I hate waking up to an alarm clock, who doesn’t? It’s not that I hate waking up itself, though I generally would love a little more sleep, it is that jolting, heart-attack inducing, blaring sound coming from your clock, phone, or radio. It is almost like they had a meeting to find the absolutely most annoying sounds on earth and installed them into alarms.
What’s worse is that the stupid thing always goes off in the middle of the very best dreams. You know, the one where you are about to win the big game, perform at Carnegie Hall, or meet the person of your dreams. You just want to throw your clock across the room and try and drift back into hibernating bliss.
There isn’t a whole lot you can do about the second problem because you probably needed to get up at that time anyway, that’s why you set the alarm in the first place. However, the people at LARK Technologies have developed a device, involving an iPhone app, that cannot only wake you in a more pleasant manner, but help to improve your sleep, thereby improving your health.
You simply wear a small wristband, similar to a wristwatch, and set the alarm through the app on your phone. When it is time to wake up the device on your wrist gently vibrates so that you wake up more naturally. There is also a backup feature that is composer created should you not wake up or lose the device while you are sleeping.
The silent vibrations also prevent your alarm from waking up anyone who maybe be sleeping with you, or in the same room as you. I know my wife hates hearing my alarm every morning.
The aspect of the LARK that really sets it apart is its ability to monitor your sleep and help you to improve it. It will tell you how long you slept, how many times you woke up, and can even analyze your sleep patterns to help you improve.
There is also a sleep coach feature that you can purchase to develop a personal sleep plan. This will activate personalized sleep tips and advice to improve your sleep which will improve your performance while you are awake.
LARK was actually developed in conjunction with a Harvard sleep expert as well as a pro sports sleep expert. They are also working on developing the same system for Android phones but there was no definitive date given on their website.
With all of the worthless, time consuming apps out there I love finding ones that will actually improve your quality of life. I know I perform a ton better when I sleep well. I look forward to getting my hands on one of these in the near future.
Though they just went on sale yesterday, the website is already showing that they are sold out. For more information on the LARK and to order one, once they are no longer sold out, you can visit their website.
Sleep Sounds is also a good app. It has natural recordings (not synthesized) and has a mix and match feature that allows you mix multiple sounds to suite your taste.
That sounds like a really cool app. I will have to check it out. Maybe then I could get my wife to turn of all the fans in our room that are only on to make noise.