The app is Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock, and I love it. It's caused a minor miracle in my life which I can't really attribute to anything else! You plug in your phone, turn on the app and set the alarm, and place it on the corner of your bed next to your pillow. It detects your movements and, thereby, your sleep cycle so that it can wake you when you are in a lighter phase of sleep. The default is 30 minutes before the time you set, but you can change that.
Back when I was just waking to the alarm at a set time, I was extremely groggy and took a long time to wake up. I could hardly function. Now, I wake up, and I may not be super-energetic, but I'm fine---I can walk, talk, work out, and generally be a decent human in the mornings!
The best example of how well this works is how I feel on Friday mornings. We go to Eucharistic Adoration at 4:00 a.m., so we get up at 3:40 (which is generally my deepest sleep phase of the night!), and we're back in bed by 5:15. Well, I could stay in bed (during the summer) until 8:00 a.m. and still be dead until noon. Now, I need to be up for school, so I set my alarm for 6:30, or even 6:00, and it manages to wake me at a good time, so that I am fully functional on Fridays, too! That is the most amazing thing to me!
It's not likely to work very well with a toddler in your bed, though I am pretty sure it must pick up some of my husband's movements, and it hasn't caused a problem. Generally, the graph matches how I felt about my nightwaking. Last night (above) was not a good night. Not enough deep sleep and too much tossing and turning. Monday, however, was awesome. I have a tendency to wake up every night around midnight, it seems. But I already knew that. ;-)
Let me tell you, this was totally worth the $1.99 expense. Now I can buy less coffee. :-)
How in the world does it track your sleep?
ReplyDeleteThanks. Is there any way to know if your busband's sleep is disturbing the alarm? My husband shakes the bed a lot (restless leg stuff).
ReplyDeleteHmmmm. Sounds interesting. I've been having trouble getting to sleep (even if I go to bed at my preferred hour around 9:30) and then I hit the snooze without even waking up for an extra hour in the morning.
ReplyDeleteStarting next week, I no longer have that luxury!
I want to do a little research to find out if it will work with my memory-foam mattress.
How's the waking up going, Barb? Let me know if the app works on a memory foam mattress! You are supposed to calibrate it by turning it on and moving around, so you can see what it picks up and doesn't. Mine didn't register my head rolling back and forth on the pillow, just movements of my body.
ReplyDeleteI downloaded a different, free one. It was working OK and I think waking was better for me. BUT last night all bets were off...Hubs was very restless due to a work crisis-in-progress and I think it was picking up his movements. Also, the alternate app never figured out I was awake when I woke up to use the bathroom at least once a night. So I think I should pony up the $2 and try the one you're using and actually calibrate the thing.
ReplyDelete