Alarm Clock...No Batteries Required

I know you're probably thinking that the title is referring to Mini Max. Believe it or not, I'm talking about my BRAIN. Let me explain. It's 4:30 AM. Max is asleep. He's stirring a little but he's probably dreaming about his next milk shake prepared by yours truly.

Last night I fed Max at 11:30 PM and I thought to myself, 'I hope he gets 5 hours of sleep. That means he'll wake up at 4:30 am so I better be prepared to wake up.' Then I drifted off to sleep (dreaming of a chocolate milk shake). So I'm losing out on some valuable sleep right now because I set my own alarm clock which I'll refer to as "Brain Clock."

Years ago, I either read about it or someone told me about it... right before you fall asleep if you put the time you want to wake up in your brain, visualize what the clock in your room will look like, and bounce your head against your pillow for every hour of that time, then you'll wake up a few minutes before the time you visualized. I know you think I may be a little crazy but it really works! Now, I'm not saying that I wake up happy when that time comes but I usually wake up, look at the clock (and it's within 10 minutes) and then I choose to either fall back asleep or get my tired self up.

When I was a missionary for the LDS church, I was always on the go with very little down time. I was sooooo extremely tired that sometimes I would fall asleep praying (and one time I was praying aloud)! I discovered power naps. During lunch time, I would take a nap. They started out about 40 minutes then I got down to TEN minute power naps without needing an alarm (or my companion) to wake me up. I used the Brain Clock.

I still use my Brain Clock without even realizing that I'm doing it. Before I go to bed, I think about what time it will be when I need to wake up (and I don't bounce my head on the pillow anymore BUT I really used to). I usually tend to ignore it and wait for the annoying beep on my cell phone to go off so I can push snooze. I must mention that I haven't found a snooze button on my Brain Clock yet.

I can't blame my cute baby for my lack of sleep tonight although, I will be grateful when he masters the Brain Clock and we set ours for the same time. Try it and tell me how it works! It does take a while for it to be effective so have a back up alarm that is powered by batteries.