I learned a while back that while waking up to one of your legs Charlie horsing is the most unpleasant waking experience in your life, I'll be damned if you aren't the most awake you've ever been in your life after its ended. This happened to me a lot back in junior high, not really sure why.
My bedroom is in my parent's basement, no sunlight there, though I have a timer for the basking light on my snake's tank to turn on at 8am, I could switch the direction that light comes from to shine towards my bed... I think that if I had an alarm clock where the volume of the radio/music gets louder over time would be best, rather than like this morning where I wake up to SHOT THROUGH THE HEART, AND YOU'RE TO BLAME*, because I'm a heavy sleeper and so thus my alarm is turned up all the way.
*took me a while to realize what was happening, so I said back "no it isn't"