4 Apps That Will Help You Become A Morning Person

4 Apps That Will Help You Become A Morning Person

By Ciara Sullivan

 

If your alarm clock looks anything like mine, I would bet that you’re a chronic snoozer.  If you are, you’re not alone.  I have an intense love-hate relationship with my snooze button…it was an evil invention if you ask me.  However, my issues with getting up in the morning go beyond my snooze button.   Half the time my alarm does not even wake me at all.  This morning, I was dreaming that my alarm was going off and I was desperately trying to make it stop.   I tried everything possible to stop the dream alarm…I turned off my phone, took out the batteries (why did my iPhone have a battery at all?), I even resorted to smashing it because I could not stand the annoying ring of the alarm anymore.  When I finally woke up from my dream, I was 20 minutes behind schedule.

I was not happy.  Waking up 20 minutes late was NOT a great start to my day and unfortunately, this happens all too often.  I’ve found that on days where I wake up early I tend to be more productive and have a better day.  Maybe there is some truth behind the old saying, “the early bird gets the worm”.  Last year for a behavioral project in school, I tested this theory out on my sister. Like me, she also struggles with waking up every morning.  I hypothesized that if I could get her to wake up earlier each morning her stress level would decrease during the day. The results were shocking.  On the days she woke up early, she reported a huge dip in her anxiety level at work which in turn led to more production throughout her day.  

The experiment I did on my sister proved that waking up early can be beneficial not just for your health, but for your career as well.  Being a morning person sounds like a win-win situation.  But what do you do when it is a struggle every morning to get out of bed?  I’ve researched a few apps that just may do the trick.

 

I Can’t Wake Up  

            This alarm for iOS and Android users has you complete different tasks before you can turn off your alarm.  Tasks can include can include math equations, rewriting randomly written texts, memory games, and more.  Also, if you put your phone back in your bed and fall asleep after completing your tasks, your alarm will start all over again.

Barcode Alarm

            This one is a personal favorite of mine.  Your alarm will not turn off in the morning (and trust me, it is the most annoying alarm I’ve ever heard) until you scan a pre-set barcode.  I used the barcode of my toothpaste, so by the time I was able to shut the alarm off…I was in the bathroom already anyway, and figured I might as well start my day.

BetterMe

            This one’s a little sadistic…or funny, depending on how you look at it.   BetterMe uses humiliation to get you out of bed.  If you do not get up on time, it will actually post a status to your Facebook Wall letting all of your friends know you failed to meet your goal.  This app plays on the idea of negative reinforcement, which is a commonly used therapy technique in Behavioral Therapy.  

Sleep Cycle

            One of the biggest reasons it is so difficult to wake up in the morning is because our alarms are often set to go off while we are in REM sleep.  REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep is the deepest form of sleep.  If you’re woken up during the period of your sleep cycle, your chances of feeling exhausted and groggy are high.  This app monitors your sleep cycle, and will wake you up before entering REM, making it easier to get out of bed feeling refreshed and ready to start your day.

 

Good Luck Early Birds!