All summer i sleep with the blinds open and would wake refreshed at first light even on days off – summers great.

autumn(or is it winter) has come and the blinds get closed to prevent heatloss (plus its dark when i get up) and i find my self waking groggy and not really wanting to get up despite getting my 8 hours. Feel plenty awake once ive ridden into the office but hell getting over the threshold can be hard some days.

given winters a pretty large portion of the year its not a great issue to have.

im sure plenty of us are in/have been in the same boat – how did you solve it ? do SAD light alarms work?

same as an other time of the year. The kids come in and jump on my head / stomach / balls and annoy me until until I give up trying to stay in bed and come downstairs to fire up the coffee machine (coffee for me, not for the kids).

I have used a SAD alarm in the past and it definitely worked – was nice to wake to an intensifying glow in the room. But mine was a crappy one from Lumie – a UK manufacturer – overpriced crap really, with poor alarm and radio function. Got fed up of it being a useless analogue radio and alarm so now it’s a night-light in the kid’s room.

And I just get up when the noise from the kids is unbearable now 🙁

same as an other time of the year.

+1 if it’s my turn to get up with kids they wake me, if it’s not I struggle to get up anytime of day, week or year, the seasons have little effect.

I’ve spent the last five years or so adjusting to sleeping with the windows closed, as mrs yunki has got a bit of a phobia of creepy crawlies.. it’s been very stuffy, and irritating, claustrophobic and isolated and more than a bit depressing..

Now though, I spring out of bed (well… roll giddily) roaring children’s songs or thinly veiled threats.. fall down the stairs and then stand by the kettle growling until it boils and I can make tea.. my kids find this amusing for some reason, mrs yunki is wiser and finds it all a bit scary utterly terrifying..

So there’s your answer, get some very small children on board to encourage you to get some perspective..

it’s grrrrrrrrrrrrreat

i has no kids.

its frustrating as i enjoy mornings during the summer. Now its dark in the am i get up feeling crap and generally un motivated to do owt !

Same as any other time of year: the alarm goes off, I hit the snooze button, it tries again, again the snooze, etc. Bloody thing usually wins, though 🙁

feet first most of the time

ok its a bit reassuring to know im not alone

I’ve got an SAD alarm clock, seems to work well in conjunction with the alarm on my phone going off once the light has softened me up a little bit.

I just think about how much I like having income.

Radio alarm has been good, with my phone alarm going off half way through to tell me to actually get up! Make sure your heating kicks in before wake up so the transition between bed and not bed isn’t too difficult.

Or having a training plan meaning you need to get up to train otherwise you’ll definitely loose your next race is enough for me!

“I just think about how much I like having income.”

this is good motivation – im not saying i dont get up …. i just get up later than i need to and run around in a rush and then dive out the door at last minute and do the 15 mile criterium du deeside to the office

SAD light alarm here. Oregon one. definitely helps.
Plus breakfast is one of my tasks so at least have something to crack on with when I get up. This about 6.30 / 6.45. Don’t you get up pretty early, trail_rat? earlier than that?

yeah i usually get up at 5.30 …..but has been nearer 6 recently – i am on the bike for 6.30.

usually in bed by 10/10.30

when i used to race that was motivation enough to get up and going but i didnt start work till 9 back then so getting up at 7 and doing a couple of hours was childsplay.

I just think about how much I like having income.

We’re going to go to Lanzarote for the Winter again this year
I can work 90% of the time from there with only 1 trip back for 2 or 3 days every month.

Not a problem for me though it was a bit hot last night so had to whack the aircon on

of course soon this will be largely an irrelevent question as im going to turkmenistan for a few weeks – followed by currently equitorial guinea for christmas.

Its 6 – 6 daylight/dark in EG all year round

I keep the blinds and windows open all year, the window gets pulled a bit closer as the frost hits, but thats about it.

I sometimes suffer with waking at 3am, thats so annoying, not too sure why, certainly can’t be light as it’s still dark, no cars either, I do wonder whether it’s worth going to the Docs about it but it only happens 2/3 times a week, rest of the time I sleep till 5.30am and properly awake within 15mins or so.

I too like Income.

