This past month I’ve been using an iPhone app that literally has made me happier (or perhaps it’s just a placebo) The app is called Sleep Cycle. It analyzes your sleep patterns and wakes you in your lightest sleep phase. Think of it like Google Analytics for your sleep!

Before I purchased the app, I wanted to learn more about sleep patterns- so I did some light research (which means I Googled a bunch of different things and read for 30-minutes about sleep patterns). The short and sweet of what I found out is that a typical person’s sleep patterns is to go from light to deep sleep (REM) about 3 to 5 times each night. I won’t bore you by going off on a scientific tangent about the details of REM sleep and how it works, but generally speaking, getting deep sleep is the most important.

The Sleep Cycle iPhone app can’t measure your eye movement (which is the best indicator of if you’re in a light sleep vs. deep sleep), BUT what this app does measure, is your overall physical movement when your sleeping. The bottom line is, when you’re moving in your sleep, you’re likely in a light sleep- and when you’re not moving- you’re in a deep sleep. This app tells you that.

(two of my own recent personal sleep patterns)

For $0.99, this app has replaced my alarm clock. It’s awesome! All you do is put your phone under your pillow while you sleep. The motion sensor will detects when you’re in your lightest sleep within a 30-minute window of the alarm time you set. If you start to drift into deep sleep, it wakes you up in that 30-minutes so you don’t feel tired, groggy or exhausted. How cool is that!?!

If you’ve got an iPhone, this app is worth checking out- I think it’s pretty darn cool to know in the morning if you had a good night’s sleep.
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