Dealing with bad sleeping habits (step 2)

Read the introduction at http://bramdemoor.blogspot.com/2009/12/acknowledging-bad-sleeping-habits-step.html

 Since the day I posted that sad story about struggling to get out of bed in the morning, I took action.

This is the new way my day starts: My stereo system wakes me up for about 50% most of the mornings. Nothing new about that; in the old scenario, this was the point where I turned over again to start snoozing for a very long time. Now, it's just a final warning that allows me to turn over one last time and prepare for the upcoming horror...

Because there's no escape anymore; every night, I put my cell phone on maximum volume on the other end of the room. Even though I really love my warm bed, the TITITITITI-sound of my cell phone alarm is just so annoying that I can't do anything but jump out of bed and turn the damn thing off. So there I stand, fully awake before 7 a.m. Now that's what I call a "brute force" technique!

Let's make that my first official good intention for 2010: keeping up this new habit :-)

And if I fail, I'll install one of these:



Happy newyear!

Acknowledging bad sleeping habits (step 1)

This is a very atypical post for my blog. Nothing about games or other computer stuff, but something more personal. But I have a reason to write it: it forces me to acknowledge a really annoying issue that came up lately.

Today, on a free day, I woke up 4 hours later than I had planned. That's right. Not half an hour. Not 1 hour, FOUR hours. And it's not the first time this happens either. But it's never been so bad like today: I have bad sleeping habits. And I want to do something about it!

Don't get me wrong; I like sleeping. I have no trouble whatsoever with catching sleep, and I don't wake up screaming in the middle of the night. But I'm addicted to the snooze button. Most of the mornings, I don't even wake up the slightest bit, I just keep on snoozing my cell phone alarm, while my stereo system is playing in the background.

Sometimes, like today, I hit the "off" button instead of the snooze button. I found myself waking up in the middle of the afternoon, with no clue what had happened, absolutely no energy and with a terrible headache. And a very bad mood to go with that. Not the start of the day I had imagined; I wanted to wake up hours earlier, have a nice 'brunch' and get things done today...

When I absolutely have to get out of bed, e.g. for work, things are a little bit easier. When there's more pressure to get out of bed I eventually bite the bullet and get it done. But even that is getting trickier and trickier every day. I might have a too-strong evolutionary connection to some hibernating animal; when the weather is decent, I feel a remarkably stronger urge to get up and do something. But with this cold, dark and rainy weather, things get difficult...

Anyway, I could just let this pass and don't bother. But I choose not to. I will fight the demon of  "10 more minutes and then I'll really get up". Look him in the eye and slay him.

So what exactly will I do about that? Not sure yet - First, I will consult the mighty wisdom of the god of knowledge (the internet) through its gatekeeper (google). Then I will return with a cunning plan that might involve anything from adjusting my habits a little to deploying that crazy alarm clock with wheels. I will report my findings here and keep everyone updated on my progress.

Wish me luck and share your snooze-stories here. It will make me feel better ;)