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by nradov 2899 days ago
Why is being awoken by an alarm stressful? It never bothered me. In fact I find it more stressful to not have an alarm set due to the fear of being late for work or an appointment. If I wake up before the alarm it's easy to turn off.
2 comments
alleyshack 2899 days ago
Not OP, but for me, it's the jarring-ness of the alarm. A year or so ago, I noticed it's easier to wake up at 6:30am during the summer, when the sun rises and I'm waking up to sunlight. During the summer, I'd usually wake up on my own anywhere from 5-20 minutes before my alarm went off, and it was a comfortable waking up. However, in the winter, I'd be jarred awake by an alarm to a pitch-black room, often smack in the middle of a sleep cycle, leaving me groggy and sluggish.

Once I realized that, I bought a $30 light alarm. It starts to glow softly about half an hour before my desired wake-up time, and except for once or twice when I was too buried under the covers to see the light, it consistently wakes me much more smoothly and pleasantly than getting jarred awake by a jangling alarm. (It has a back-up audio alarm that plays at your normal wake-up time, which shuts off when you turn off the light part.)

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wpietri 2899 days ago
Yes, exactly. A jarring alarm will wake me up wherever I am in my sleep cycle, and I get the same grogginess. A light alarm gets me to wake up when my body is ready to wake.

I found off-the-shelf light alarms not bright enough, so I used a bunch of Hue lights to get it brighter:

https://github.com/wpietri/sunrise

I was surprised to discover that the more valuable part was auto-dimming the lights in the evening. I'm much more likely to go to bed on time if there's been a virtual sunset over an extended period. I miss it when I travel.

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nradov 2899 days ago
I'm not sure what the sleep cycle has to do with it. I feel the same way regardless of when the alarm wakes me up.
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oftenwrong 2898 days ago
Like the other user said, it is jarring. Observe a person in deep sleep waking up to an alarm. They will have a brief moment of panic as they are abruptly jolted out of sleep. An alarm that gradually increases in volume is better, but still aggravating. A light-based alarm is significantly better. The best, by far, is allowing oneself the time to wake up naturally, when the body is ready, with no artificial sleep interruption.
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nradov 2898 days ago
I guess it varies by person. I don't find alarms jarring or panic inducing.
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