Waking to Alarm

[tbrown2]

I have a question for all of the brilliant folks on this forum. Now that I am sleeping soundly through or almost through the night. On some mornings when my alarm goes off I must be in a deep sleep because it takes me several seconds to register that the alarm has gone off and I need to get up. The problem is I am really not ready to get up. I suspect I am in a deep sleep cycle when the alarm starts and are therefore groggy when I get up. It really affects my whole day.
I am going to bed earlier so this doesn't happen nearly as often now but it still happens (like this morning). Is there anything that I can do to remedy the situation?

[Sheriff Buford]

I'll be first... then all the brilliant folks will respond.... I'm not sure how long you have been on cpap therapy or what your daily routine is, but when I first started therapy, my body seemed to need an adjustment period. I've always said that your body will forgive, but not forget the torment you put on it. I have noticed, in the past few months that I only really need 6-7 hours of sleep to get the rest I need. In these past few months, my early rising has been somewhat easier. It appears you are sleeping real good. Nice problem to have.

Sheriff

[TalonNYC]

You may want to watch the situation for another week or so - if you have the luxury to do so. I noticed that the first couple of weeks of actually getting sleep made waking up worse for me! The sleep debt we've all had building for years hits with a vengeance. For me, it took about 2.5 weeks, but then I started waking up just before the alarm. That hadn't happened to me since I was a kid =)

If the problem persists, there are devices that can track your sleep patterns and fire off an alarm as you move out of deep sleep. They have somewhat mixed reviews though, so ask the forum which one seems to work best before you buy.

[teknomom]

I've seen a couple of ideas on the internet. The Zeo tracks your sleep stages and has an alarm to wake you from a lighter stage. But... you have to strap another item to your face every night. Some people use a light that comes on gradually to simulate dawn and might not wake you until you were in a lighter sleep stage. But... it might not wake you in time. Tough question. I hope some expert wades in with a good solution!

[tbrown2]

[/quote]
It appears you are sleeping real good. Nice problem to have.

Sheriff[/quote]

Sheriff,
I agree it is a nice problem to have after so many years of marginal to no sleep. I guess that is my concern, when I get up on mornings like todays, I feel like I used to on waking, still exhausted. Now that I know what it feels like to wake up rested I just want to put as many tools in my tool bag as I can to try and get away from that feeling.
To answer your questions I have only been on CPAP for about six weeks and have a lot of sleep debt to pay back. In that month I have been through three different mask and different pressures and humidity trying to find something that would work. For the last 10 days I have gotten restorative sleep and I LIKE IT. I am averaging about 7.4 hours of sleep a night. I try really hard to follow a set routine going to bed at the same time and getting up when my alarm goes off. Last weekend we didn't have anything going on and it was raining so I slept in and slept for almost nine hours, which before I started CPAP therapy was unheard of. Things are improving so I am trying to fine tune the situation to make it as positive as I can.

[RocketGirl]

I'm right where you are - about six weeks in, with a lot of sleep debt to pay back, and the alarm clock is NOT my friend right now

I've also got one of those sunrise clocks, the idea being that it slowly increases the light in the room so your system can choose to rouse you when you're already in a lighter stage of sleep. Inspired by your post, I'll try that for the next few nights and see if it works better. I'll post back if it does.

[Muse-Inc]

In the beginning, after adjusting to sleeping with equipment, I started sleeping 9-10 hrs/night off and on for weeks and waking up harder and easier if you know what I mean...easier as I wasn't as exhausted as I'd been for yrs and yet harder as I needed more hrs of sleep than I'd been allowing myself. I really needed those extra few hrs; when I woke on my own I felt really good. I tapered off to settle in with 8 hrs being my ideal sleep duration. When I'm stressed or sick, I need to allow for more sleep even if my life at the time makes that a challenge to achieve. I typically wake up before the alarm unless I've been shorting sleep...a bad habit I've fallen back into lately.