When to set alarm clock?

[deliiffa]

I've seen phrases like "set the alarm for after X hours of sleep" in many tutorials. But we can't really know WHEN exactly when fall asleep as we'd be unconscious by then and guessing how much time passed since we last looked at the time isn't really accurate. So how am I supposed to set an alarm? Am I right to assume that I should set an alarm X hours after the moment I got into bed and decided to fall asleep instead of when I fell asleep exactly(which isn't possible)?

[Whatsnext]

The goal is to wake up during REM. You know you achieved that if you wake up and feel like you were just dreaming, and recall the dream exceptionally well. So basically, try to wake up during (preferably near the start of) one of the peaks on this chart... And the X-Axis is hours since you fell asleep, or at least close enough. You can see there is a monster REM period at around 6 hours, which is why you will often see the recommendation to set your alarm for 6 hours. The average person falls asleep pretty quickly so you can safely interpret that as "6 hours after I fall asleep". Even if that's not what they meant, you're probably only off by like ten minutes then. You just have to guesstimate how long it will take you to fall asleep and set the alarm for X hours after then. If you're off by twenty minutes it doesn't matter. If you're laying there in bed a lot longer than you expected though then consider pushing the alarm time back some. Charts and stuff aside though, it sounds like you're overthinking it, this isn't an exact science by any means. You will experiment and find what works best for you. If you're not having luck with 6 hours, try 5.5 or 6.5 or something. I find I do best waking up after about 3.5 hours and staying up for 1 hour.

[deliiffa]

The goal is to wake up during REM. You know you achieved that if you wake up and feel like you were just dreaming, and recall the dream exceptionally well. So basically, try to wake up during (preferably near the start of) one of the peaks on this chart... And the X-Axis is hours since you fell asleep, or at least close enough. You can see there is a monster REM period at around 6 hours, which is why you will often see the recommendation to set your alarm for 6 hours. The average person falls asleep pretty quickly so you can safely interpret that as "6 hours after I fall asleep". Even if that's not what they meant, you're probably only off by like ten minutes then. You just have to guesstimate how long it will take you to fall asleep and set the alarm for X hours after then. If you're off by twenty minutes it doesn't matter. If you're laying there in bed a lot longer than you expected though then consider pushing the alarm time back some. Charts and stuff aside though, it sounds like you're overthinking it, this isn't an exact science by any means. You will experiment and find what works best for you. If you're not having luck with 6 hours, try 5.5 or 6.5 or something. I find I do best waking up after about 3.5 hours and staying up for 1 hour. So I should guess how long it would take for me to fall asleep and then set up the alarm with that in consideration? so if the current time is 10:30pm and I know I need around 10 or so minutes to fall asleep then I would set my alarm to be X hours after 10:40pm, the point which I would probably be asleep by, right?

[Sageous]

Fortunately, Deliiffa, as Whatsnext already said, this whole business is just not that precise. If you do your WBTB after around five or six hours, you will probably catch a REM period. If you don't, then take Whatsnext's good advice and do a little experimenting until you find the best general time to wake up... and even then it will still be a general time, because your sleep cycle might tend to vary from night to night, depending on any number of circumstances (or even nothing at all). You might also consider doing without an alarm at all. Alarms tend to startle you from sleep and wake you up too thoroughly, which can make it harder to hang onto your dreamy feeling during WBTB. If there's a chance you can experiment with waking naturally after 5 or 6 hrs, you might try that as well.

[Sivason]

Hi there. Thanks for the good question. The answer is "don't worry about it." The chart above is very basic and simplified. You go in and out of REM randomly depending on many factors. Only through experimentation will you find the best time for you. However, the chart shared above can be used to show you the general idea of what you want to do. Look at the beginning of it, and notice the hour plus lag before REM starts. Then, notice that the REM phases get longer through the night. The graph may be very general, but it shares those ideas very well. You will not be able to time your WILDs or even WBTB DILD by a chart. What you should do is keep track of when you wake up in the night. Was it after five hours that you woke up feeling like you had just been dreaming? In general set it for 4.5 or more hours, up to 7 and experiment. Most of us have good luck after 7 if we can get back to sleep. I like to sleep late, so that works great. I can wake after 7 hours, and then sleep for 2 more. Again, understand the principle and don't worry about minutes.