All,

My apologies up front for complete ignorance regarding electronics. I have an idea which I think is straight-forward, but cant seem to find anywhere its been done before. Any help is much appreciated.

Situation: I chronically, drastically oversleep and it causes major problems for me. Waking is no problem, but I invariably go back to sleep. I will literally hit the snooze for hours (today, for example, for 5 hours). Every alarm I've tried has failed to help because waking isnt the problem, its staying awake.

Solution: I have to remain out of bed. My belief is that once I've remained standing for 3 minutes I'll be awake enough to start the day / not return to bed.

Alarm idea: A pressure plate on the ground, like a doormat. The alarm goes off at the set time and can only be muted by stepping on the mat / connecting the circuit. That begins a 3-minute countdown to the alarm being actually turned off (stepping off before this point will un-mute the alarm and reset the 3-minute timer). Alternately, I was considering doing this with several lasers aligned vertically - blocking their beams by standing in front of them could engage the timer in the same way. Combining the two could work as well, breaking the laser beam connection could be what cuts the speakers. In any event the entire point being to ensure that the sleeper remain standing for a given length of time.

So, 3 main components - the alarm, the pressure-plate / laser, the timer (4 components if a separate one is required for the muting).

Again I'm sorry for not presenting this in a more precise way. If anyone has any ideas/thoughts/suggestions I would be very glad to hear them.

Thanks much,
Pignetti

 

Put the alarm clock in a far away room of the house and use a long wire to put the speaker in your bedroom. You will have to walk quite a distance to turn the alarm off.

 

Or get one of these

You know though, if you think you are really getting a good night's rest (no WarCraft until 3AM, lay off the booze, etc) and still are that tired, you should ask your doctor about sleep disorders and maybe do a sleep study. Some sleep disorders can be serious.

Take care.

 

That doesnt really address the design issue, #12, but so help me it is kind of ingenious.

 

...you should ask your doctor about sleep disorders and maybe do a sleep study. Some sleep disorders can be serious.

Best advice you'll ever get here, potentially lifesaving. You're trying to put a band-aid (fancy alarm scheme) on a gaping head wound (a potentially serious sleep disorder).

If you have an intercom system in the house, you could have the radio come on with no way to turn it off except to walk to the controller.

My personal solution is lower tech: I use an escalating alarm that slowly ramps up the volume of my radio. Because it's not jarring, I don't have to hit snooze to shut it up, I leave it on. Eventually the talk or music is enough to get through.

 

The concern's appreciated. I'm a vet and have a pathological block to falling asleep unless I'm exhausted. I'm in therapy, but can't wait until that resolves it, if it will. The consequences of oversleeping so frequently are having a very adverse effect on my life. Not trying to be fancy about this, just need something I can count on to get me up - nothing else has worked.

 

How about a kill switch wired to your toilet seat? Just get up, and sit down to pee. You're probably up for good at that point.

And indulge me a stupid question: Why not use an alarm with a limited snooze feature? My alarm makes the snooze period shorter every time it's pressed. After 3 or so, it's turning back on sooner than I can return to sleep.

Maybe smart folks here could help you make a custom snooze program, if you cannot find one on the market.

 

That doesnt really address the design issue, #12, but so help me it is kind of ingenious.

I'm a very practical kind of person (and that includes lazy). My idea is cheap and easy to assemble in a lot less than one day. It could fix your problem until something more sophistocated is available.