Sleep Cycle is the name of the latest iPhone app I’ve been using regulrly. In part, it’s a re-invented alarm clock, designed to gently lead you out of your slumber instead of jolting you awake.

It uses the phone’s built-in microphone to monitor your breathing while you sleep and charts the depth of your rest throughout the night.

if you set the alarm for 7:00 am for instance, Sleep Cycle actively monitors the half-hour window leading up to seven, choosing a moment when the depth of your sleep is at its most shallow, and then plays soft music to bring you out of it. While you may wake up a bit sooner than you intended, the effect is that you’ll awaken feeling more rested than if your sleep were interrupted in the conventional manner.

The app passively monitors your sleep all night long. The feature of this program that has caught my attention most is the graph, recorded nightly, that illustrates and rates my night’s sleep. Here is how I did last night:

Sleep quality, 70%, which is generally about at high as I get. On just as many nights, I get a grade in the mid-to-low forties, which I’ve come to resent. On this chart, that area around 1:00 am shows that I was in a very profound deep sleep, which grew less deep throughout the night.

Anyway, I find that I’m now going to sleep more purposefully, with an aim of beating my best record. I haven’t cracked 75% yet, but I’m determined. No more 40’s!

Sleep Cycle is a free download in the app store, if you’re interested.

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