{"id":1595,"date":"2025-06-18T15:10:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-18T12:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everhour.com\/blog\/?p=1595"},"modified":"2025-06-24T12:22:33","modified_gmt":"2025-06-24T09:22:33","slug":"productivity-hack-sleep-smartly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everhour.com\/blog\/productivity-hack-sleep-smartly\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Get Better Sleep (Experiment)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is peculiar about our team is that we all share a particular passion for productivity<\/em> and doing more in less time. We have lots of projects going on, plenty of tasks to accomplish and tons of great ideas to fulfill. So many cool things to do and only 24 hours available<\/strong>. What a shame!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s why it only seems natural to trick the course of time and make the most of the day. It looks like an obvious way of doing it is through sleeping less<\/em> and staying awake more. In fact, lots of successful people do that – you can get inspired by 23 Successful People Who Wake Up Really Early<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, easier said than done. If you\u2019ve ever tried to jump into an early-morning routine without actually being an early riser, you may have noticed certain \u201cside effects<\/strong>\u201d \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMorning is wonderful. Its only drawback is that it comes at such an inconvenient time of day.\u201d \u2015 Glen Cook<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The first hour or two or\u2026. (depending on how deeply you\u2019re incompatible with getting up at sunrise) you feel like a character from The Walking Dead<\/em>. After you completely wake up, you\u2019re rewarded with a couple of hours of extra productivity boost making you think \u201cYay! It\u2019s actually worth it!<\/em>\u201d. And then your body is like \u201cHold on, cowboy!<\/em>\u201d and you suddenly feel dog-tired and literally fall asleep every other second.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the only thing you care about is crashing into your bed<\/em>, you\u2019re not capable of<\/strong> effective communication, decision-making<\/a>, or any decent stroke of work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve personally been through that and decided we need professional assistance, and we don\u2019t mean a sleep specialist. In fact, we\u2019ve agreed it is time to catch up with the trend of the last few years and try smart alarm apps<\/strong> lots of people are so obsessed with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Developers claim that these alarms will work magic and let you sleep less and feel like a million dollars during the day. We\u2019ve had no choice but to test one of these tools on ourselves \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The anatomy of sleep<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Before I share the results of our experiment, I suggest you take a quick peek at the sleeping process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sleep can be divided into two main types: quiet sleep<\/strong> (or Non-Rapid Eye Movement (NREM) Slee<\/em>p) and active sleep<\/strong> (a.k.a. Rapid Eye Movement (REM) Sleep<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At an active sleep stage<\/em>, a person\u2019s brain isn\u2019t sleeping but processing information making you see dreams or tossing and turning. As your brain activity level is high, waking up during this phase will be as smooth as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We go through several sleep cycles<\/strong> during the night consisting of both quiet and active sleep. The first cycle lasts 90-100 min with quiet sleep prevailing over an active one, or the latter even missing at all. As you proceed with the next cycle, the length of quiet sleep starts decreasing while the active type duration rises. With the third cycle, the period of active sleep gets considerably longer and becomes predominant by the end of sleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These peculiarities of sleep stages and cycles are exactly what smart alarm clocks are based on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How does a smart alarm clock work?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

An app uses an accelerometer <\/strong>to monitor your movements during sleep, as simple as that. It means that you\u2019d better keep your phone next to you on the bed and not leave it beside your wife\/husband\/dog. By analyzing the intensity and frequency of your movements<\/em>, a smart alarm clock identifies what phase you\u2019re in right now and a perfect time to wake you up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When setting an alarm, you specify a deadline for waking up, let\u2019s say 7 a.m. In this case, the app will come up with the best moment to do that (based on your sleep stage) within the time span from 6.30 a.m. to 7.30 a.m. The interval can be changed in the Settings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The results<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve been using smart alarms for over a month already. Each of us has got a different tool fitting particular preferences and of course, OS (our team is divided into iOS, Android<\/em>, and Windows <\/em>advocates \ud83d\ude42 ).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"how<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

What I like about some of the alarm clock apps is their ability to record <\/em>all the sounds made during sleep. You can listen to your mumbling which is fun, trust me, or find out what external noises wake you up at night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For most of the team, waking up \u201cin a smart way<\/strong>\u201d has been working really well so far. You may feel a bit sleepy in the morning but come on, who doesn\u2019t? The main benefit is not being exhausted and drained during the day which used to happen regularly before using the app. It comes in especially handy when you only get 4-5 hours of sleep and need to rise and shine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, we love getting a chance to analyze a sleeping routine via informative charts<\/strong>. They are particularly useful for those trying to get more organized about their daily regimen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for the drawbacks<\/em>, we\u2019ve managed to figure out only one so far: if you\u2019re too active in your sleep, the chances are high that you\u2019ll eventually push the phone out of bed. So if you\u2019re known for acting like a fruit ninja<\/em>, try to secure your device \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the whole, I should say it feels really great when you\u2019ve managed to run your errands, do a lot of stuff and see that it\u2019s still lunchtime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne key to success is to have lunch at the time of day most people have breakfast.\u201d- Robert Brault.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Have you ever tried to use smart alarms instead of good ol\u2019 ones? I\u2019d love to hear about your experience and your sleep & wake-up routine!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everhour is the top choice for small businesses and small to mid-size teams of 5 to 50 members, including professionals like software developers, marketers, designers, consultants, lawyers, you name it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seamlessly integrating with popular project management tools<\/a> like Asana, Trello, and Jira, its user-friendly interface and customizable reports make it the ultimate time tracking solution for small and mid-size teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With dedicated support ensuring you receive timely assistance, our team is here to help you promptly and with a smile!<\/p>\n\n\n\n