Trouble getting out of bed in the morning

[Arra]

For as long as I can remember, I've had a difficult time getting out of bed in the morning. A typical situation on a day I have to wake up early for something: My alarm goes off and I realize I should get out of bed now. But my bed is so warm, and my desire to fall back asleep is so strong, I continue to reset my alarm, a few minutes at a time, until I absolutely have to wake up in order not to be late. This happens no matter how determined I was the previous day to wake up earlier so that I can eat breakfast for a change. Eventually, I force myself to sit up in bed. Then, I'm usually sitting there for a few minutes, dreading leaving my bed, thoughts moving slowly, until I finally conjure up the ridiculous amount of willpower required to actually leave the bed. A typical situation on a day I don't have to wake up for anything: I set my alarm to whatever time will give me 8 hours of sleep. I wake up from my alarm with the same intense desire to fall back asleep as described above. No matter how badly I wanted the previous day not to oversleep, I reset my alarm, a few minutes at a time, sometimes as many as 20 or so times, telling myself each time that this will be the last time I reset it. Eventually, I forget to reset the alarm and oversleep for so long that I spend the day feeling terrible. Only when I've vastly overslept (by 2 hours or so) am I able to get out of bed without exercising incredible willpower. I've tried moving my alarm clock across the room, but it doesn't help. I just run across the room to turn it off, then run back to bed before I've realized what's happened. As a result of what I’ve described above, I tend to oversleep on weekends and get inadequate sleep on weekdays. For obvious reasons, each of the two issues makes the other worse. Also, I can almost never lie in bed (in the same position, as is advised) to try to rememeber my dreams. I’ve tried a few times, but almost always fall asleep. Does anyone else have this problem, or have any suggestions as to what might help?

[Puffin]

Maybe the feeling of wanting to stay in bed is accompanied by a subtle tireness. In other words, maybe you're getting too little or too much sleep the night before. I adjusted my sleeping schedule a few months back and actually started going to bed later; in the morning I was more eager to get up and resist staying in bed! When your alarm goes off, try just sitting up in bed for a few moments and look around, trying to focus on your surroundings in as much detail as you can. It might help kick-start your brain and wake you up. When you're done this, turn the alarm clock off and get away from your bed - run if you have to! Force yourself to do your morning chores no matter how hazy or tired you feel - get dressed, go to the bathroom or do whatever else you need to accomplish. Don't go back to your bed and make it until after you're done all your chores and are fully awake, which should happen in ten or fifteen minutes.

[voidptr]

This sounds very similar to me up until last month. I didn't have a set bed time (I would lay down when I felt tired, usually anywhere between 12:30 to 3:30) and had trouble (understandably so) getting up by 8:30 to go to work, even with 2-3 alarm clocks. Recently my job tightened up on their generous starting-time policy, and last December, I faced the choice of either forcing myself in to work earlier, or getting a permanent mark on my record. In other words, I guess what triggered me to change was intense fear. I started studying up on circadian rhythms and how to manipulate them (with lights and melatonin). I believe I might have a mild form of "Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome". Also, my bedroom is in the basement, so I have very little natural lighting. But here are several things I did which have proven to help me: - First of all, I set a bed-time alarm for 9:30 pm, and started laying down around that time no matter what. This really stinks for me, because I feel like I have so little free time in the evening anymore, but I felt like I had no other choice. Now the alarm gives me a guilt trip if I'm up too late. (I've since relaxed this policy just a little bit, but it's still very important). This is the biggest down-side... I now have 2-3 average hours less time per day. :-( - I had already cut out caffeinated beverages after 4:00 pm on most nights. - I take a 3 mg tablet of melatonin sometime within the last hour before bedtime, to help me feel sleepy. - Sometimes I will take an additional 3 mg tablet several hours before that (say around 6:30 pm). This is not to help me fall asleep, but to help advance my circadian rhythm (or at least prevent it from getting delayed). - When I'm doing stuff late in the evening, I keep the lights down low - perhaps only a single lamp & the computer monitor. Bright lights in the evening are known to delay the circadian rhythm. - When I wake up in the morning, I turn on my lights as soon as I can. Bright lights in the morning help to advance the circadian rhythm. - I have a "light-timer" on my lamp (the kind typically used for vacationers, to deter burglars, by simulating lights turning on and off). I have it set to automatically turn off at night, and turn on in the morning. It's pointed at my face, and it actually goes off about 10 minutes before my audible alarms, so that when they go off, it's harder to go back to bed with a light shining in my face. This simulates sunrise, for me. - I have 3 alarms set in my room, set between 6:30 and 6:45 (nine full hours after lying down). The first of these is actually my computer playing a loud mp3 at full volume from across the room, and is usually all I need anymore. Often, I'm up before it goes off. - In order to make me more sensitive to alarm clocks, I followed this advice: (Edit: Can't post a link, so just Google for "How To Get Up Right Away When Your Alarm Goes Off"). I felt really silly doing it, but it worked wonders, after just three times on one evening. I may try it again soon... So far, I've mostly maintained this schedule for over a month now, with the exception of the holiday week between Christmas and New Year. Here's the thing... A few days after I started doing all of this, I suddenly had a dramatic spike in dream recall (previously nearly 0), and that's what led me here. Hope there are some ideas there that you can use!

[Kinetic]

I also have trouble getting out of bed, but only on weekends. Somtimes i sleep untill like 2pm and in total get about 13 hours sleep sometimes. Also, I can almost never lie in bed (in the same position, as is advised) to try to rememeber my dreams. I’ve tried a few times, but almost always fall asleep. ? This also happens to me, and i cant use my DJ that much

[Xijek]

Mine is similar, but far worse. I simply don't wake up, to nearly anything. It's gotten a lot worse in the last few months. My alarm will just go off, doesn't even phase me. I've set a different alarm, and tried different tones to wake me up. They would only work briefly, for about a week or so. After that they won't wake me up either. The only thing that really does seem to wake me up is someone just opening the door. That makes me jump right up. I don't really understand it too well.