My alarm is set for 6AM three days a week in the ambitious hope that I’ll make it to a 6:30AM yoga class. In the winter, it is midnight-dark at that hour and the only reason I occasionally find myself doing an early morning vinyasa is the sunrise alarm clock feature in the Hatch Restore 2. I schedule mine to start filling the room with a gradually brightening glow about 20 minutes before the sounds of singing bowls start playing. The light helps my brain wake up before I do and the subtle bongs of the bowl sort of seep into my subconscious — I often find myself awake almost without knowing why.
True, there are lots of sunrise alarm clocks out there. Many are cheaper and don’t have an optional subscription tie-in. But I like the Hatch app, which lets you adjust the duration, colors, brightness, volume, tones and so on of your morning alarm.
You can also set morning meditations, movements or inspirational pep talks to play after your alarm. These are a couple minutes long and are meant to help you get from horizontal to ambulatory. Of course, if you share a bed and the other person is still asleep, playing motivational dispatches is rude. So I get more mileage out of the sleep aids. Sound baths, ambient soundscapes, stories and guided meditations that help with the transition between the overload that is waking life and sleep.
It’s $5 per month for the full library of alarm and sleep sounds and access to all the stories and music. Without it, you only get a selection. I’ve been subscribing for over a year now because anything that gets me up and out to a hellishly early workout in the dark is worth the cash. — Amy Skorheim, Reporter
