Sleep Cycle

Sometimes technology is amazing.

I can remember the first time I saw a TV remote control. In my house we had a TV with four channel buttons on the front. BBC1, BBC2, ITV and C4. We bought the Radio Times for the programme times on BBC channels and the TV Times for the commercial channels. My Granny did away with using the buttons on the TV when she got a fancy new TV with a remote control. It was wonderful. She could switch the TV on and off, turn the volume up and down, or switch between channels, all without having to leave her seat. It was a real wow moment. It wasn't clear how it worked... there was no wire, no sound, no evidence at all... but it worked. Wow.

This morning was another one of those moments. Thanks to @dajbelshaw on Twitter I heard about an iPhone app called Sleep Cycle. He didn't say much to spark my interest really. In fact, lets look at what he said; "Sleep Cycle app for iPhone woke me up this morning - feel great! :-)"

For the second time ever I broke with my tradition of only downloading free apps, and splashed out on this curious application. Imagining the three 20 pence pieces I would have to hand over if I bought it in a shop helped to make it feel like a reasonably cautious investment. Imagining the 1 pence change also helped.

And so last night I tried it out. You switch the app on and put your phone in the corner of your bed, and it senses your movements to calculate what sort of sleep you are in throughout the night. You choose a 30 minute window during which you would like to be woken. During this 30 minute window it determines which phase (from light sleep to deep sleep) you are in by measuring your movement. Once the application determines you are in a phase of light sleep it wakes you up.

The idea is that you dont feel groggy and grumpy because you havent been startled out of a deep sleep. I woke this morning at 6:05. I was momentarily very pleased because the application had worked, and then really annoyed because it woke me so early. My fault really for setting the window of opportunity so early. I need to get used to it.

Once fully awake (using conventional means a little later) I reviewed the nights sleep;

Sleep statistics for 13 - 14 Jan (Thu).

Went to bed / woke up: 22:55 / 06:05
Total time: 7h 10m

My sleep graph for the entire night:

Wow.

I have a graph of my sleep last night, and I can confirm that I did wake up at least once during the night.

Apparently it takes the app two night to fully calibrate to an individual's sleep patterns etc etc. I can hardly wait to go to bed tomorrow night to try it out when it really knows what it is doing!

Special thanks to John Logie Baird starting the ball rolling on Granny's remote, and Alexander Graham Bell for getting the ball rolling on my new alarm clock.

It kinda makes you wonder... what will technology bring next?