Does anyone know how to shake off sleep?

[doctor_ivory]

You know when your alarm goes off in the morning, but you feel so zonked that you just crawl back into bed.  Does anyone know how to prevent me from getting back into bed?
I am usually responsible enough to get up again after 5 minutes or so when I have to go to work or some other place.  But when I have the whole day to myself and want to get up early to take advantage of it I usually just end up sleeping through most of it. 
Suggestions anyone?

[perfect_pitch]

COFFEE!!!

[lostinidlewonder]

Have a shower

[furtwaengler]

This is a common problem. Work and schedules are good...but even so...it is hard discipline. Hard, hard, hard discipline. Actually it is also faith that you will soon not feel the way you feel.

My problem is midday. It cannot be coffee. It must be activity, but sometimes there is no space for activity.

[Bob]

For really getting moving, the best I've found is just to decide to get up and then do it. 

[littletune]

Well what helps me the most is that before I go to sleep I imagine in my mind the time when I have to get up the next morning. I imagine the hour at which I have to wake up and I imagine how many hours I have before I wake up and I imagine how I will get up and all the things I have to do when I get up. And then I usually wake up just a little before the hour at which I'm supposed to get up and I don't feel tired or like I couldn't wake up or anything  I have been doing that since really long time, I think since preschool cause my mum told me about it once. And it almost always works (well maybe except a few times when I wasn't sleeping enough and I was really just too tired). But most of the times it really works! because if I don't imagine the time when i have to get up and then someone wakes me up then it's a LOT  harder for me to wake up. But if I know exactly when I have to get up then I just wake up by myself (don't even know how I know when I have to wake up) and get up right away and I don't even feel tired

[doctor_ivory]

Well what helps me the most is that before I go to sleep I imagine in my mind the time when I have to get up the next morning. I imagine the hour at which I have to wake up and I imagine how many hours I have before I wake up and I imagine how I will get up and all the things I have to do when I get up. And then I usually wake up just a little before the hour at which I'm supposed to get up and I don't feel tired or like I couldn't wake up or anything.

I am sceptical, but will give it a shot anyway.

[Bob]

I've done that -- know when you *must* get up and then you wake up a little earlier.

Going to bed earlier of course.  

It's not coffee so much as caffeine -- You can just take caffeine pills instead of drinking coffee.  The caffeine wears off after awhile -- You build up a tolerance to it.  And in the long run, I think it can start to affect your personality -- ie tense.  But when it's less important times, you can back off the caffeine so it's more effective later on (and suffer from a caffeine withdrawal hangover during that time).  Caffeine also has side effects like making your heart beat faster and making you have to pee (or worse, haha).  I had shaky hands at first but that went away a long time ago.  I also remember being tired enough that I took about 4-600mg of caffeine and then dropped right off to sleep.  It won't work if you're tired enough.  And if you're hooked on it, you have to take some just to feel normal again.

Willpower.  That works while it lasts.

Pain.  Poke yourself with something.  A pencil, a pin, whatever.

Set more alarm clocks -- And set some of them farther away from the bed.  Position caffeine along the way so you take that while shutting off the alarm.  Use wired and battery powered clocks -- The power will go out sometime.

Set some lights on a timer so they brighten the room up in the morning.  You could also set a radio (on loud) on a timer too.  Same idea.

Have someone else wake you up.  People aren't always reliable though.

Try exercising as soon as you wake up.  If you get the blood flowing, your body won't be able to go to sleep right away with the heart pumping (esp if you add some caffeine to that).

Those things will help wake you up but they won't put you in a good mood, esp in the long run.


Another easy one -- Set an appointment with someone early in the morning.  You won't want to be late or miss a set meeting with someone.

[birba]

Littletune is right, actually.  At least for me.  And I think the hours you get sleeping is a habit.  I used to think that 7-8 hours was the minimum.  but that's only because I read it somewhere.  to me 5 hours is enough.  BUT I also take a 1/2 hour nap in the afternoon.
There's also the fact that some people are nocturnal and others are morning people.  I, personally, can't funtion after 11:00 p.m. Unless it's to see a movie on tv.  Then, I usually fall asleep.  So, you have to follow your own biological rythms.  But, too much sleep is just a habit.  Unless you have a medical problem, of course.

[pianoplayjl]

I usually pinch myself really hard during class when my head starts drooping. I've fallen asleep in class a couple of times, though. The teacher does not care, though.

[jimbo320]

Place the alarm clock on a table away from the bed so you have to get up to shut it off...

[Bob]

"Next to a cup of strong, black coffee."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PcoMrwEa5o

[cherub_rocker1979]

Twin Peaks is one of the greatest creations of TV/film ever.

[Bob]

Only the first season.  Which lulls you into watching the second season.  And then there's the non-existent third season that could have followed the cliff hanging second season I'd like to see.  Although that might be "The X Files."  The Twin Peaks movie was... less than I expected.  More "good" as an academic thing after you've seen the tv show.  It's not like the series.  Strange, but in a bad "here's everything that happened" kind of way.  No suspense.

On that... Inspiration is one way to shake off sleep.

[bleicher]

I've given up worrying about it. I'm not a morning person, never have been, never will be. I think I just need more sleep than some other people. Coffee and shower both help, but the difficult thing is getting myself from in bed to out of bed. On the plus side, people who are good at getting up in the morning are annoying. Who wants to be annoying?

[cherub_rocker1979]

Only the first season.  Which lulls you into watching the second season.  And then there's the non-existent third season that could have followed the cliff hanging second season I'd like to see.  Although that might be "The X Files."  The Twin Peaks movie was... less than I expected.  More "good" as an academic thing after you've seen the tv show.  It's not like the series.  Strange, but in a bad "here's everything that happened" kind of way.  No suspense.

On that... Inspiration is one way to shake off sleep.

Yes, I love the X-Files, too.  Other favourites include - Star Trek: The Next Generation, Twilight Zone (Original Series), Monty Python's Flying Circus, Fawlty Towers and Mr. Bean.