Review: Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock for iPhone
The number of novel uses for the iPhone that people come up with never fails to amaze me, and when I read about the Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock from LexWare Labs I knew I had to try it.
The basic concept behind the Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock is this: as we sleep we go through different phases ranging from light sleep to REM sleep, when we do most of our dreaming, and deep sleep when we’re basically dead to the world. Each of these sleep phases is characterized by different amounts of body movement and the Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock uses the iPhone’s accelerometer to monitor how much you’re moving, thereby tracking what sleep phase you’re in and then attempts to wake you up while you’re in light sleep. That’s basically it. It sounds simple enough, and the reviews on iTunes spoke highly of the app with several reviewers raving in amazement about how well the app seems to work.
So, over the course of several nights I set up the app and the phone according to the instructions which are quite specific. The instructions are included right in the app and are also available on LexWare Labs’ site. Positioning of the phone is important and apparently the app works best when placed near your head at the corner of your bed (see the screenshot below).
It should be noted that it is extremely convenient to have an outlet near enough that you can plug your phone in with the wall charger, although I suppose one could opt for battery power, assuming your phone has enough charge to last the night through.
Before placement, you set the alarm for your desired wake up time and can choose between several different alarm sounds, which instead of harsh tones, are all subtle and pleasing melodies that start low and gradually build up to a noticeable but non-glaring volume. My favorite was Urban Call. There’s a test function which can help you with placement; just activate the test mode, place the phone and then lay down as you normally would and move around a bit. If the phone is placed properly then you’ll hear a tone when you move.
The first night was a wash since my phone fell off the bed at some point in the night, and realizing this would be a continuing problem, on subsequent nights I decided to tape the phone (face down according to instructions) to my bed. If you’re a tosser and turner like me you might want to consider this as well.
So did it work?
In short, no it didn’t seem to work for me. Over the course of several tests I woke up much as I normally do, which is somewhat groggy. On one morning I was awakened to the pleasant sounds of Urban Call which I promptly silenced and returned to sleep to be awakened by my normal alarm clock which I had set for a half hour later. It may be that I was expecting too much, or perhaps I was too aware that I was conducting a test which threw off my sleep patterns anyway.
Even though I wasn’t jumping up out of bed totally refreshed on the mornings I tested the app, I was fascinated by one of its coolest features. Each night, as it monitors your sleep the app plots a sleep graph over time, showing you what phase of sleep you were in during each hour of the night. One of my own sleep charts is shown to the right. Assuming this is accurate you can see I was apparently waking up from a deep sleep phase. So much for being refreshed.
So the Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock wins points for novelty and coolness, but it just didn’t seem to work for me. Perhaps I didn’t test it long enough, or perhaps I’m doomed to forever wake up groggy and grumpy like a bear that’s been disturbed out of hibernation. Either way, I had fun experimenting with it, and you can to. Try out the Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock at the app store today!
