I am trying a new method.

Code till I want to stop coding, wake up when I want to wake up.

The only thing is to do regular weekly progress checks. So at the end of the week, I'll actually take a stock check of what I have accomplished. As long as its pretty reasonable progress (say 40-50hours coding with actual results), then I'm good to go.

I find my body is hard to understand. Some days I can code for 12 hours. Some days I can code for 2. Some days I wake up bright and chirpy in the morning. Some days I dont.

Your problem isn't curable without starting to sleep at night earlier. Reduce your room lights and screen time early enough in the evening to give your body a cue that it is time to go to sleep.

To answer your question, in the summer here at 45 degrees north latitude I am awakened by morning sunlight. In the winter, when sunrise is later, I awaken to a "wake-up light" with a bright bulb on a timer.

'Being a programmer usually consists of very late nights sat in front a screen, which makes getting up the next morning increasingly difficult.'

This is your problem. Being a programmer does not have to consist of these things. I work 8-10 hours a day, after that I go to the gym to get exercise and unwind. Once I'm home, IF I'm really feeling like I want to get something done I'll allocate a single hour to work that must end before 10pm. After 10pm is no more work time. I'll do something else, usually read, until sometime before midnight. Lights out before midnight and up at 7am.

Is it very routine based? Yes. Does it get me to bed where I have a 7 hour window to sleep every night? Yes. Do I still hit the snooze button? Of course.

But getting a consistant amount of sleep means I feel good every morning and am productive the rest of the day.

Footnote: 23 and single.

Have a kid. Kids are very effective alarm clocks.

Seriously, about half of my days lately I wake up on my own, anytime between 4:30 and 6:00 am. The other half I wake up to my two-year-old crying, somewhere in the same range. Either way, I love that hour or two of quiet work time before I have to go to work.

Honestly, we can give you short term fixes on how to wake up in the mornng without getting much sleep. In the long run, it will be really bad for you. The real issue is you not getting enough sleep. I suggest figure out a way to get at least 7-8 hours of sleep. It is worth it and you will find out how.

Having said all this, some of the below helps me "accelerate" my waking up in the morning:

- Constantly nagging wife reminding me that I will be late for work. (might not work if u r single)

- Even if your wife/partner/roomate does not nag, their waking up can help you get up (since you might hear their noise etc.)

- Really annoying alarm which is beyond an easy reach with your eyes closed.

Listen to your body at a deeper level. It tells you when you're tired. Do not let your mind tell you that you have to keep working/thinking or... some bad thing will happen. That's what the mind will always tell you. What does your body tell you? The only way to know is to stop, take a few deep breaths, and check in. If you're really tired, listen to that. Sleep is more important than that last line of code. Your body has an incredible intelligence that our culture no longer honors.

If you're a night person, honor that by setting the expectation at work that you'll come in later and stay later. My mind is completely foggy in the morning, and completely clear in the evening/night. My natural rhythm (when I get to do it) is to be awake until about 4:00 AM and sleep until around 12:00 PM. I let the first part of the day go by, and then work in the second part when my mind is far more clear, right until before I sleep. My best work frequently happens between 10:00 PM and 3:00 AM. When I hear about people waking up at 4:00 AM, I think, good for you, but that's not a universal prescription (look up the word "chronotype").

I had the very same problem until a few weeks ago.

I decided to take the problem the other way around : - What most devs want is to be in a quiet place to be in the zone.

Instead of coding till 3am and already be exhausted because of the day you had to make, get up at 5 and code directly out of the bed.

Get your shit done before others get to work. Then there is no reason to stay up late any more, and you can go to sleep around 10pm. The alarm clock will not be a pain any more.

I am still in transition but find this awesome.

Sleep cycles, they're incredible. Disclaimer: not a biologist. Roughly every 90 minutes you almost wake up in your sleep, if an alarm wakes you up around this point you are much much less tired than if you wake in the middle of one such cycle. On average it takes 14 minutes to fall asleep.

I use DoubleTwist on my Android phone and it works incredibly, but that's a paid app you don't really need if you do the simple math.. and of course your mileage may vary. :)

On Android, Alarm Clock Xtreme. It makes me solve math problems. Can also do captchas. It's truly the most important app I've ever used and I'm very thankful to the developer.

A side note: lack of sleep is terrible for your mental health and will seriously impact your work performance. Please get more sleep. And catch up on sleep as much as you can.

To be honest, it sounds like you should really either reconsider how you are allocating your time, or reconsider how much work you are taking on.

My alarm in the morning is the iPhone "harp" ringtone, and it wakes me up no matter how little sleep I've had.

There is no other way to fix it than to get more and timely sleep. You won't be able to wake up early if you have late nights with your laptop. Force yourself to stop working after 10pm. Read books if you feel the need to do something.

It takes me 30-minutes... The alarm goes off and I hit the sleep button six times. You are probably young and you need more sleep. This may not help but it gets easier to wake up the older you get.

i wrote a note about this: http://tinyurl.com/accwjd9

it's based on Steve Pavlina's advice: http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2006/04/how-to-get-up-right...

tim ferris on sleep: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tim-ferriss/11-tricks-for-perf...

This is a common symptom of lack of physical exercise, drinking, smoking and too much weight.

You could try running, if you do it before 7pm it will help you sleep sooner and wake up more energized.

Always wake up at the same time (WE included), go to bed as soon as feeling tired : give marks to, and listen to your own body.

Develop a stronger will. Get enough sleep. Have a consistent sleep schedule.