Is being a light sleeper a medical condition?

How to become a light sleeper?

• I am a very deep sleeper, but I share a room with my granny, who is an INCREDIBLY light sleeper who wakes up at almost any sound. Recently I have been trying to get my cat to sleep through the night with me, and she will but at 4am she will get up and meow like crazy. If we leave the doors open, she does have access to food, water and her litter tray, but they're two rooms away. I don't think this is the problem though. But I never wake up when she meows. My gran does though. She will get up and kick the cat out of the room, back to where she normally sleeps. So the next morning I awake without a cat on my bed. I think that if I can awake when my cat starts meowing, I will be able to settle her again. She will almost ALWAYS settle down if I'm the one settling her. But my gran would never do that. So how can I wake up to the sound of my cat meowing? HELP NEEDED URGENTLY! And please don't tell me that I need my sleep and should be glad to be a deep sleeper, as I already get 9 1/2 hours a night! I need help super fast though, as I'm planning to try tonight. I don't mind if it's something that may take some days to work though, as I am always here to try it out. HELP! Plus - my cat doesn't mind about where she sleeps, it's just become a bit of a habit to sleep in the room where her food, water and litter tray is. I need to break that habit. PLEASE! ANY ADVICE WELCOME!

• Answer:

  Set an alarm for around 4 AM or whenever your cat usually makes that noise. If you dont want the alarm to wake your grandma up, just use headphones and set the alarm on your ipod/phone/computer/etc. Or just set your phone to vibrate alarm so it doesnt make a noise. Even if she doesn't meow right then, waking up will put you in that light sleep mode so you'll probably hear her. You can stay awake until you hear your cat meowing, or just stay in a light sleep (as long as you catch yourself before you get into a deep sleep again) Another thing you can do is sleep so that you are in a light sleep phase at around 4 AM. Sleep occurs in cycles of deep and light sleep. Every 1 1/2 hours, you get into a light sleep phase. So, if you go to bed at 10:00 or 11:30, you will be in a light sleep at 4 AM. It will be much harder for you to hear your cat if you're in a deep sleep phase at 4 AM. Sleep at the exact same time every night (10:00 or 11:30), and wake up at the exact same time every morning. After a few days of that rigid sleep cycle and using the alarm at 4 AM, you should naturally start waking up around that time, and you'll be able to hear your cat.