Does anyone else have anxiety over the alarm?

stevecat · Post by **stevecat** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 11:22 am

Hey everyone! I am starting week 4 now. But I feel this applies to sessions 1 and 2. I am better with anxiety in general. But I have had to start setting an alarm b/c of new hours at work. I wake up a couple hours before the alarm goes off. Than an hour. Then ten minutes and every time I get more and more anxious. What does everyone else have to say?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 11:57 am

i know just how you feel! whenever i set an alarm, i panic about it going off and startling me awake, so i end up waking up any where from hours to just minutes before it beeps. have you tried waking up to music or nature sounds? it may be a gentler way to ease you awake instead of the jolt you get when you use an alarm. they even sell lamps now that gradually turn on to wake you up. there are lots of other options to a jarring BEEP BEEP BEEP in the morning. hope you find something that works!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 4:25 pm

i thought i was the only one lol! i use my cell phone as my alarm i had such panic when i woke up i had to download a waterfall sound so i would get less startled.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 9:37 am

Hey everyone! Thanks for the suggestions. I gues it's good to know that I am not the only one who is going through this. I have a really neat like jazzy song on my cell phone that I wake up too. It's fun, but it's definitely racey. I think I will try the waterfalls or something. I just hope they wake me up.lol. Thanks,

Katie

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 4:48 am

My racing/scary.obsessive thoughts are my alarm. BOOM! They wake me up every morning to what has been hell. i don't know how i'll get thru this?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 5:01 am

Originally posted by Kris10:
My racing/scary.obsessive thoughts are my alarm. BOOM! They wake me up every morning to what has been hell. i don't know how i'll get thru this?

Hang in there, Kris. I too have woken up to the "feeling". Remember to use the breathing exercises. These help. I hate the fact that I can't just wake up and relax a minute without being obsessive about my thoughts. It's better for me to get up and start getting ready to get to work and distract myself that way. It is hell.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 5:41 am

I have always had problems with the alarm. I always thought that my anxiety is partly because I am afraid I will sleep through it so instead I wake up like you do, Steve, all through the night to check the time.
Also, I hate when it goes off. It startles me out of a deep sleep, which makes my heart feel like it just jumped out of my chest and always takes awhile to get back to normal breathing and heart rate.
OK, I know this won't help you much but I finally solved the problem. I no longer need an alarm. I am now working at a job where I don't have to be there until the afternoon. And my children are grown. So when I go to sleep, I tell myself I can sleep as long as I need to so that helps me relax.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 5:31 am

Oh yes girl! It's not just the alarm clock! My memory is off and my recall is very slow. Everybody laughs with me about that. I am always afraid I'm going to forget something. When it occurs to me there is something I was suppose to do, the panic hits hard. It resides when I realize I didn't forget. When I was employed I dreaded hearing it as I had to get up and go to a job where I was very unhappy. I made sure I had an alarm clock with a battery incase of power outage, made sure it was tuned in properly and turned it up. I lost the fear of not hearing it, but when it goes off at 4:30A.M.now for my husband to wake up, it totally startles me, but I think that's because I have a difficult time getting through each day and don't look forward to facing the task of getting through another one. Also once I wake up, I'm up for the day and starting the day at that hour just makes for a longer day.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 3:10 pm

Up until nearly three years ago, I was blind as a bat (cliche, I know) and unable to see the alarm clock because it was on my husband's side of the bed. Then I got lasik, and as a light sleeper, every time I would wake up I would look at the clock and freak out that I only had a couple hours of sleep left... this would go on until it was finally time for me to get up for the day.

Naturally, I was crabby (complete understatement) because I didn't feel like I was getting any rest. So, I finally just quit looking at the clock when I woke up. This was, and still is, very hard because it had become such a habit. However, I've found that if I don't know what time it is, I can fall back asleep.

fischee

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 6:40 am

Hey everyone!
Thanks for your replies! Wow! It is insane the amount of people that have the same problem with their alarm. I wake up at least twice on days that I work early. Once in the middle of the night and once an hour or less before the alarm goes off. Sometimes when I wake up and see I only have like twenty minutes left, my heart just races and I can't go back to sleep. So I just get up and turn off my alarm. When I was at school and stressed out with papers and things and lack of sleep already. I would breath hard and my heart felt like it was irregular in its beat. I think the suggestion from before about changing the alarm to something soothing is a good idea. But probably best would be if we didn't have to set an alarm. Thanks again everyone,

Katie