Problems waking up in the morning

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Hello, everyone,

I am a 22 year old, self diagnosed female. For as long as I can remember, I have always had a very hard time waking up in the morning. I have tried everything. Alarm clocks across the room, the Sonic Boom alarm clock that is SUPER loud and vibrates the bed, having my mom wake me up. When my mom used to try to wake me up, she said I would appear to wake up, and talk to her. But I don't ever remember that happening. Or I will wake up, but I feel so drowsy that I can't keep my eyes open and I quickly fall back to sleep. Once I do get up and get to work, I sit at my desk for 3 hours, fighting the extreme drowsiness. Then finally my Vyvanse kicks in and I'm somewhat ok for the rest of the day.
Another problem I have is sleeping for too long. I can easily sleep 12-18 hours without waking up. Usually I get about 6-8 hours of sleep per night. I am also always feeling tired. I don't know what feeling refreshed feels like.

Does anyone out there experience similar problems or have any ideas on how to wake me up in the morning?

Have you tried light therapy?

No I haven't. What would that do? and when would I do it? in the morning?

When I was an undergraduate, I used a 24 hour timer hooked up to an alarm bell. It was super loud.

I used to get complaints from a nearby classroom building that my alarm clock was interrupting classes.

So you always feel tired? Weak, maybe? Have you gained weight in the last months?

Because I always felt tired for years, and it turned out I have hypothyroidism. Just an idea.

I have had a lot of sleep problems of various sorts. A different circadian rhythm is part of Autism.

I know what you mean about having trouble waking up. It's horrible having that feeling that you just cannot do it, and you feel dreadful when you do.

I do not have a hard and fast solution to offer. Try to practice good sleep hygeine at night so you get a proper sleep, and then maybe if you wake up the same time every day your body will adjust more.
Maybe a lavender sack to help rouse you, with the smell. Look after you gut health. I'm sure it's all linked to fatigue as well as Autistic symptoms in general.

Acupuncture? I've never tried it, but would love to. Reiki? Had it once, amazing. Have to do it regularly to get proper results though.

Light therapy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_therapy

I do not know much about it but I used a very nice lamp during winter time when I lived near the Polar Circle. Worked wonderful.

I do have the same problems. But I do go to sleep a little bit too late.
I heard that the best sleep is between 22 and 12 AM.

I read that this is nonsense. The best sleep is always the first third of your sleep, not depending on the time.

Maybe you're right. I didn't made any research. My mother told me about it.
But I do feel more tired if I go to sleep later. Also if I don't force me to wake up earlier.
What about staying awake at night and sleeping during the day? Could it be unhealthy?

I'm just about the same. I can sleep through an earthquake and a tornado a block away (literally, I have).

Each person is slightly different. The brain uses a neuroreceptor to make us fall asleep. Think of it like your eyes that adjust to the dark. When a light is flipped on the chemical inside the eyes that lets you see in the dark is 'burned out'...but to see in the dark it takes a good while for the chemical to build up.

For sleep its something similar except the chemical has to be built up and worn off at about the same pace. Aka people that can fall asleep very fast also wake up very fast...and those like us that take forever to fall asleep also take forever to go from sleepy to awake.


The signal to wake up however is not this neurotransmitter. That signal is almost instant and gets the waking up process going. Each person reacts to a different stimulus.

If you have a cellphone with a wake up feature try using it. Cellphone wake up sounds tend to be high pitch and shrilly (as opposed to most desk bound alarm clocks that rely on volume).

With me, the time it takes to wake up seems to depend on how deep the sleep is, not how long it takes to fall asleep.

I went through one period of about ten years when I averaged about two hours of sleep a night. It would take me forever to fall asleep, but I would fully wake up to full alertness seemingly instantly.

These days it rarely takes me long to fall asleep, usually within five minutes, but it is difficult for me to wake up. If left alone, I could easily sleep twelve or more hours straight.

I think that the time it takes to fall asleep is usually, but not always, based more on habit than anything else. When I used to watch tv or read in bed, it could take hours to fall asleep. Also, if I'm worried about something, it can take a long time to fall asleep. But when I walk into the bedroom, take off my clothes, turn off the lights, and crawl into bed night after night after night after night, at about the same time every night, falling asleep rarely takes more than about five minutes. Often I'm not aware of even warming up the bed before I'm asleep.

Have you tried sleeping for twelve hours instead of six to eight?

I have to admit i have difficulties in getting up in the morning and i do sleep quite a lot.

word. yeah, this turned out to be true for me.