Thought Lateral » wake http://thoughtlateral.com Looking at the world laterally, but that's beside the point ;-) Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:00:02 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 #13 Tune your alarm clock to your body clock to start the day right http://thoughtlateral.com/2010/08/05/13-tune-your-alarm-clock-to-your-body-clock-to-start-the-day-right/ http://thoughtlateral.com/2010/08/05/13-tune-your-alarm-clock-to-your-body-clock-to-start-the-day-right/#comments Thu, 05 Aug 2010 22:12:32 +0000 admin http://thoughtlateral.com/?p=259 As mentioned in Life Hack #12, shocking your body into conciousness is not the best way to start the day.

Observe how long it takes from initially regaining conciousness to being fully awake, and adjust the alarm clock sound accordingly.

So if it takes five minutes to awake play a five minute audio track.

For example, in line with Life Hack #12 the audio track could be a farm yard. The track gradually increasing in volume, and possibly culminating with a cockerel crowing. A crowing cockerel is a natural noise acting as a fail-safe if there is a waking deadline.  I find it is less stress producing than using artificial electronic sounds.

Classical music has also been found to be useful in this regard.

Whatever track is chosen it creates a smoother transition into conciousness, and thus a better start to the day than would otherwise be the case.

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]]> http://thoughtlateral.com/2010/08/05/13-tune-your-alarm-clock-to-your-body-clock-to-start-the-day-right/feed/ 0 #11 Get up on the sound of the alarm http://thoughtlateral.com/2009/12/30/get-up-on-the-sound-of-the-alarm/ http://thoughtlateral.com/2009/12/30/get-up-on-the-sound-of-the-alarm/#comments Wed, 30 Dec 2009 12:32:10 +0000 Denver http://thoughtlateral.com/2009/12/30/get-up-on-the-sound-of-the-alarm/ What is the difference between the alarm going off in the morning and getting out of bed? For me it is the snooze time in between.
When the alarm goes off I’m still semi-concious and hit the snooze button for extra repose. So the time set on the alarm to get up is not the actual time I arise.
How do I get up at the set time? I could set the alarm earlier, so that after snoozing I’d be up at the time planned. However this is interpreted by a freshly awoken brain as “useful time when I should actually still be asleep”, and consequently it feels it is owed extra slumber than the snooze button will give.
The optimal solution is to arise on the sound of the alarm, yet my freshly woken mind is convinced that the one hour for morning tasks (allocated before I went to bed) can be accomplished in just half, which leaves the other half hour for snooze time.
Coersion, threats, etc, have limited impact upon the awoken mind. The most significant impact I’ve found is to bed down earlier the night before, which significantly increases my chances of getting up on the alarm. So changing me over time from a night owl to an early bird.

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