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No, I kid you not. There’s no Sir Not-Appearing-in-this-Film nor eloquent monologues about swallows, and not even a reference to hose-riding coconut mimicry. I’ve truly found the Holy Grail of health tracking and will share it with you today. Behold as the answer is… the smart sleep alarm! If you ask anyone I know, they’ll probably share how I reverently praise smart sleep alarms. By the end of this article, you will understand why this is the case.

Don’t count sheep, your health depends on it

When I was a baby, my parents used to sing me lullabies to lull me off to sleep. As for adults, people would suggest counting sheep so as to finally call it a day. The latter method has been proven not to work, while the former has been shown to decrease pain levels and heart rate, and effectively help babies sleep. The actual sleeping process is equally, if not more, crucial to good health as falling asleep. Indeed, lack of sleep is linked to conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity.

However, a good night’s sleep is more noticeable by feeling fresh and ready to kickstart your day, and this aspect might entice you more to tracking your sleep than the other underlying benefits. After self-testing various apps and devices, and even running a 6-months sleep tracking experiment, I can confirm that it is possible to achieve your optimal sleep every night and feel energized every morning with the help of a smart sleep alarm.

I sleep every day, what more can I gain out of it?

The trick to waking up pumped up rather than groggy is all about which phase of your sleep cycle you wake up in. In short, it is made up of two main phases, the REM (rapid eye movement) and the non-REM phases. Waking up in the light stage of the latter is when you want to wake up. Otherwise you’ll need some unholy amount of espresso to rev up your metabolism and start your day.

More than just helping you wake on the right foot, proper sleep has more health benefits than you might imagine. Studies have linked improper sleeping habits to increased risk of cancer, suppressed immune system, and even to Alzheimer’s. These might not be obvious, but when the facts are there, it sends a chill down one’s spine…

Ok, so how do I get started?

So I got your attention? Awesome! But how to wake up at the proper time according to your sleep cycle when you’re, well, sleeping? In fact, those stages might be only mere minutes apart but with the help of a smart alarm that tracks your sleep pattern, you can sleep soundly, knowing that the alarm’s algorithm will decide when’s best to wake you up. You might have been sleeping every night of your whole life but you might not have been waking up at the right time and technology can really help with that. But, what is a smart sleep alarm to even begin with?

A smart sleep alarm mostly comes in the form of an app which will track your sleep patterns. By placing your phone on your bed after launching the app or wearing a smartwatch with the same feature, the app will monitor your movements corresponding to your sleep cycle. Some apps can even use your phone’s microphone to analyze your movements as you sleep, as well as record if you snore or sleep-talk. The app’s alarm will wake you up while you are in the light sleep stage during the time-frame you set. Afterwards, you’ll be able to analyze your sleep activity and any abnormalities recorded after a fresh wake up.

To get started, you can follow the steps below:

• The easiest way is to try a free app. I’d recommend Sleep as Android for Android users and Sleep Cycle for iOS users.
• Set up your desired wake-up time, as well as a time-frame during which the app can wake you up (it will monitor when you’re in the light stage during that time window and wake you up).
• Most apps will notify you when it’s time to sleep so that you’ll have enough shut eye.
• Sleep tight and let the app do the tracking for you.

If you aren’t in the light stage during your desired wake-up time, the alarm will ring anyway but you might still feel groggy. You might need to observe better what can improve your sleep like restricting evening caffeine intake or spend less time on a screen before going to bed.

Once you’re used to using the app and to analyzing your sleep pattern, you might want to invest in a dedicated sleep tracking device for more precise tracking. I would recommend getting one because while smart sleep alarm apps can be useful, they aren’t as efficient as having a wrist-worn device or one under your mattress, since those ones measure your movements more accurately.

I personally use my Fitbit Ionic with its Smart Sleep Alarm app. I launch the app before going to bed, set the time frame, wear the smartwatch on my non-dominant hand (as recommended) and start tracking my sleep. The app will subsequently monitor my movement during the night and since it functions through the smartwatch strapped to my wrist, the data it collects is more accurate.

There are other wearables you can use to achieve a similar result and I’ve collected alternative methods that you could consider to supplement your sleep tracking. You can use an Apple Watch, strap the tricorder-like Viatom CheckMe Pro for a cyborg-esque experience or go wild and have the SmartSleep from Philips wrapped around your head. The choice is yours!

It might not give you eternal youth but…

The smart sleep alarm packs almost everything any health tracker could wish for: it’s cheap (as cheap as a free app), convenient, user-friendly, detailed and effective. If you wish to get started with health tracking, starting with monitoring your sleep is the way to go. You will see quasi-immediate results that make you feel good and which will positively impact on your health in the long run.

It can even help you start a new habit of using trackers to monitor your health parameters so that you can make more informed decisions. For example, during my observations, I found out that for the best sleep, I shouldn’t do the following: exercise late, eat after 7pm, drink brown beer or check my social media before going to bed. This resulted in me adopting new habits like reading a book before going to sleep and eating earlier. In your case, it’s going to be much more different. It will take some time and dedication but once you know what works and what doesn’t for your best shuteye time, aided with the analysis of a smart sleep alarm, the benefits are guaranteed.

Ready to experience a good night’s sleep? Let me know how it goes!

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