Controlling your internal clock

You may be wondering about how could one do that so that he/she doesn’t need to use an external alarm to wake up at a certain time.

Well, this is doable (without using any drugs).

The guide below is something I came up with after managing to do that (a few years from the time of writing this).

Disclaimer: I don’t claim to be an expert in sleep studies, I just experimented and read a variety of documents on sleep and tested something that works.

To be able to control your internal clock, you need to have a consistent sleep pattern (at least within the 2 weeks before you start using this technique) as it can affect the effectiveness of that technique.

This guide is meant to teach you how to make your body wake up whenever you want without having to use physical alarms or relying on other people to wake you up (unless you’ve had an inconsistent sleep pattern in which case it would be a good safety plan).

Guide

This technique requires a bit of practice, so I recommend doing the following every night until you can do that comfortably (so for a minimum of 2–3 weeks).

Here’s what you need to do the night before:

1. A few hours before going to bed (I recommend starting with 2h then you can get away with 1h), tell yourself one of the following (replace the times with what you aim for):

• “I want/need to wake up at 7:10 am”
• “I want/need to wake up between 7:00 am and 7:30 am”
• “I want/need to wake up before 7:40 am”
• “I want/need to wake up after 7:00 am”

Make sure that you start with realistic times (especially if you’re in the first few weeks of using this technique) before going with times you would not normally (want to) wake up at.

It’s also important that you clearly hear what you say (imagine if you were speaking to someone near you).

Note: I recommend using two of the examples (namely the time range and one of the other examples) which is more effective as you get into that process (e.g: “I want to wake up between 7:00 am and 7:30 am but preferably at 7:10 am”).

2. Within a few minutes of you going to sleep, repeat step 1 even if the statements slightly differ.

3. Repeat step 2 a few more times if necessary (the more accustomed you are with this the less likely you need to do this step).

4. Sleep! Wake up and check if your wake-up conditions (“wake up at x”, “wake up between x and y”, “wake up before x” or/and “wake up after y”) are satisfied, in other words, you woke up when you wanted to.

If it didn’t work, it’s normal since you usually need to do that each day for a week or two before it becomes natural.

You don’t have to stick with the same wake-up conditions for each day that you use that technique but it definitely helps when you recently got started with it.

People might differ in how well and how long it would take them to get the whole thing down, however, I cannot stress how the practice element is important. So practice that for at least one week without any interruptions to ensure that it can work properly in the future.

If you did that for a couple of months without interruptions and feel confident, then you can reduce the number of times you do step 1 (i.e skipping step 3 or going straight to step 2).

In the other hands, if none of that work then one of the following might apply to you:

• You don’t sleep enough (it’s recommended to sleep 7–8h per day).
• You’re exposed to blue light too close to bedtime (that includes: any digital devices that have screens).
• You have a very inconsistent sleep pattern and/or started with inconsistent sleep/wake up times.
• You haven’t practised enough.