I don’t know about you, but one of my biggest annoyances about having a roommate in college is living with someone that 1) has an earlier schedule than I do and 2a) cannot wake up to her alarm to save her life or 2b) will snooze her alarm for 2 hours. If you are this person I just described, I think it’s time you figured out how to wake up early without irking your roommate to the point of burning hatred toward you. Here are some ideas I’ve gathered:
Invest in a Vibrating Alarm Clock
Vibrating alarm clocks like this one is an alarm that has a pod the size of a cellphone, which you place under your pillow or mattress. Instead of being rudely awaken by an alarm clock that you might not even hear because you are in such a deep sleep, you will instead be alerted by some movement on your actual bed. From what I’ve heard from others, it’s like their body is hardwired to wake up fully alert when something nearby vibrates, but it isn’t annoying like an alarm clock buzz. I can actually attest to this–I always wake up when someone texts me in the middle of the night and my cellphone, which is by my pillow, will vibrate, waking me up. So I recommend you give this a try (before you go an invest in a Wake Up Light for $80+) so you can try to wake up early!
Move Your Alarm Clock Out of Reach
If you are a considerate roommate, leaving your alarm on for longer than 15 seconds would make you worry that you’ve woken your roommate up–that’s not cool. It’s especially not cool to have multiple alarms that will likely only wake up your roommate (since, come on, you need multiple alarms!). So just move your alarm clock across the room. Not only will you be forced to leave your bed to turn off the alarm when you have to wake up early, you won’t be able to slam the snooze button so easily (some friends I know don’t even realize they hit the snooze button!).
Open Your Window Curtains Before Sleeping
If you are lucky enough to get sunlight in your room in the morning, don’t shut it out with your curtains! Waking up in a dark room makes it a billion times harder to wake up in the morning, in my experience. Waking up to a gradually lit room might help you prepare for the new day a lot more easily.
Once You’re Out of Bed, Leave the Room
Don’t think about it when your alarm is telling you to wake up early. Once you’ve slammed that alarm off, go to the bathroom, go get a glass of water, go make your breakfast in the common area–just go. Don’t give yourself an opportunity to go back to bed because you will fall back asleep. Which is not worth it when you need to wake up early to go somewhere on time, trust me.
Drink a Glass of Water
Speaking of water, you’re probably really dehydrated from your night’s sleep and you didn’t even realize it! This is a quiet wake-me-up when you that is sure to get you thinking more clearly and not bother your roommate at the same time!
Do Not Think
This one is harder to accomplish immediately, but seriously, do not allow your 7am mind to convince yourself to go back to sleep. Think of this scenario: 10pm, the night before. You are adamant about getting an early start and set your alarm accordingly. That’s the mind you want to listen to. 7am, the next morning. You say, “screw it,” and give up your morning plans for the sake of 1 more hour of sleep. Try to automatically start your morning routine before you listen to your 7am brain. You do not want to listen to your 7am brain! The more automated you become in the morning when you want to wake up early, the more habitual you and your roommate will become, and the less your roommate will notice your morning routine.
There is so much time you lose from snoozing and dozing off in the morning hours. Don’t waste your time this way! You will not only get more hours in the day to actually do things when you actually commit to wake up early, but your roommate will like you all the more for not bothering them in the process!
What are some tricks you have for getting up in the morning?
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Photo courtesy of Ryan Hyde via Flickr (licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0)Check out the video below to incorporate some exercises into your morning wake up routine!
How do you wake up early? Can you wake up early without annoying your roommate? Post comments below!
