More and more often, wake-up apps are breaking form the simple “set the time and choose the alarm melody” motif, instead incorporating scientific aspects in order to decipher the wake-up method most beneficial to energy, health, and general well being.
Gone are the days of a rude awakening thanks to a series of incessant beeps reminding us that it’s 6AM, since nowadays, many of us like to utilize those 90 minute sleeping cycles in order to get the most out of the time we have atop the hay. Studies prove that, by waking up at the end of a cycle, you’ll feel much better rested and refreshed than if you rise whilst a cycle is in progress. So, you’re better off, for example, sleeping for 4.5 hours (three cycles), than sleeping for 5 hours and not letting the fourth cycle complete.
There are now many apps taking the sleep cycles into consideration, and MotionX Sleep does what the Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock has been doing for iOS users for a number of years. You slip your device under your pillow, and using the device’s accelerometer, it determines when that cycle is coming to an end, and begins to wake you – even if it’s before your alarm is scheduled to go off. After using it for a while, you’ll soon discover that, far from being resentful of the app robbing you of your precious “five more minutes”, you’ll be too refreshed, alert, and raring to go to care.
Another feature of MotionX Sleep and similar apps is that it wakes you up gently, easing you from sleep in an almost fairytale fashion. A far cry from the devil-advocated alarms of old – which left many waking up with a heart rate of 120bpm – it represents the way, especially given the technology of this Digital Age, everybody should be rising from the land of the Z’s.
There’s nothing particularly new about MotionX Sleep, although it does seem to encapsulate each feature of the very best sleep cycle apps into one package. It has a beautiful interface, and keeps an easy-to-navigate log, detailing which nights and times you were in the deepest sleep. As well as keeping tabs on how much shut-eye you manage to get, it also allows you to set a daily goal of steps, and uses a pedometer to record and monitor if you achieve it. Moreover, it will alert you (between times of your choosing) if you’ve been idle for too long, encouraging you to get up and move around, so it really is a great app to help improve not only you sleeping patterns, but zest for life in general.
Of course, like similar apps, you must keep your device on charge throughout the night, otherwise you could rise to find your precious device doesn’t have the juice to cope with the day ahead – even if you do! For a price of just a buck, its really worth checking out.
Download MotionX Sleep for iPhone [iTunes link]
(via iDB)
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