For the past few weeks I’ve been getting up earlier than my normal routine. At first I started getting up at 6am and then at 5am. I love the extra time in the morning but I definitely felt as though I was being awoken by my alarm clock during the heavy phase of my sleep cycle.
Enter Sleep Cycle, an alarm clock for iOS devices like the iPhone and my iPod Touch.
Sleep Cycle analyzes your sleep patterns and wakes you in the lightest sleep phase. It works as advertised and wakes you up with some really nice sounding alarms. Nothing like the traditional BEEP BEEP type of alarm that nobody in their right mind should ever awaken to.
I have my wake phase set for 30 minutes. That means that Sleep Cycle might wake me up anywhere between 4:30am and 5am. Today it woke me up at 4:45am. I awoke refreshed and ready to tackle the day.
Really, there were only two things that I had to get used to. The first is trust. After having been burned by other alarm clock type apps that didn’t go off when I needed them to, I was a bit hesitant to trust this app to wake me up. I’m happy to say, it hasn’t failed me yet.
The second thing is having your mobile device plugged in and resting on the corner of your bed. Takes a bit of getting used to but you’ll forget about it soon enough.
Sleep Cycle displays some handy statistics that show your sleep patterns on a graph. It’s pretty interesting to analyze. You can also send your sleepy graphs to Facebook if you’re into that kind of thing. I’m not.
Check it out in the iTunes store. It’s only a buck or so and well worth the benefit of waking up when your body is most ready to wake up.