There is no greater struggle than being a college student who has to wake up for that unavoidable 8 a.m. class come Monday morning. Oh wait! I stand corrected. There is something slightly worse: waking up for that unavoidable 8 a.m. class while the torrential downpours, that have been occurring for weeks, continue to rain on your will to get out of bed.
I have no doubt that many other students struggle with this same dilemma. There is something unbearable about the high-pitched beep of that alarm clock, sound of rain outside the window, and thought of getting out of your warm, cozy bed on those wet, early mornings.
The entire month of September consisted of gloomy skies, rain, rain, and sadly, more rain. I can say from personal experience, that this depressing fact has caused me to sleep through more classes than I’m willing to admit. For the sake of our suffering grades, I decided to explore proven methods that promise to have us out of the bed when we need to be.
I was very intrigued when I came upon a method that trains the brain to get up right when the alarm goes off. I’m sure many of us have learned about Pavlov’s dog in past psychology classes. This was an experiment that the psychologist, Ivan Pavlov, demonstrated with his dog to prove that the brain can be conditioned through repetition. According to Studysuccessful.com, you can use this same theory to train yourself to wake up to the buzz of your alarm!
Put aside an hour of free time during the middle of the day to train. Though it sounds silly, you have to start training by pretending to go to sleep. Throw on the pajamas, get under the covers of your bed and set your alarm clock to go off two minutes later. Now, pretend to sleep for these two minutes. When the alarm rings, immediately turn it off, take a deep breath, and get out of bed.
Go through the motions that you normally do in the mornings; Open your curtains or start getting dressed. Then get back into your pajamas and do it all over again. The key is to repeat this cycle multiple times to ingrain the motion of getting up in your brain. Ideally, you should repeat this cycle at least 5 times. The next day, observe how unconsciously you are able to wake up!
In addition, I have been able to pick up a few tips that will also ease the dreary early morning wake-ups. First tip: DO NOT HIT SNOOZE! According to Howtowakeupearly.com, those extra 5 minutes of sleep will do nothing to benefit you. Apparently, the gradual wake-up that is caused by hitting snooze will cause you to lack energy and productivity when you actually do finally get out of bed.
Another piece of advice is to move your alarm clock away from your bed. Put it in a location where you actually have to stand up and take a few steps to turn it off. A final, and very helpful tip from Wired.com, is to drink a glass of water immediately when you wake up. This will give you the burst of energy you need to carry out the morning’s tasks.
With the use of these methods and tips, you should find yourself rightfully in your seat of that 8 a.m. class and ready to learn despite the time or weather!