I sleep through my alarms a lot and its starting to take a toll on my grades. The obvious answer is to go to sleep earlier, but I’m an Architecture student and I end up working in studio until 5am a lot. I know that I should budget my time better but the late hours dont really bother me until I can’t get up for my classes on time. Does anyone have suggestions that don’t envolve going to sleep at a reasonable time?
“Does anyone have suggestions that don’t involve going to sleep at a reasonable time?”
I don’t think that there are any solutions other than getting more sleep, or getting Hermione to loan you her time turner. It is possible however that the time turner part might actually be fictional.
Set multiple kinds and types of alarms. My son found he gets up best to the old fashioned wind up loud ringing alarm clock. He sets his phone for multiple alarms first and then has that one set. Getting enough sleep is the major help but if not try all types of different sounds and types. Another thing is to get a responsible friend who is around at that time to pound on your door until you get up!
The late hours DO bother you BECAUSE you can’t get up for your classes. What you really need to do is create a schedule, deadlines that work for your life. This is a skill that is necessary not only in college, but in your work years as well.
That said, there are many different types of alarm clocks – ones that shake the bed, super loud ones, ones that light up the room etc. – here are a few ideas
http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,20506099,00.html#alarm-clocks-that-work-0
The late hours DO bother you if you can’t get up in the morning. In future semesters you can try and schedule later classes. It’s hard for anything to wake you up when you haven’t had enough sleep - but one thing to try if it is dark when you have to get up is a light that gradually comes on which simulates sunrise and helps the brain transition to wakefulness. But again if your body is saying it needs more sleep it may not help.
Architecture can be competitive - you are sabotaging yourself when you stay up so late that missing classes is negatively affecting you classes and potentially your GPA. Working until 1 or 2 in the morning is one thing - 5 am is staying up all night and shouldn’t be needed regularly to finish work.
There is no substitute for sleep, period. You are sleeping through your alarms because you are exhausted. I would venture to guess that you have a very full academic/social life that is forcing you to spend ridiculous hours in the studio. This kind of timetable may be necessary here and there, but not as a long-term strategy. Your body/brain have no time to rest/regenerate, and you will wind up getting sick a lot. Why do you think people who work swing shifts are more likely to have health problems (I know, you are young and made of rubber and magic, until you aren’t)? The body’s rhythms just aren’t well suited to fighting “dark=sleep”.
Ask yourself:
- Can my course load be lightened at all? Drop a class, take it P/NP?
- Am I working as efficiently as I can with the course load I am taking? You may find that your “study time” includes a lot of dicking around that you weren’t even aware that you were doing.
- How many clubs/EC’s do I really need to be involved in? If those are taking time that is pushing you to such late hours doing schools work, they aren’t worth it.
- Am I carrying on with this kind of schedule because I think I have to? Sometimes, competition among students (or the desire to please a boss or teacher) is such that you want to always be the one who worked the hardest or was there the longest. Work smarter, not harder. Otherwise, the task will expand to fit the time allotted (in your case, almost through the entire night).
Do NOT rely on a friend to wake you up - that burden is not theirs but yours. Plus, you will come to rely on it, and then one morning, they too will sleep in (or forget, or not be there), and you will not only be late for class but resent the friend. Two of D’s roommates promised each other to wake each other up (one is notorious for sleeping thorough whatever alarm system she has; the other is just burning the candle at both ends is constantly exhausted - sound like anyone you know, OP?) - both slept through their respective classes and were not happy with each other about it.
College senior here that has an insane schedule (18 credits of academics, 3 extremely part time on-campus jobs, and generally over 30 hrs a week of EC commitments due to music, theater, and being an officer of 4 honor societies).
Just finished a particularly awful week in which I did not get more than 4 hours a sleep per night. Still did not sleep through a single class, and that’s with a 9 am.
Here’s what I do:
- Plan to get up earlier than you need to.
My first alarm rings 90 minutes before I need to be somewhere. This is when I get up and take my shower (generally less than 30 min). I then take a 30 min nap and get up 30-45 min before I need to be somewhere (allows enough time for travel). - Set multiple alarms
My first alarm generally rings at 7:30, and I also have ones on my phone that ring at 8:00 and 8:30 am. - Have multiple alarms
My main alarms are on my phone, but I bought an alarm clock that plugs into the wall with a built-in 2-week battery backup, so that I don’t have to worry about power outages killing my alarm. It is obnoxiously loud and is impossible to ignore. It rings at 8:30 am and is basically my “get your butt out of bed or you’re gonna be late!” alarm - Set alarms ahead of time
My backup alarm is set to ring at the same time everyday and I never touch that (it still rings on the weekend, but I just hit the button to stop it, and go back to sleep). The ones on my phone, however, are specific to days of the week. For example, if I don’t need to be anywhere until 11 on Fridays, I’d set an alarm on my phone to ring at 9:30 am every friday and not touch it until my schedule changes (at the end of the semester, etc). If I know a day is going to be different than my usual routine (say I have an early morning meeting), I will make sure to set the alarm for that the night before, and set the multiple alarms as needed. - Identify quirky problems and remedy them
I had to turn off the fingerprint identification on my phone because I figured out I was reaching over in my sleep when the alarm rang and my phone would unlock, thus allowing me to sleep through the alarm. - Don’t allow yourself to use snoozing more than once
I only allow myself to use snooze more than once if I’m using the alarm for a purpose other than waking up. (If I’m getting dressed already, I will it the snoozing button and have it ring again, to keep myself on track) - Use the weekend to catch up on sleep
I don’t do much on saturdays except sleep and watch tv (I will do some hw if I have a lot to do), in order to recover from the week and refresh before Monday. - Caffeine*
This is how I survived last week. Have a caffeinated beverage ready for you to drink in the morning. I also will drink a caffeinated beverage if I know I will be up really late.
*Be careful and don’t drink it if it’s not safe to do so. Caffeine is a drug, and you can overdose, some people cannot tolerate it, and its contraindicated with some medications (such as many ADD meds). I always read the label before buying or drinking so I know exactly how much caffeine I’m intaking; at this point I know how much I need for a given scenario and what my tolerance is, which I’m very careful not to exceed.
Note though, that I live in a single. Some of these might not work if you have a roommate.
I have heard stories about how tough architecture is!
Be as efficient as possible.
I would highly recommend the book by Cal Newport: “How To Become a Straight-A Student:
The Unconventional Strategies Real College Students Use to Score High While Studying Less”
It will help you with time management and how to be more efficient.
Figure out what does wake you up.
Multiple alarms?
Louder alarms?
Something that shakes you or lights up?
- set an exact time to go to sleep every night, whether it's 12:30 or 3:30. at the very least have a steady sleep schedule. 2.put your alarm close enough to you that it is obnoxiously loud, but also far enough away that you have to get out of bed to turn it off. 3.make the alarm sound itsself annoying as well. 4.apologize to your roommate in advance
Have you considered getting a sleep test done? You may have some medical issues that could prevent you from waking up properly.
Avoid caffeine within 4 hours of bedtime
Don’t eat anything after 8 pm
No alcohol or illicit substances
Put your phone on vibrate mode and leave it on your bed. You might feel the vibrations
You can set an alarm that forces you to solve something to shut it off. I believe alarm clock extreme free does this. If you can make it super annoying and loud maybe the combination of everything will work. I don’t think you can absentmindedly shut off a complicated alarm.