You might be surprised how well the brain can filter things while asleep, at least for some people (and will change over time). I have a light alarm clock that also has bird sounds and one place I lived there were birds just outside my window with the same song as the alarm and they would start a bit earlier than I woke up (hopefully I wasn't disrupting them too much :/). I would sleep through the birds that were at least as loud as the alarm but still wake up to the alarm. I suspect the light part of the alarm helped in that case, but I've had other cases with just very quiet audio alarms that also woke me up, in some cases a radio set to an empty channel at a barely audible level. The light alone does not wake me up most of the time.
Relatedly, a friend once told me about a method of just telling yourself when you need to wake up right before you go to bed. I've tried that quite a few times and always wake up within about 15 minutes of the intended time.
For me, waking up is the easy part, but I really don't function well at all with little sleep and actually getting out of bed can be almost impossible if I've had little sleep. I can't relate to how anyone can work on very little sleep over a long period of time, although lately I have been doing a bit better on little sleep when not using alarms at all (and predictibly returning to an irregular Non-24 schedule).
Years ago, I started sleeping with earplugs. I can't sleep without them now. I get the best and deepest sleep this way. I feel like it turns off my subconscious, because my brain is no longer processing external input.
Could you share some information about the earplug type/brand that works for you?
I am looking for a decent sleeping earplug or earbud as I have recently moved to a noisier place. I’ve tried sleeping in noise-cancelling over ears and AirPods with white noise but neither worked for me, they were far too uncomfortable. I am also concerned that an industrial ear protector would prevent me from hearing alarms or emergency situations.
Not parent, but I've tried a few different earplugs for sleeping, and settled on Hearos Ultimate Softness Series [1]. I buy them in a box of 100, which lasts for ages (I generally get 3 days out of a pair).
Other ones I tried tended to cause pain after a day or two. It did take a couple of days to get used to having them in, but now I really miss them if I don't have any with me.
Regarding alarms/emergencies, I always wake up to my phone alarm, and I find that I'm generally able to hear 'past' them for things I'd usually be on the alert for.
I personally like this model [1]. Cheap. Sometimes they can get uncomfortable or even fall out in the middle of the night, but usually if I reseat them, they are fine.
The trick to getting them in easily is to squish and lick them. Totally gross, but you get used to it and it really works well. I wash mine every morning with water and just keep reusing them for a while.
Agreed with the other, you rarely sleep through stuff you really need to wake up for like a phone alarm next to you.