I have a couple of cheap lamps from ikea on timers, first one comes on 10 mins before I want to wake up, second one comes on when I want to wake up, alarm set for 10 mins after just to make sure, rarely in bed when the alarm goes off, feel much better than I used to just using an alarm.

so everyone struggles – i feel a bit better.

summer/winter, early to bed or a few hours after a long night

im not a morning person.

I’ve got thick curtains and a thin roman blind on the windows, so in Summer the curtains get used and in winter the roman blind. And I try and set the alarm as late as poss. But on the whole waking up when it’s dark sucks.

im struggling as well, never heard about the SAD alarm before now, do they really work??

I try and get out the door “BEFORE THE KIDS WAKE UP”

im struggling as well, never heard about the SAD alarm before now, do they really work??

Seems to work for me. Nothing like a super bright light shining in your eyes to wake you up 😛

Its great though because its set to slowly get brighter, simulating the sun. Means its not such a sudden shock to the system. I still have the problem of bed being warm and not being in bed being cold though 🙁

Alarm in the other corner of the room, it won’t stop until you hit the snooze button, it’s really loud.

Anyone got any SAD alarm recommendations?

If you’ve got a smart phone, try an app such as sleepcycle. Detects movements on the mattress using the accelerometers or something (I only know of the app on iOS), and tries to wake you when it thinks you’re potentially more up for coming round.

I was left a little inconclusive but I know a few people that have really raved about it. You give it an absolute ‘must be up by’ time and it’ll just wake you earlier if it reckons you’re coming out of a sleep cycle.

I have no suggestions, I just want to join in with the grumbling. All year round, no matter how much kip I’ve had, getting up is horrible and I hate it, but it’s so much worse in winter when it’s dark and you can hear the rain outside. Ugh. 🙁

I’ve always been a mornings kinda guy, early to bed early to rise, you know the story.

I find eating late (after 7pm) a struggle as it feels like I’ve eaten a hippo or armadillo and then my body heats up whilst in bed and thats it, I’m awake.
Drinking Wine is a right old PITA too, if I have two glasses I know I’m in for a disturbed sleep so I try to limit intake to either one glass or none until Friday when I drink Beer, real beer.
Healthy clean air.. and keep cool.

THing is, the mornings are such a nice place to be, way before anyone else is up, your out at the crack of Dawn watching nature take it’s course.. This morning was exceptional, low lying mist on the South Downs, valleys full of rain clouds, grey everywhere.. doesn’t sonud fab does it but it was.. in it’s own way it was amazing.

Morning people are such bloody zealots.

I bet they all have a protestant work ethic too.

*grump*

Alarm goes off, I wake up and hit snooze until half past the hour, then I get up and make tea and feed the dogs.

The process does not really change throughout the year and hasn’t really changed in the five years I have lived in my village.

Usually the incestuous quadruplet lesbian Swedish girls I sleep with arouse me for sex.

Bikebouy, i now the feeling, i used to be like that, but hitting the 40es changed me – also gained a little weight.

Alarm goes off at 0455 .
Out the door at 0510 , pretty much 5 days a week atm.
I just tell myself every second I spend in bed is another second i will have to spend at work at the end of the day.
We work till the work is finished , not 5pm. So if thats 3.30 , off we go and a bike ride or windsurfing is an option.

I actually like my job so that makes it alot easier. Just need another member of staff as we are paid based on a 37 1/2 hr week and working 45 , so working for free most of Friday . which sucks.

well , trying a combination of a SAD alarm phone app with a loud buzzer alarm located outwith arms reach.

seems to be working , dont feel groggy when i get up with the SAD alarm and have managed to get the buzzer off before it goes.

my mate how ever tells me ill get used to the light/ambiant noise waking me and itll be back to square 1 🙁 (and a kick from mrs TR when the buzzer goes off )

If I don’t roll out of bed the moment the alarm goes off, I know that I will miss my train and potentially have an hour and a quarter’s cramped standing on the next one. That’s very powerful motivation to get up, especially if one is claustrophobic.

Full spectrum bulbs around the house so not noticing the winter too much. However getting up in the morning is easy.

Wake up
Turn around to check my wife is still breathing
if she is, I’m off out.

(Just kidding mrs wookie)

Roll out. Put head between legs for a bit. Wander giddily to the bath room and turn the shower on.

11 month old son. my sleep pattern is not my own…