Wake Someone Up
When you're having trouble waking up a friend or family member, it can be tempting to throw a fit and wake them up by jumping on the bed and screaming at the top of your lungs. It's probably best to avoid that, though, unless you want to experience something worse tomorrow morning. It's best to try gentler, calmer ways first – and then you can start getting creative.
Contents
Steps
Waking Them Naturally
- Make them a cup of coffee or aromatic tea. Come to their room with the cup in hand. Sit on the edge of their bed and let the smell and your weight on the bed rouse them awake in a peaceful transition to the world of the conscious. The smell makes waking up more pleasant and stimulates their senses.
- You could also come in, set the coffee on the table (out of reach so that they don't accidentally knock it off when waking), and walk out, closing the door behind you. The combination of the smell and the noise may wake them naturally.
- Fill the room with an appetizing scent. Start brewing a pot of coffee, frying up some bacon, or even spraying a citrus-y scent in the room. Lemon is especially alerting, though any scent can rouse even a deep sleeper.
- Make sure you're using a scent they enjoy. If they're not a bacon person, it may not be alluring enough to get out of bed. If they're more of the chocolate-chip-cookie-for-breakfast type, that should be your go-to. What would get them excited?
- If it's not enough that the scent is wafting through house, try bringing them breakfast in bed. Not only do you get them up, but they'll feel like you're doing them a favor, getting you in their good graces.
- Make a bit of noise. Walk into the room where the person is sleeping and make just a little bit of noise. Be careful not to be too loud, or you'll shock them awake, which can make the sleeping person wake up on the "wrong side of bed." Try swishing your jeans or pants as you walk, and make a little noise around the room. A quiet click of the heels on your shoes will probably be enough.
- This can be as simple as opening the door to "check on them," and closing it after you. You could also run some water in the nearest bathroom or have a conversation outside of their door.
- Open the curtains to let in some light. Beyond our noses waking us up, another natural way is with light. Throw open the curtains, blinds, or door if there aren't any windows. The light seeping in cues the body that the sun is up and it's time to be productive – if the person isn't nocturnal, of course!
- You can do this the polite way or you can not. The polite way is to light up the room by carefully opening the curtains and manipulating the sun's path to indirectly fill the room. The impolite way is to throw the sun right on their sleeping face so their retinas get shocked into submission and they have no choice but to wake up from their slumber.
- Adjust the temperature. If you can spare a bit of time, you could rely on the house waking this person up for you. Adjust the temperature so their room gets noticeably hotter or colder. They may become slightly uncomfortable, which will cause them to awaken.
- However, this can take time and it can be uncomfortable for you if you're adjusting the entire house. Rely on this tactic if you can steer the warmth or cold in their direction only. Otherwise it'll take too long – and it's also a waste of electricity.
Getting Creative
- Pretend to look for something in their room. Try walking in and pretending that you're looking for something – open some drawers, move stuff around. Play with the sheets and pretend that you're looking under the covers. If it's a weekend, you can pretend you're doing the laundry. Or if you're a kid and it's a school day, say you're looking for your backpack.
- If you're not sneaky, the person will probably realize what you're up to. Make sure you come up with something convincing that would actually be in their room if you don't want to get caught being the morning alarm.
- "Get a phone call." If these steps haven't worked, try pretending that you got a phone call in or near the person's room – just play your ringtone or start a text conversation with your friend (so long as your phone isn't on silent). Or you could leave your phone in their room and call it from a different device. Totally not your fault. Wink wink.
- When they get up irritated that your phone awoke them, you might want to apologize and say you didn't know they were asleep. You won't let it happen again.
- Use your car. You can try pressing the panic alarm on you car to wake the person up – when the person does wakes up, stop it and they'll think someone else's car alarm went off outside. How could they possibly blame this on you?
- If your car has a loud engine, you can try starting it up near the room where the person is sleeping. Any outside noise could do the trick.
