Show HN: Having a hard time waking up? Check out Wake Alarm • Hacker News Board

Re: Show HN: Having a hard time waking up? Check out Wake Alarm

#11

Post by HCIdivision17 » Thu, Jan 02, 2014, 7:41 PM UTC

hire_charts wrote: post #7

weisser wrote: post #5

I think the best alarms are ones that require you to get out of bed to turn off (meaning an iPhone placed across the room) - essentially it's not a kind of alarm but the positioning of it in your room. Once you are out of bed I don't think the UI of how you silence the alarm really matters. Some of you have probably heard of Tocky and Clocky ( http://www.nandahome.com/products/index.php ). I've never used either but…

Somehow in college I was able to get up, walk through my apartment, turn off my alarm, walk all the way back, and crawl back into bed, all without waking up. (Or, at least, without remembering later.) The solution, for me, has been getting into a routine where I can consistently fall asleep earlier. Much easier to do now that I'm not pulling late nights all the time.

Likewise. My alarm was a playlist that would play through my speakers under the room's deck. My computer was in top, with the audio and power cables zip secured to prevent easy power loss.

Dang thing would go off, start getting louder (scripted for "gentle" wake-up), and I had to crawl out and onto the deck, log into my computer, and shut it off. ... And it was set to lock itself and start again in 10 minutes.

TL;DR: sleep inertia sucks.

Re: Show HN: Having a hard time waking up? Check out Wake Alarm

#12

Post by zcid » Thu, Jan 02, 2014, 7:43 PM UTC

weisser wrote: post #5

I think the best alarms are ones that require you to get out of bed to turn off (meaning an iPhone placed across the room) - essentially it's not a kind of alarm but the positioning of it in your room. Once you are out of bed I don't think the UI of how you silence the alarm really matters. Some of you have probably heard of Tocky and Clocky ( http://www.nandahome.com/products/index.php ). I've never used either but…

I have been using https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sygel.goob... for about a year now and it has drastically increased my ability to get out of bed on time.

It works via wifi signal strength; I have to walk right up to my router in another room in order to shut it off (or you can reverse the trigger if you sleep near your router).

Across the room was never enough for me but walking to another room of the house wakes me up every time.

Re: Show HN: Having a hard time waking up? Check out Wake Alarm

#13

Post by _xhok » Thu, Jan 02, 2014, 8:23 PM UTC

This is a great product as an alarm clock, but trying to build better alarm clocks is fighting the wrong battle. The real solution is just to get enough sleep so that you wake up automatically.

Re: Show HN: Having a hard time waking up? Check out Wake Alarm

#14

Post by vosper » Thu, Jan 02, 2014, 8:40 PM UTC

By far the most effective alarm clock I've ever used is Alarm Clock Xtreme for Android. The killer feature is the math problems functionality, whereby you cannot disable the alarm, short of removing the battery, until you've solved math problems at your chosen difficulty.

Solving 5 relatively simple problems like "17 * 12 - 34" gets my brain going like no other alarm - I am fully alert by the end of it. My mental arithmetic has gotten better too :)

There are also tons of other configuration options in the app.

Re: Show HN: Having a hard time waking up? Check out Wake Alarm

#15

Post by robjama » Thu, Jan 02, 2014, 9:27 PM UTC

vosper wrote: post #14

By far the most effective alarm clock I've ever used is Alarm Clock Xtreme for Android. The killer feature is the math problems functionality, whereby you cannot disable the alarm, short of removing the battery, until you've solved math problems at your chosen difficulty. Solving 5 relatively simple problems like "17 * 12 - 34" gets my brain going like no other alarm - I am fully alert by the end of it. My mental ari…

That was actually the original idea. To use math questions as an alarm style but we opted to go with the Shake to wake option to get people moving in the morning. Plus it's more tactile and goes well with the other alarm styles of slapping the phone to snooze and flipping the phone over to turn off alarms.

Re: Show HN: Having a hard time waking up? Check out Wake Alarm

#16

Post by junto » Thu, Jan 02, 2014, 10:41 PM UTC

MatthiasP wrote: post #10

junto wrote: post #9

One of the most effective alarm clocks is to have children. You are guaranteed to be woken up bright and early. Well early, not so sure about the bright part. Joking apart, having children does force you into a strict daily rhythm. They respond so well to doing the same thing, at the same time, and in the same order. I always used to have poor sleep habits. Those habits have now been beaten out of me! My point is tha…

A cat that wants to be fed at 6:30 in the morning works wonders as well.

Indeed, we have two of those as well.

Point of interest: To anyone who thinks that they can distract their wife's biological clock with a cat or dog, just don't. You end up with a pet and a child! Or in my case, after the first cat wasn't working, I got a second. Still didn't bloody work! :-)