Artificial suns and other gadgets to wake you up
1.11.2023
Translation: machine translated
The dark season is starting again. The worst thing for me is getting up "in the middle of the night". But that doesn't have to be the case: there are technical aids that make the first moment of the day easier.
Winter and getting up in the deepest darkness: I hate it. The mobile phone alarm wakes me up with the friendly chirping of birds and I wonder what film I'm actually in. Reaching for the light switch dispels the darkness, but I'm not happy with sudden bright light either. Can't it be a bit softer? It is possible. I have collected ideas in the world of technology that revolve around waking up.
Artificial sunrise: Let there be light
There is a solution to waking up abruptly in the dark: simulate your own sunrise. At the set time, a light source should switch on at the lowest level and then slowly provide more and more light. Ideally, the light will gently wake your body from a deep sleep so that you can jump out of bed at the actual wake-up time.
Higher light intensity in the morning causes the body to break down the sleep hormone melatonin and start producing the hormone cortisol. This causes the body to wake up after sufficient sleep. Light also penetrates through closed eyelids so that the brain registers that it is time to wake up.
This is exactly what light alarm clocks are for. This is a combination of bedside lamp and alarm clock. If you already use smart lighting anyway, you can also use it for the artificial sunrise. For example, I use a "Philips Hue" E27 bulb for the entire colour spectrum in the ceiling lamp.
Control is via the "Philips Hue" app. A sunrise option is already preconfigured there, you just need to activate it. The lamp then starts with blue light and changes through the entire colour spectrum of a sunrise for an adjustable period of time.
Source: Debora Pape/Philips Hue
The artificial sunrise has helped me through the winter for years. Sometimes it even wakes me up before my alarm clock rings, but even if it doesn't, I usually feel much less exhausted when my mobile wakes me up.
My colleague Anna has written extensively about light colours and intensities and their influence on the body:
Vibration on the wrist
Why always ringing, chirping or otherwise noisy alarm clocks? Why not skip the acoustic signal and use a vibrating alarm instead?
Many smartwatches have an integrated vibration alarm. I don't have a smartwatch myself (yet), but I'd like to try it out. Whether the vibration alarm on a smartwatch is strong enough to wake you up depends on the model and the person wearing it.
This "private alarm just for you" could also be a considerate wake-up option if you don't want to wake up your partner too.
Consider your sleep phases
Many smartwatches and specially developed sleep analysers use various parameters to monitor your sleep and recognise your sleep phases. Some apps can do this too. This is helpful when it comes to waking you up: if the device detects a light sleep phase during a set wake-up period, it can activate an alarm.
This may wake you up a little earlier than necessary, but you will feel more rested. And if the app doesn't register a light sleep phase, the alarm clock will still wake you up at the end of the period.
Sleep earbuds: wake-up alarm just for your ears
Sleep earbuds also offer a "silent alarm". They are specially designed for long periods of use at night so that they neither pinch nor slip out when you turn them over.
With sleep earbuds, the wake-up sound of your mobile can only be heard by you. This ensures fewer arguments in the bedroom and you can hear the alarm even if you have buried your head under mountains of blankets.
Sleep earbuds, also known as sleep earbuds, can improve sleep in general: The earplugs mean that ambient noise, such as snoring, doesn't get through to you as loudly. Some also have active noise cancellation (ANC), which can shield you from almost all noises. And if you have trouble falling asleep, you can send soothing ASMR sounds, such as raindrops or the sound of waves, into your ears.
Finally, the best recipe for tiredness in the morning is a sufficiently long and restful night's sleep.
How do you get up in the morning and what are the best tricks to help you get going?
Cover photo: rookie idea/Shutterstock
Feels just as comfortable in front of a gaming PC as she does in a hammock in the garden. Likes the Roman Empire, container ships and science fiction books. Focuses mostly on unearthing news stories about IT and smart products.