Creative Alarms to Wake You Up
“The prerequisites I was looking for were recommendations from clients or products unique enough that they could really engage an ADHD client’s brain to wake up”
Getting up in the morning can be difficult for adults with ADHD. A quick search for sleep issues and ADHD on pubmed, the website for the National Library of Medicine, provides you with a long and fascinating list of results. Some studies blame the individual and poor sleep hygiene; other studies are focusing on genetic possibilities; other studies are tracking various correlations with the hopes of uncovering new answers. But no one seems to argue with the fact that a lot of people with ADHD suffer from sleep issues, which makes waking up a real issue for individuals with ADHD.
So what do you do about it? A lot of my clients do focus on sleep hygiene, creating the best environment possible to give them the best chance for good sleep. But once you do fall asleep, how to wake up? There are a lot of creative alarm with new and more creative innovations popping up every time I research this area with a client.
Below are a few that caught my eye recently. The prerequisites I was looking for were recommendations from clients or products unique enough that they could really engage an ADHD client’s brain to wake up and aren’t a ridiculous amount of money. I also paid attention to reviews (Some people out there have some great ideas, but with less than effective execution). If you use any of these I’d love to hear your experiences as well. Please share your experiences in the comments below!
REAL LIVE ALARM CLOCKS
Phillips Smart Sleep HF3500/60 - This is the most basic version of the Phillips SmartSleep product line that simulates the sunrise with a gradually increasing light along with a gradually increasing sound. I have clients who swear by this alarm clock, though it can be difficult if you sleep with a partner who doesn’t want to get up at the same time.
CLOCKY alarm clock - This has great reviews on amazon and I think it’s pretty funny. It’s an alarm clock on wheels that starts rolling around once it goes off . It can launch off your bedside table and will roll around until you catch it and turn it off. I don’t know anyone who has used it and if I had a client interested in it I might suggest putting it outside your bedroom as it doesn’t look like it runs away quickly enough to not be caught and stopped from the comfort of bed. But if put just far enough away from your bed, this could be pretty effective AND funny.
Shock Clock 2 - For those who truly struggle to wake up in the morning, there is the Shock Clock. “The Alarm Clock that Works Where all the Other have failed” is their tagline and the reviews seem to agree. You can wake up to a vibration, a beep or an actual electric zap and the alarm doesn’t stop until you do jumping jacks or scan a QR code with your phone (that they suggest placing in another room). This one isn’t cheap, but it is unique and maybe worth a try if nothing else is working.
Extra Loud Alarms - Amazon has a plethora of these and for some of my heavy sleeping clients I know they have used them. That said, louder isn’t always better. Some ADHD individuals are also sound sensitive and a loud alarm can be so jarring they turn off the alarm before they can even think about why the alarm was going off in the first place. For those who are sound sensitive see my suggestion below.
APPS TO WAKE YOU UP
The iPhone alarm vibration feature (for those who are noise sensitive) - Did you know the iPhone morning alarm has a haptics (vibration) feature? You can pick the pattern of the vibration or create your own. I know of a few clients who have been surprised to discover this to be a gentle, yet effective way to wake up in the morning. There’s no jarring noise, but rather a vibration that gently wakes them up. Since this one is free if you already own an iPhone, I highly suggest trying it out.
Alarmy Alarm Clock App - The appeal of Alarmy is the variety of options you have to wake up and their acknowledgement that some people may need to help their brain wake up while others may need to get their body to wake up. If you are a brain person, they have math, memory and typing missions to help wake you up. If you are a body person they have photo, barcode, shake, squat or walk options.
Sleep Cycle Sleep Tracker - Sometimes information can be power. This app tracks your sleep patterns identifying your REM cycles along with the option to record you (Wondering if you snore in your sleep?) and presents you with a chart every morning to help you learn more about your sleep. And because it’s monitoring you, if you give it a window of time within which you want to wake up, it will monitor your sleep for the best time to wake up and wake you then.
***BUT DON’T FORGET YOUR REASON WHY***
Of course, all of this said, you can outsmart any alarm clock which is why it’s important to look at your motivation for waking up, “The Big Why” I sometimes refer to it with clients.
Why do you want to wake up at the time you are setting your alarm clock?
What would waking up at that time make possible for you?
Why is this important to you?
I often share with my clients that there was a time in my life when the only time I could work out was if I got up at 5am to run and I do not like waking up early! So my alarm clock would go off, I would hit snooze to shut it up and then I would lay there and think about how much I didn’t want to get out of bed before I said to myself every morning, “You will feel better if you get up now and workout. You always do. You know this works. Your whole day will go better if you just get up and get this over with.” And that would be (just barely!) enough to pull myself out of bed and stumble out the door for yet another run and I almost always did feel better after my run, my shower and my coffee!
I encourage you to look at the alarms listed above, but even more important get in touch with Your Big Why. Use both these tools and your odds of getting up in the morning increase dramatically. And, as always, let me know how it goes below in the comments!