much more valuable than the initial monetary investment on the devices.
The picture on your left is an example of a sunrise alarm clock. Instead of jarring you out of bed, it gradually increases the intensity of the light until set time when it reaches the maximum. By that time, the users should have woken up in a near-perfect-calm state, and a pleasant music of bird noises would ensure you are really awaken.
You may click here to see all the sunrise clock alarms and the customer reviews for them
If you live in a dark and cold region, the light therapy device will improve your energy and mood during the day. Some users place the light devices on their office desks to keep themselves cheerful and energetic.
I myself I have a ten years old, Japanese made Sunlight-light light that keeps me happy during the winters of Canada. It really makes a difference. It isn’t really a light therapy grade device I think, but before I have the money to buy it, I rely on it, and I sometimes go to public places such as a shopping mall or superstore to find those big lights to keep me happy when I feel the walls of my house were pressing on me and make me feel suffocated.
On the left is the light therapy device that I recommend. It is perfectly safe for the eyes, unlike some who have blue light in it, which harm the vision.
It is flexible and easy to move. You can put it on desk, hang it on the wall, and control it with a remote.
When you wake up, you can turn it on while staying on bed, it will keep you awake.
Click here to see more reviews for this device and the online discount price
What Actual Users Say About The Sunrise Clock (Paraphrased)
M. Crocker (Seattle, WA United States)
If only I got my daylight clock many years ago… It is very nice to wake up naturally in a good mood. I love my clock!
RJL
Being jarred out of a good sleep by a rough noise from the alarm clock has to be one of the most painful experiences I could think of. Who wants to wake up to a radio station? Their music can never make it any better no matter what they are playing at the moment.
The trick of the sunshine clock is that it gets you up slowly and smoothly, by gradually increases the light in your room–like the sunrise does. My mere words won’t do enough justice to the calm, rejuvenating, and pleasurable experience that it gives me every morning. Each morning I sloooowly awake, squinting into the light, and maybe fall into sleep just a little… which happens 3 or 4 times, with me becoming more awake each time. When it finally reaches the set time, the light is at the max, a lazy stretch, and the alarm beep sounds finally off but it’s much gentler for me to hear given my fully awaken state. I’ve fallen in love with this gadget, which I can’t image living without.
When I recommended it to my friend, who was skeptical at first since he is a heavy sleeper, he bought it and it only wakes him up 50% of the time, and the other 50% he is at least sleeping much more lightly. He added a traditional alarm clock to the mix, and given that the sunrise clock soften up the slumber, the alarm beep has become much less jolting. He totally loves it now.
What Do Actual Users Say About Light Therapy
Michael Bluth (Vermount)
I can never get used to the long winters in Vermont, and since about age 17 I’ve been having problems with sleep.
While in school, I couldn’t help but slept in and missed classes, and after awakened I would still feel weary and sluggish. It was chronic fatigue. It became so bad that I couldn’t even make it to some important appointments. While I was working, I was focused, and hardworking, but I couldn’t wake up or sleep on time! Even if I wake up at 11pm, I would still wake up late in the afternoon. I was like what the fact?!
I did an experiment with myself, and found that if I slept late, I STILL got up about the same time!!!! I still got my 8 hours of sleep but the schedule was much different than others’.
I found out that it was the Delayed Sleep Phrase Syndrome (DSPS). It made it so hard for me to function in the society. I learned that playing videos games, watching TV, and doing other stimulating activities got me where I was.
I selpt later and later, and eventually I slept during the day! I sought Chronotherapy, and they made me slept later and later, until I got back to sleeping in normal hours again. It was excruciating.
My doctor recommended light therapy to me, and I checked Amazon. Almost immediately, I was able to wake up early in the morning naturally! By 9-10pm I was sleepy. The light device made me happier to because it stimulates happy-hormones, the SERATONIN!
Every Rose Has It’s Thorn “Thorny” (U.S.A.)
I have depression and it is not just seasonal. However, the light therapy still helps. It helps me maintain the optimal sleep and wake schedule. It helps me to function and increase the overall effectiveness of other parts of my treatment plan, which is what I really need because I am alergic to most medications, and I also have other issues metabolically and physiologically.
Plus I also have several others health conditions. If I learned about this many years ago, I would have suffered much less.I thought I could never have Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), until I moved from LA to Portland last year. I thought I would like a darker weather because I had a lot of sunshine back in LA. However, just a month after I moved, it became very obvious that I had SAD!! I was extremely fatigue, depressed, and unable to sleep normally, and I experienced every single symptom of SAD there was on the textbook. I had suffered through the entire Portland winter and spring.
Finally, this light lamp crossed my path, and turned my life for the better! It has worked since day 1. After a week of daily usage, all the symptoms were gone!
If I let a day went by without it, I would fall back to the symptoms again, feeling sluggish and moody, and my friends could tell whenever I skipped a ‘session” with my lamp.