- Pull their covers off them. If they're still out like a light, try gently pulling the covers off of them. The stark change in temperature (and the sudden lack of comfort) will likely jar their mind awake. This is a bit direct though and it'll be pretty clear what you're up to. If that's okay, this is a viable strategy to use.
- ...Just make sure they're wearing clothes first.
- Set an alarm. If they have a phone or alarm clock near their bed, set it. They clearly didn't. Put it for a few minutes in the future so you can make your quick getaway. When it goes off, they'll probably think to themselves, "Huh. I didn't realize I set my alarm. Weird."
- Alternatively, you could just set the alarm on your phone and leave it in there, if that's a plausible situation. When you hear it, you can come in realizing that you "accidentally forgot your phone in the room." Whoops.
Taking Desperate Measures
- Tell the person that it's time to wake up. Shake the person's shoulder and say in a loud voice that (s)he should wake up. You can tell the person this in a louder and louder voice until (s)he wakes up. The day is new and there are things to do. So up and at 'em!
- If they respond to you with a muffled, "ughhhhhh," keep at it. They're awake – they just don't want to wake up. Remind them of what's going on that day and possibly tempt them with coffee or breakfast.
- Put some music on. Your mood will dictate what kind of revenge you seek. If you're feeling friendly, turn on some light, gentle music, like a pop ballad or an instrumental tune. If you're feeling a little irritated, heck, turn on the metal. Just be ready for the repercussions of them waking you up with something worse in the future.
- This can be done with a stereo, iPad, computer, or TV in the room, or just with your phone. And don't forget you can always sing along, too.
- Turn on the TV and up the volume. Don't say anything if you don't want (though you should've already tried that tactic) – the light and noise coming from the television should wake them. Turn it to a channel that's you think the person might enjoy if you want to put them in a better mood.
- Wanna be friendly about it? Watch the TV yourself. They will eventually wake and start to watch along with you. Then, you can look over and say, "Hey, when did you wake up?"
- Don't turn it up so far that even you are uncomfortable in the room. Just turn it to a level that two normal, awake people would tolerate happily.
- Throw a sprinkle of cold water on the person. If all fails, just use the tried-and-true method of cold water. Grab a handful from the nearest bathroom and before it all leaks out through your fingers, splash it on them. They won't be happy, but they'll probably wake up.
- Be careful with this! It may seem like fun to you, but it will not be fun for them. They could become quite irritated. If you do choose this method, be ready for a backlash.
- Only throw the equivalent of a couple tablespoons onto them. The last thing you want to do is throw a bucket of water on them and have them wake themselves up through choking. This is dangerous when done incorrectly.The water may cause them to urinate themselves as well.
Tips
- Casually (but loudly) opening, closing, and rustling objects in the room helps.
- Before using a method in this article, try to imagine how your friend would feel about it when he/she wakes up.
- If they are ticklish, tickling them is very effective.
- Bake something that smells nice just before you need the sleeping person to awake; the aromas should wake them up.
- If it's at night, shine some light in their room.
- Cook breakfast then walk over to them and say, "Breakfast's ready!"
- Avoid touching, unless the person is a close family member or friend. This is especially unwise if your friend is a different gender than you. If you decide to touch the person, touch his/her hand carefully.
- If nothing else works say their name near them.
- If (s)he is family, give them a light kiss on the cheek, rub their arm and say "It's time to wake up."
- If they have a large pet (dog, cat etc.) bring it into their room and let the pet climb on them and make some noise.
- Tell the person the time it is.
- In their ear, whisper wake up ten times. They will hear it over and over again, then will hopefully wake up.
- Tap them on their knee repeatedly until they wake up.
- Make a loud noise.
- Turn on the TV.
- Scream, pretending you got hurt..
- The simple open/closing of a door (without slamming it) can subconsciously trigger something in people and wake them up.
- Call them.
- Tickle them in their most ticklish spot! These spots tend to be under the arms, the neck, the feet, and behind the knees.
