When it comes to sleep, I am the definition of over-exerted college student, all too well acquainted with late nights and unbearably early mornings. As a result, I have fallen victim to oversleeping my alarm on a few too many occasions than I would like to admit. Share in the same struggle? Well sleep-depraved friend, I’ve sure got good news for you.
I am not exaggerating when I say the Sleep Cycle alarm clock app has completely transformed my relationship with mornings. What makes this app so capable of making a night owl like me dislike mornings just a little less, you ask? By tracking your sleep.
There are three different stages of sleep we experience in any given night: a light sleep phase in which you are nearly awake, a dreamless sleep and a deep, dream phase of sleep (REM). If you happen to be in a state of deep sleep when your alarm goes off, it can be hard to get a grasp on reality – or to even wake up at all. The Sleep Cycle app counters this by monitoring your sleep phases throughout the night and waking you up when you are in the lightest sleep phase. The mechanics behind tracking your sleep rely on recording movement. All you have to do is place your phone somewhere in your bed so it can detect any toss and turn you make throughout the night.
Now for those of you fearing you will be robbed of those precious last few seconds of sleep, worry not. The app prompts you to select a wake-up time range rather than just one specific wake-up time. So if you select 7:30 a.m. as the time you need to get up, the app will automatically set to the time range of 7 – 7:30. This means that if you are still in a state of deep sleep at 7, the alarm will go off gradually increasing in volume to make sure you are pulled back to reality by 7:30.
This app basically guarantees that you will never sleep through your alarm again, and actually follows through on that promise. From one #soNOTamorningperson to another, trust me on this. The Sleep Cycle alarm clock is the real deal.
Oh, and did I mention it is only $0.99? It is available for download on the iPhone and Android.
