I have a lot of envy/anger towards people who can sleep through their alarms. I'm such a light sleeper that I can't sleep until my upstairs neighbors go to bed. I hate the sound of alarm clocks so much I naturally wake up 1-5 minutes before mine goes off so I can shut it off.
Anyway, you could try melatonin and/or valerian root to try and get to sleep earlier. Or, you could keep staying up later and later until you're back at your normal sleeping time. Finally, you could try this alarm clock, which has been pretty successful for people like you:
http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/lights/91f2/
EDIT: I was browsing the alarm clocks, this one takes the cake (actually, your money): http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/41/snuznluz.shtml
Your last link made me laugh very hard and I still haven't stopped. I don't recall any comedian doing a better job than that. I'm a democrat and especially that "pending to GOP" thing.. every time I look at it I break out
. OP, if you think all CAM is quack, set up the alarm: donate $500 to the United Chiropractic Fund. The prospect of being broke
and jobless will drive the alarm home.
Now seriously, there are great alarm clocks, like
Timex TM80-BR. It has radio, two alarm settings, and a USB input so you can transfer mp3s form your computer to a flash drive and attach it to the alarm - no more annoying alarm sounds. You can choose loud music and raise the volume to max - it's pretty high. Additionally, you can set up two alarms within 20 minutes of each other. Should you snooze the first alarm, the second one will you hit you. When you are trying to sleep, you can make it play soporific music at low volume (it keeps separate volumes for sleep and alarm). The batteries will make sure that it goes off even if the electricity is out (New England). It is portable so you can travel with it. It also has a remote, but make sure that you don't use it when you sleep. Put the alarm far enough so that you have to get up to turn it off. The quality is good enough to use it as radio or just mp3 player. In other words, this addresses every need you may have. It took me a while to do research and finally find this gem. I paid over $80, but you can get it now for under $40. There is nothing like waking up to Mozart's
Requiem or Gluck's
Dance of the Furies in the morning. If this doesn't help you, I don't know what will (well maybe you can try that fund transfer to "quacks" alarm)
.
I agree with the above poster about sleep medicine. Just make sure that you experiment with melatonin on a day when you don't have to wake up early. Some people have hangovers if they take over 2.5mg, and it takes time to assimilate. Besides melatonin and valerian, I'd add tryptophan, especially 5-HTP (5-hydroxytryptophan) since it is the direct precursor of serotonin without having to convert the tryptophan. I think in terms of least to most invasive it will be valerian, melatonin, and 5-HTP. I helped one of my friends who had insomnia by starting with 2mg Mel. and working up to 5mg. After the initial assimilation, the dosage is back to 2mg and everything is perfect. But this will help you only if your insomnia is caused by melatonin imbalance, that's why you need to experiment with different dosages and different supplements mentioned above. Going to the gym will help too.
