Alarm clocks have always felt painful to me : an unnecessary burden to start the day with. Luckily, I haven’t needed to used one since I finished school, as I’ve been either freelancing or running my own business. It does wonders to my energy levels. I basically never wake up tired, except on times where I go to bed way too late (after 1am). Sometimes I wake up at 8, sometimes 9 or 10... My wife still uses one, and many times, she just spends the full day tired because she didn’t sleep enough. Some people don’t seem affected by it though. Namely: those that manage to fall asleep in 5 minutes!