Hey everyone! I am starting week 4 now. But I feel this applies to sessions 1 and 2. I am better with anxiety in general. But I have had to start setting an alarm b/c of new hours at work. I wake up a couple hours before the alarm goes off. Than an hour. Then ten minutes and every time I get more and more anxious. What does everyone else have to say?

i know just how you feel! whenever i set an alarm, i panic about it going off and startling me awake, so i end up waking up any where from hours to just minutes before it beeps. have you tried waking up to music or nature sounds? it may be a gentler way to ease you awake instead of the jolt you get when you use an alarm. they even sell lamps now that gradually turn on to wake you up. there are lots of other options to a jarring BEEP BEEP BEEP in the morning. hope you find something that works!

i thought i was the only one lol! i use my cell phone as my alarm i had such panic when i woke up i had to download a waterfall sound so i would get less startled.

Hey everyone! Thanks for the suggestions. I gues it's good to know that I am not the only one who is going through this. I have a really neat like jazzy song on my cell phone that I wake up too. It's fun, but it's definitely racey. I think I will try the waterfalls or something. I just hope they wake me up.lol. Thanks,

Katie

My racing/scary.obsessive thoughts are my alarm. BOOM! They wake me up every morning to what has been hell. i don't know how i'll get thru this?

quote:

Originally posted by Kris10:
My racing/scary.obsessive thoughts are my alarm. BOOM! They wake me up every morning to what has been hell. i don't know how i'll get thru this?

Hang in there, Kris. I too have woken up to the "feeling". Remember to use the breathing exercises. These help. I hate the fact that I can't just wake up and relax a minute without being obsessive about my thoughts. It's better for me to get up and start getting ready to get to work and distract myself that way. It is hell.

I have always had problems with the alarm. I always thought that my anxiety is partly because I am afraid I will sleep through it so instead I wake up like you do, Steve, all through the night to check the time.
Also, I hate when it goes off. It startles me out of a deep sleep, which makes my heart feel like it just jumped out of my chest and always takes awhile to get back to normal breathing and heart rate.
OK, I know this won't help you much but I finally solved the problem. I no longer need an alarm. I am now working at a job where I don't have to be there until the afternoon. And my children are grown. So when I go to sleep, I tell myself I can sleep as long as I need to so that helps me relax.

Oh yes girl! It's not just the alarm clock! My memory is off and my recall is very slow. Everybody laughs with me about that. I am always afraid I'm going to forget something. When it occurs to me there is something I was suppose to do, the panic hits hard. It resides when I realize I didn't forget. When I was employed I dreaded hearing it as I had to get up and go to a job where I was very unhappy. I made sure I had an alarm clock with a battery incase of power outage, made sure it was tuned in properly and turned it up. I lost the fear of not hearing it, but when it goes off at 4:30A.M.now for my husband to wake up, it totally startles me, but I think that's because I have a difficult time getting through each day and don't look forward to facing the task of getting through another one. Also once I wake up, I'm up for the day and starting the day at that hour just makes for a longer day.

Up until nearly three years ago, I was blind as a bat (cliche, I know) and unable to see the alarm clock because it was on my husband's side of the bed. Then I got lasik, and as a light sleeper, every time I would wake up I would look at the clock and freak out that I only had a couple hours of sleep left... this would go on until it was finally time for me to get up for the day.

Naturally, I was crabby (complete understatement) because I didn't feel like I was getting any rest. So, I finally just quit looking at the clock when I woke up. This was, and still is, very hard because it had become such a habit. However, I've found that if I don't know what time it is, I can fall back asleep.

fischee

Hey everyone!
Thanks for your replies! Wow! It is insane the amount of people that have the same problem with their alarm. I wake up at least twice on days that I work early. Once in the middle of the night and once an hour or less before the alarm goes off. Sometimes when I wake up and see I only have like twenty minutes left, my heart just races and I can't go back to sleep. So I just get up and turn off my alarm. When I was at school and stressed out with papers and things and lack of sleep already. I would breath hard and my heart felt like it was irregular in its beat. I think the suggestion from before about changing the alarm to something soothing is a good idea. But probably best would be if we didn't have to set an alarm. Thanks again everyone,

Katie

I think they sell alarms that start out low and gradually get louder.Something I might try.

I make it a point to cover up the clock on the alarm and never peek to see the actual time if I wake up before the alarm goes off.

For me, it's psychological in that the amount of sleep that I get (or don't get) does not really impact how I feel that day (unless I am chronically not sleeping enough or well enough for an extended time period). But if I know I didn't sleep my 7 or 8 hours, this "colors" my mood, feelings, good day vs. bad day, awakedness!

Hi Everybody,

I can relate to this. This is one of the many things I am working on getting over. For me it is not quite the "alarm" it is the fact that I woke up before my alarm, and then how am I going to get back to sleep with so little time left, and I am going to feel really tired and nasty, and I wont be able to perform my job well and I will ultimately loose my job. That is at least the movie that plays in my head when that happens and it's litteraly a matter of seconds from I woke up early/before my alarm to I am going to lose my job. So when I wake up early now I am totally anxious.

I have started now going through the relaxation exercises and on some days I write in my journal and I find that I either fall back asleep before I finish the relaxtion exercise, or I fall asleep mid sentence. Only once ot twice have I managed to finish either of these things, and by that time I generally say it is okay and time to get up (unless it is like 2 am)

You are definately not alone and it is something that with practice and retraining/unconditioning we can overcome this.

I am that way myself, though not as bad as I once was. When I used to have to be at work, even if it wasn't till noon the next day, I wouldn't sleep. I would still be awake at midnight thinking, "Man its midnight only 12 hours from work. What happens if I don't fall asleep?" I repeated this every hour, which in turn made me too worrisome and nervous to fall asleep even for a second. I also responded the same to alarm clocks or phone calls when trying to sleep. It just didn't work out well for me. That is the main reason I don't work at the moment. Because I always end up working after being up over 24 hours.

I will also note that this still happens to me with any plans I make. Even if I'm just supposed to go with a friend somewhere the next day. Though it doesn't effect me as badly, it still manages to not allow me any sleep. I usually give in at the last second to sleep, due to my mental state of exhaustion. Which in turn I end up missing out on getting out of the house. I figured I would share this.

Peace & Love
-Dustin