Waking up to a ringing alarm will drive you out of bed with a cortisol jolt, but it’s a stressful way to start the day. The best sunrise alarm clocks wake you up more gently and mimic the sun by emitting light that gradually brightens up your room. The Hatch Restore also offers a relaxation routine with a sunset, soothing music, and sleep sounds. For me, sticking to a routine has proven to be the most effective way to combat my insomnia. Our custom Hatch Restore routine gives us half an hour of reading light, followed by a 20-minute sunset with soothing music, then rain sounds through the night. We’ve also set a sunrise alarm with birds twittering. It helps us fall asleep and is a pleasant way to wake up.
The depth of the customization options is excellent and there is a wide choice of sounds, sleep stories and meditations. However, only the basic library of white noise and soothing sounds is free; the rest of the content comes through a subscription that costs $99 per year after a one-month trial. That’s a bit overpriced considering you can get the Calm app for a year for $70, and it offers better content and cross-device support. That said, if you can bear the cost, the Hatch Restore bundles several useful features into a single bedside device.
★ Another alternative: The second-generation Google Nest Hub ($100) (7/10, WIRED recommended) can perform many of the same tricks as the Hatch, with the option to play sleep sounds, music or podcasts, a sunrise alarm, and built-in sleep tracking. But it also serves as a great digital photo frame, smart home control panel and display for video.
This post 11 Best Sleeping Gadgets & Apps (2022): Sound Machines, Blankets, Lights & More
was original published at “https://www.wired.com/gallery/best-sleep-gadgets”
