I have stopped using an alarm clock for about nine years now. In answering today’s daily prompt, I currently go to bed between 8pm and 9:30pm during the weekdays. The exception is Sunday night when I go to bed around 12am if I have not yet finished my homework. I wake up about 7 hours later unless I have to be up earlier.
There was a time in my life when I woke up at 4:00am for work. At that time, I was going to bed around 10pm. Then there was the age of insomnia when I could not fall asleep at all. I was staying up until 1:00am, then waking up naturally at 4:00am.
Over time, there were changes in my career and in my lifestyle. I noticed I began to fall into a rhythm where I would naturally wake up 7 to 8 hours after I went to sleep. It was like having an inner alarm clock. I noticed I was waking up before my alarm would ring. It was a horrid sound that I hated. This annoyance was so loud I would not sleep through it.
It was the type of alarm that if you did not turn it off, your neighbors across the street would be upset. And to ensure myself that I would wake up; it was positioned so I would have to get out of bed to turn it off. Yes, it was that loud. And believe it or not, I actually slept through it a couple of times. However, now, without using the alarm, I wake up when I have finished sleeping. Usually, a good 7 to 8 hours later.
However, the caveat is travel. That disrupts my sleep pattern. Then is when I use the alarm to calm anxieties.
Vela Patria 