Living Without an Alarm Clock
I don’t care what anyone says, but the worst thing in the world for me is when my alarm used to go off in the morning and I knew I had to get my exhausted body out of bed and rush to go wherever the hell I was going. My body jerked out of bed at the sound ofthe pulsating box that was trying to let me know I had to get up, and I would do anything to fight it. My snooze button got so worn out that it became inoperable. I knew I had to do something drastic or this damn alarm clock was going to run my whole life. So what did I do? I left it at my college after I left there. I was through with the constant stress it put on my every morning, sometimes jolting me out of bed so fast, it caused neck strain.
I cannot see, in any way, how using an alarm clock is healthy. Sure, it may be “effective” for someone who needs to be awake at a certain time, like a farmer or whatever, but besides that, if you have to be awake at a certain time in the morning, isn’t there a less stressful way to do it? I don’t know. I really do’t know. But what I do know is that I am not going to let a piece of technolgoy rule my life unless it is a computer. I am not going to let something that tells me what time it is and what time to wake up rule my life. So I thought of different ways I could get rid of this dependence on alarm clocks.
The rirst thing I came up with was working with my subconscious mind and intuition. They have an internal clock within them and if I need to be up a certain time, and am conscious of it, and ask my body to wake myself up, then usually it will. It is not fool-proof, but I often use a back-up alarm just in case, fifteen minutes after I am originally supposed to wake up, so if I am already awake, I can turn it off before it shocks the hell out of me. I hate being startled when in a deep state of dreaming. Setting my mental alarm is soemthing that works when I have to wake up ata certain time, which is rarely at best. I doubt that anyone has such a laid-back lifestyle where getting up early does not factor into their life. But right now, I do. I can wake up anytime before 12 and still have a productive day. It is not the quantity of the time you spend awake, but the quality.
So I do not have a set time of going to bed or waking up whatsoever. I am not really limited by going to bed too late or waking up too early, as long as I really don’t have anything to really be at at a certain time, except for my job, which is mostly second shift, 2-10 PM, or 3-11 PM, but sometimes it is earlier, but that does not happen but once a week. I feel it is the best way to live your life, sleeping as much as you feel you need by sleeping until you wake up. Your alarm clock doesn’t know how much sleep you need to feel rested, but your body does.
I feel that whenever I am awaken by my alarm clock, I do not feel rested throughout the day. I feel exhausted most of the time, whereas if I wake up when I need to wake up, based on my biological and internal clocks, I feel more rested and don’t constantly feel the need to close my eyes at every turn. In high school, having my eyes closed in class and on the bus there and back was a constant theme for me. Closing my eyes was something I loved to do. Every day I would come home exhausted, but go to work the next hour and work for three hours. I don’t think the problem was the school itself. It was that I went to bed too late and was jolted awake by my alarm clock. Another thing was I was inactive at at school for the most part, as all you really do all day is sit in a chair at a desk and listen to some guy drone on about missiion statements and whatever else he is talking about. Gym class was the only class I could keep my eyes open.
I have chosen a life, so far, atthis moment, that is not dependent on alarm clocks for functionality. I am not sure if anyone else is interested in doing so, but I feel it is the best way to live for optimum fulfillment. IF you go to bed early enough, you can still be an early riser and catch the worm or whatever activities you do while up at the crack of dawn. I have heard, and this is scientific, that the optimum time to go to sleep is between 9 PM and 11 PM, as hormones are released in your body from 11 PM until 1 AM to enrich your sleep, but if you aren’t asleep, then they won’t do you much good. This is something I am going to have to work on. Getting to bed earlier. Because it’s not like I do anything useful from 11 PM on. Maybe I should read at around 10 and fall gradually asleep.
I pulled the plug on my alarm clock and no longer own own, except on my cell phone, which I use mostly for reminders of certain things I have to do. It is more of a calendar alarm clock and is not used to wake me up, but rather to catch me while I am awake and remind me of things I need to do, like pay off my student loans on time or eat an orange. With that said, I am going to go eat a tangelo and enjoy my alarm-free day. Have a nice one.
February 12th, 2007 at 4:09 pm
[…] Life Without an Alarm Clock I decided to, in light of me parting with my alarm clock over a year ago, write a post on how living without a real alarm clock has been. It is available through my website and is available here: Living without an alarm clock. […]
February 15th, 2007 at 11:55 am
Hi Andrew,
Did you ever come to think that your experiences with alarm clocks meant something beyond you aims to teach you the value of discipline and self-directed learning? Some people evolve to awaken themselves at a particular time without alarm clocks, even when they go to bed late. Some people also evolve to motivate themselves to enjoy getting up because of the wonderful things they will do. I would recommend you read any of Dr. John F. Demartini’s books, such as “Count Your Blessings.” He is one of the people who contributed to the recent book called “The Secret” by Rhonda Byrne (which you can now watch on my site). I also encourage you to visit : http://www.drdemartini.com/