A neat app a friend shared with me, it is marketed as "A bio-alarm clock that analyzes your sleep patterns and wakes you when you are in the lightest sleep phase"
Essentially it uses the accelerometer in the iPhone to monitor your movement to determine which sleep phase you are in. Waking up in the lightest sleep phase feels like waking without an alarm clock – it is a natural way to wake up where you feel rested and relaxed.
Unfortunately only works for iPhone. I have an Android phone, so if anyone knows a similar app for Android let me know :)
I use this every night and it works better than any other alarm clock at getting me up. Waking up to a sharp noise will stress your body first thing in the morning. You don't need that. Sleep cycle helps by waking you during light sleep and by gradually raising the volume.
It also tracks a lot of data about your sleep, including the time you went to sleep, your sleep cycles, and heart rate upon waking up. It reminds me that I have to go to bed earlier.
Pretty easy $1.99 purchase if you need a better alarm clock.
The developer also just released sleep cycle power nap and sleep cycle heart rate. I have not used either yet.
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Textual Healing - Episode 013: "The Red Chair, Pt. 2" or "Garbage Planet"