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[slinger342]

So, I'm 17 years old and am finishing up my junior year of high school as an all AP student will fairly decent grades and have been marching Tenor drums on Marching Band and Winter Drumline Season for all three years. I usually don't let stress get to me and I get to bed at around 10:00- 10:30, but for some reason I just sleep right though both of my Alarm Clocks set for 5:30 and I can never get up for any reason.

Do you guys have any tips or tricks for me? It would really help and I would really appreciate it. 

[LordBucket]

get to bed at around 10:00- 10:30

Alarm Clocks set for 5:30

Tip 1:
Go to sleep earlier. 7 hours isn't enough.

Tip 2:
Next semester, don't schedule classes so early that you need to wake up at 5:30 to get to them. It is very well established that body chemistry predisposes teenagers to stay up late, then sleep in.

Tip 3:
If you absolutely need to be on a crazy wake-up-at-5:30am schedule, try secluding yourself in dark room starting at 8 or 9pm. Lights out, computer blinky lights off, heavy drapes over your windows to keep the street lights away. No light. This can help trick your system into thinking it's time to start producing melatonin early.

[slinger342]

Thanks! Tip #3 is good idea that I've never even heard of or thought about!
Thanks a lot! 

[anzki4]

If your problem waking up is anything like mine (waking up, shutting the alarm and instantly falling back to sleep, later not even remembering the alarm) making it harder to turn off the alarm might help. For example isntead of keeping the alarm clock (/phone) next to your bed, place it to the other side of the room, so you'll actually have to get out of bed to turn it off.

[Xantalos]

If your problem waking up is anything like mine (waking up, shutting the alarm and instantly falling back to sleep, later not even remembering the alarm) making it harder to turn off the alarm might help. For example isntead of keeping the alarm clock (/phone) next to your bed, place it to the other side of the room, so you'll actually have to get out of bed to turn it off.

If you have any Lego, sprinkle it across the path toward where you put the alarm. Just to make sure.

[ChairmanPoo]

Use a math alarm watch

[Sappho]

It helps to be consistent. Even on the weekends, make yourself wake up at 5:30. You can go back to sleep afterwards, but if you force yourself to wake up at the same time every single day, your body will start to do it automatically. It's easy to assume that you should "make up for" lost sleep on the weekends or days you can sleep late, but this actually ends up being counterproductive. If you're 100% consistent, your body gets into a rhythm, and waking up at that time just happens.

If you consistently wake up at 5:30 every single morning and you are still having trouble with sleeping through your alarms, it means you desperately need more sleep and your body is refusing to get up until it's rested. If that's the case, you should be careful to take care of yourself, get to bed earlier (darkened rooms are very helpful, as is staying away from computer screens and such for a while before bed). If the problem still doesn't improve, you might need some time and stress management advice rather than sleep advice. : )

[slinger342]

I like the math watch idea! XD And the whole weekend thing is another great idea, thanks Sappho!

[ChairmanPoo]

I use the math watch thing. Have done so for... almost four years now (I drag more than a decade of terrible sleeping patterns, stress, and insomnia. The math watch thing helps me get to work in time )
I use this one
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vp.alarmClockPlusDock&hl=en&referrer=utm_source%3Dgoogle%26utm_medium%3Dorganic%26utm_term%3Dalarm+clock+plus&pcampaignid=APPU_1_BWkRVYb5PMSyUe3tg5gN

[nenjin]

I set my alarm for 20 minutes before I actually need to get up.

Over the years, this has given my body almost stupid levels of time-awareness. Whether I plan to sleep in or not, I wake up between 10 minutes and 1 hour prior to my alarm. Once I've done that, regardless of how much more I try to sleep, my brain is dialed into the time. It generally produces a lot of weird half dreams relating to work and being late, since part of my brain is awake now. It's to the point I wake up on the weekends (assuming I haven't been pulling an all nighter) around the time I normally get up for work.

It's not exactly a great feeling because it's driven by anxiety about oversleeping, but, I don't think I've failed to wake up when I need to in like 10 years. I can't remember the last time I legitimately slept through an alarm. I'm not saying it's a technique for everyone, I've always tended to have fairly good awareness of time period (being punctual matters to me.) But you might use it to help train your body and mind.

[Sappho]

Oh, another thought: if you have two alarms, don't set them for the same time. Set one for about 5-10 minutes before you plan to get up, so if you snooze it once in your sleep, it won't mess you up too badly. Set the second (preferably the louder and more irritating) one for 5-10 minutes before you absolutely MUST wake up or else you won't make it to where you need to be on time. So if your body absolutely refuses to wake up to the first one, and insists on a little bit more sleep, you should at least be able to get up for the second one and avoid being late, even if you have to cut your morning routine short.

[i2amroy]

Considering most high schools don't start until about 8 o'clock, I'd consider moving some of the things that you are spending that hour or two to get ready in to the night before. Make your lunch before you go to bed, set out your clothes for the next day ahead of time, etc.. If you are one of those people who only brush their teeth once a day (which I am most of the time, to be honest), brush them at night. It's the best time to do so according to dentists anyways. All of that should at least buy you some more sleeping time in the morning.

Also 8 hours is good. Personally I find 8.5 helps me wake up a little faster and feel a little more refreshed, though it's really a personal thing. That said don't think that you need significantly less than 8, studies have shown that people ability to tell that they are outputting a degraded performance due to sleep deprivation goes down way faster than their actual performance does, meaning you won't be able to tell if you are suffering from it easily. Other studies have also shown that there are many, many more people who simply believe that they don't need 8 hours of sleep than there are people who actually don't need that much.

For the alarm itself, personally I use my cell phone, set it to vibrate + max volume, and then stick it in my pillow case, which I find wakes me up pretty well . To quote myself from another discussion on the same topic:

The fact that something is rubbing against your face and screaming tends to wake me up nigh instantly.

[Urist Arrhenius]

Math alarm clock is super cool, and has fixed me snoozing it in my sleep. There are also helicopter alarm clocks, which are surprisingly inexpensive. I don't have one, because it sounds like a poor idea in a small room, but its an option.

[Urist McScoopbeard]

Getting up at 5:30 sucks. It just does. there's no easy way to do it. Set multiple alarms, have the tea-pot ready etc. just stumble out of your room and roll down the staircase. You'll feel somewhat better by noon... still tired, but in a less aggressive way.

[slinger342]

Yeah, I totally wish I could wake up around 7:30 for school days considering I wake up around 7:00 every weekend 

The Whole 5:30 thing... anyone who knows, that's Marching Band life right there XD