cant sleep and afterwards I cant wake up

Hey everyone:

I have a lot of trouble waking up in the morning. Tried lots of different alarm clocks. Nothing seems to work consistently. Does anyone have any suggestions? Open to just about anything at this point.

Incidentally, I'm thinking about signing up for a service that will place a wake up call to your phone every morning. Wondering if that would do the trick for me, but don't want to pay for it. The site I found *link removed by mod* wants money which I dont want to do obviously. Anyone know of any others that are free? Also, anyone used one of these and found that it helped?

Thanks
Kangaroo

OK, first of all you are describing a misadjusted or inconveniently adjusted body clock. Your body wants to go to be later and get up later. It is best to try to move that gently.

I found that a lamp and a $20 timer helps me get up in the morning. I set the timer to light the lamp about 10 or 20 minutes ahead of the alarm clock. Be sure to get the mechanical timer. The electonic ones a utter junk, and they cost more. It takes a bit more finesse to set the time on the mechanical timer, but you'll get the hang of it pretty quickly.

If at all possible, try delaying you wake up time to something comfortable at first, and move the alarm back slowly. Some people can move 15 minutes a day and others 5 minutes a day. The further you move it, the harder it gets to move. If you sleep 2 hours late, try moving the alarm time up 10 minutes for 5 days, 7 minutes for 5 days, 5 minutes for 10 days, and two or three minutes a day until you make up the 2 hours. Change the incrments and schedule to allow it to work for you. Everyone is different on what rate of change is possible.

I know, that is not practical for you because you have to be at work by a certain time. (Heavy sigh.) Give the wake up lamp a try and see if you can get used to waking when you need to be awake. Don't sleep in on the weekends. That will only make things harder.

good luck
GaryM