For most the sound of an Alarm ringing first thing in the morning is a shock. You set it the night before, for whatever time you would like to wake up, and yet you are still annoyed with it when it actually goes off at the time you requested.

If you are like me, then you will prolong the act of getting up by constantly hitting the snooze button - which gives you another few minutes before it rings out again. The irony is that I personally never go back to sleep as I wait in anticipation for the sound of the dreaded clock to go off yet again.

Clocks nowadays have very different sounds to wake you, but none of them in my experience are welcoming, my current clock has a very high intermittent bleeping sound - which drives me crazy each morning, but without it, I would not wake up, so ironically I do depend on the irritating sound it makes. Perhaps I need to look at alternative clocks that offer a better noise to wake up to?

Traditional mechanical alarm clocks have a bell on top that rings, but digital alarm clocks can make other noises. Simple battery-powered alarm clocks make a beeping sound whereas novelty alarm clocks can speak, laugh, or sing.

Clocks have definitely improved in time (no pun intended) and the features too have improved - these range from: built-in radios, nature sounds, dual alarms, CD players, iPod docking bays, sunrise simulators, programmable snooze etc.

The Digital Clock is probably one of the most popular Alarm clocks in use today because they can be very useful (they are usually fitted with in-built radios as standard and are usually inexpensive to purchase)

However the digital clock does have its drawbacks. Since they run on electricity and have no permanent memory, digital clocks must be reset every time they are moved or the power is cut off. This is a particular problem since a power outage during the night usually results in the clock failing to trigger the alarm in the morning.

To reduce the problem, later designs often incorporate a battery backup to maintain the time during power outages.

What does the future Alarm clock have in store for us?

Among annoyances caused by alarm clocks is sleep inertia, a feeling of grogginess that results from abrupt awakening. Progressive alarm clocks claim to solve this issue. They include sunrise alarm clocks, dawn simulators and progressive auditory alarm clocks.