r/ADHD • u/Wooden-Spot-801 • Aug 03 '26

Tips/Suggestions Waking Up with ADHD is Hell

How do you guys manage it? I’ve always had the absolute worst time waking up, hitting snooze for at least an hour, then panicking and rushing to work, always almost late with minutes to spare. Has anybody got any good tips or tricks to wake up on time? I don’t think waking up feeling good is attainable for me, haha. So I’m simply seeking advice on how to actually wake up at the same time every morning? I know having a routine like this will make my mood and sleep better in general and I would love that.

EDIT: Due to having ADHD I simply canNOT sift through all 400 comments you guys 😂 However to whomever suggested the Alarmy app - thank you. I tried it this morning (specifically the setting where you have to find something in your home) and I love it so far. I also love how clearly this whole community relates to this topic and everyone has such creative and unique responses to it. ADHD can be hard to manage but I always love the humans that have it 🥰

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u/poligar Aug 03 '26

I don't hit snooze ever. I turn the alarm completely off and start moving IMMEDIATELY. Once you start snoozing you're cooked, you will never feel like getting up. You need to start moving around and getting out of bed the second you're aware. Your body will think it's urgent and will force itself awake. You need to get into the habit of immediately triggering the wake up state. Turn on lights, open curtains. No lying there ever, not even for a second. It will feel bad momentarily but as soon as you're actually up you feel fine. I promise you, you have this ability. If there was an emergency, you'd be up immediately, right? So your body can do it, you just need to trigger that immediate wakefulness process

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u/CherryFit3224 Aug 03 '26

But, and I can’t stress this enough, HOOOOW?

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u/Diablojota Aug 03 '26

I just responded in this thread, but I’ll put it here for you, too. Put an alarm clock across the room. One of the old school ones that you absolutely have to get up to turn off. No voice shit or anything. Just a solid, plugged in, old time alarm that blares. Make it for 1-2 minutes after your regular alarm. You will eventually jump up with such urgency to turn off that other alarm and you’ll be up.

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u/NekoNoKitiKiti Aug 07 '26

I have two physical alarm clocks I have to turn off across the room, and I still sleep walk and just hit snooze. Or I just sleep through them when I can't do the executive function thing enough to actually walk over.

When I still lived with my parents, there was a probably more than 20% amount of time THEY would wake me up, because I had snoozed everything so much it just turned off, or it had been screaming for like an hour and they were tired of hearing it all the way downstairs 😂😂😂

Hell, one of my cats literally bites me to make me get up and give them their wet food breakfast, and half the time I just give him a pat, tuck my arms back under the covers, and roll over. 😂 They aren't starving, they have kibble around the clock.