This Sunrise Clock Means I No Longer Use My Mobile As an Alarm

It’s fair to say that the mobile phone, as a device, is incredibly distracting. There are times when I have personally felt surgically attached to my phone and if I think about all the places I take it (the bedroom, the bathroom etc), it’s probably not a healthy habit.

I’m also a notoriously bad sleeper with a busy brain. In fact, research shows that 50 percent of Aussie’s don’t get enough sleep, so chances are you’re in the same boat. In an attempt to sever the attachment I have to my phone while also hopefully improving my sleeping situation, I decided to order a sunrise alarm clock.

If you’re unfamiliar with these clocks, they provide light therapy in the form of an alarm clock. Instead of being woken up by a loud, blaring sound, these sunrise alarm clocks gently wake you up with a simulated sunrise.

Over a period of time, usually around 20 to 30 minutes, the light becomes stronger, much like a sunrise. These clocks also have a number of audio alarms to choose from, so alongside the sunrise, you can wake up to the prerecorded sounds of waves or birds chirping.

To see whether this style of alarm clock might work for me, I decided to give a sunrise alarm clock a go. I purchased this alarm clock, and after many months of using it, I’m happy to report that I’m thoroughly enjoying it. One of the biggest barriers between hitting the hay early and reading my book was my phone.

Now, as soon as I’m ready for bed, I pop my phone on charge in the corner of my room and there it stays all night. I no longer have to rely on my mobile to act as my morning alarm and as such, I’m much less distracted by it sitting on the side table next to me.

Breaking the habit on phone use at nighttime is undoubtedly hard but once you cut the cord, which in my case meant no longer relying on it as an alarm clock, it was much easier to set it down and forget about it for the night.

The second thing I’ve loved about this alarm clock is the sunrise light. Waking up to that distinctive wailing alarm on the Apple iPhone was never an overly enjoyable experience. Now, instead of the blaring alarm, I wake up slowly to the light getting stronger on the lamp, as well as a soft bell tone. A far nicer way to wake up!

This is designed to wake your body up in a more natural manner, with evidence showing that humans are “diurnal creatures” which means our circadian rhythms are set by the sun. When the sun rises, you should feel more alert while as the sun sets, you often feel more sleepy. So, in theory, using an alarm clock that mimics this process could prove to be helpful.

While introducing an alarm clock is a small change to my routine, it’s been one that has made me more aware of my phone use and that’s always a good thing.