Be An Early Bird~!

Problem & Goal
Waking up too late is the target bahavior to be modified in this programme. The goal is to wake up at 5.30 a.m. which is 3 hours earlier than currently measured baseline average. The operational definition of waking up in this programme is getting out of the bed and starting daily activities without returning to the bed.
Being a morning person, I am highly efficient in doing work or studying in the morning. Thus, waking up earlier could earn me a lot of time. Besides, it is beneficial by leading me to a healthier lifestye.


The Commitment to Change
1. This behavior modification programme is told to my friends and my family so that they can give me their encouragement to me. This blog URL is also posted on my msn so that everyone can know my progress of the programme.
2. I have signed a contract with my buddy, Fui Fen . 3. Put notes on the board in front of my studying desk to remind and to encourage myself to stick to the designed programme.

Baseline & Causes

Baseline
From 1st Oct to 14th Oct, baseline of the time of waking up and time of sleep was measured. However, since falling asleep is not the target behaviour, only baseline of waking time is shown as below.
Time of waking up (in a.m.) :
1st 7.53
2nd 8.20
3rd 7.50
4th 8.07
5th 8.10
6th 9.00
7th 8.30
8th 9.00
9th 7.00
10th 9.00
11th 9.00
12th 9.50
13th 6.00
14th 8.30

The average is 8.19 a.m. To make things easy, the average would be rounded to 8.30a.m. and thus the final goal is to wake up at 5.30a.m.
There are 2 exceptional days which the time of waking up were earlier than usual, 9th Oct (7.00a.m.) and 13th Oct. These were special cases in that I was highly motivated to wake up early to finish the studying for the test on that day. After removing the two exceptions, the baseline is considered to be stable and thus is acceptable.

Causes

The major cause of the problem is the late sleeping time on the previous night, which was always due to doing something unimportant such as surfing internet or watching drama until forgot the time to go to bed.

Another cause is believed to be the quality of sleep. As poor quality of sleep increases the need for longer sleeping time. It is reasonable to believe that, the not-so-good quality of sleep on previous night plays a role in increasing the difficulty of my waking up earlier in the next morning.

Design & Implement of the Programme

Criterion
As a changing criterion design, the criterion of the time of waking up of this programme is changed gradually. There are 2 phases in total for the whole programme. In the 1st phase, the criterion is waking up at or before 7.00a.m.; while in the 2nd phase, the criterion is waking up at or before 5.30a.m., which is the final goal of this programme.

To enter the 2nd phase, the criterion in the 1st phase ( 7.00a.m.) has to be met continuosly for 3days. The period of 3 days is set as the condition to go into the 2nd phase or for the programme to be successful because the whole duration of the programme only lasts for 11 days. If the period is set to be longer, it is highly probable that demoralization will occur due to failing to reach the criterion. For instance, let's say if one has to meet the criterion continuosly for 5 days in each phase to be successful, if one fails to reach the target on the 2nd day, it is impossible for him/her to succeed in the programme even if he/she meets the target for the rest of the 9 days. Knowing that the programme is unable to be successful will probably demoralise one to continue to strive for the final goal.

The difference between the 2 phases' criterion is set to be 90mins because a sleeping cycle for a normal person is around 90 minutes. It is easier for one to wake up at the end or the beginning of a cycle rather than in the middle of the sleeping cycle. From the sleeping duration that measured during baseline period, my sleeping pattern roughly followed the 90-minites sleeping cycle. So, it is assumed that time around 8.30a.m. is the time for me to wake up more easily, and thus for 7.00a.m. and 5.30a.m. Therefore, uisng 90 minutes as a unit for the changing criteria will increase the ease of waking up on the specific time (i.e. 7.00a.m. or 530a.m.) rather than cause the occurance of ratio strain.

Managing Situation

Before going to bed...

Alarm is set to ring at 11pm every night to remind myself to prepare going to the bed. After the alarm rings, all activities (including watching drama, msn, surfing internet and etc) have to be terminated. No delay of termintation is allowed. Preparations of going to the bed such as brushing teeth have to be done within 15 mins after the alarm rings.

Before going to sleep, alarm is put on the top of cupboard instead of the desk beside the bed so that I have to get out of the bed to turn off the alarm every morning in order not to disturb my roommate who is still sleeping at that time. This serves as a motivation for me to get out of the bed in the morning.

The exact time of falling asleep is hard to be controlled. However, by managing the behaviour of getting to the bed earlier would help in some way.

Improving the quality of sleep...

The quality of sleep is hard to control. Nevertheless, few actions are taken to improve the quality of sleep, such as using sleep mask so that I won't be affected by the light emitted from my roommate's table lamp, drinking milk and taking a hot water bath before sleep for relaxing.

After getting out of the bed...

There are few ways to decrease my sleepiness after getting out of the bed in the morning. These include having shower right after waking up, going for a walk with friends in the morning, having a rich breakfast, drinking chinese tea.

Managing Consequence

To get my daily living fees ($5) from Fui Fen (which I have handed the total sum of 11 days living fees to her before the programme starts), I have to meet the criteria in the day. To ensure the effectiveness of the negative reinforcer, I can only use the money received from Fui Fen to buy myself meals. Positive reinforcement is involved in this programme too. If I meet the criterion continuosly for 2 days, I can get 1 pack of "pocky" (which is my favourate snack) from Fui Fen. As I like "pocky" very much, problem of satiation is unlikely to happen.

Schedule of the negative reinforcement (daily living fees) and positive reinforcement (getting "pocky") are FR1 and FR2 respectively.

Others

As it may be difficult to fall asleep earlier at the beginning of the programme, it is not allowed to have nap on afternoon until I succeed to enter the 2nd criterion phase. After the starting of the second criterion, short nap not longer than 30 minnutes on the noon is allowed if needed so that normal daily functioning won't be disrupted.

Finally......

By implementing this programme, I hope that the behaviour of waking up early will be intrinsically reinforced by the freshness of waking up in the early morning, and thus the behaviour will be maintained after the end of the programme and the withdrawal of secondary reinforcers.