For my entire life, I have never been a “morning person.” Even when I exercise and go to bed early the day before, I can never seem to get going in the morning. Now with the nice weather giving me motivation to be healthier, I did a little digging to find some health and fitness apps in the iTunes App Store.
I came across this one app called Sleep Cycle that claims to be an intelligent alarm clock.
The idea of an intelligent alarm clock is based from tons of sleep science research. The research has shown that you have different levels of sleep phases varying from deep sleep to light sleep. The ultimate goal is to avoid waking up when you are in a deep sleep phase. Doing so should ensure you are not groggy and stressed, and instead wake up feeling rested and relaxed.
You can see how your standard alarm clock is kind of like a crap shoot. Sometimes, you hit the jackpot and it goes off in a light phase and other times you will be forced to get up in a deep phase. The Sleep Cycle app takes the random factor out of your sleep equation. “How do they determine this,” you ask?
The scientists have figured out that when you are in a deep sleep phase, you move less then you do in a lighter phase. That allows the super sensitive gyros in the iPhone can pick up on all of your movements and then determines which phase you are in. Now, you tell the app what time you want to be up by (like any standard alarm clock), and the app will sound the alarm when it knows you are in a light sleep phase. The app sets a 30 minute window from the time you need to be awake, since you might not be in a light sleep phase at the desired time.
Beyond the intelligent alarm clock, Sleep Cycle’s other features include:
- Detailed sleep statistics and graphs for every night
- 15 different alarms
- Notes to track your day
- Shake/tap to snooze
- And much more…
If you are interested in trying out Sleep Cycle, you can find it in the iTunes App Store or by clicking here.