By Myra Chen
The Apple iPhone allows you to customize your morning wake-up alarms, with an array of 28 different ringtones and 25 different classic sounds. If you are choosing Radar (Default), something is wrong. With you.
Just kidding.
Contrary to common belief, jarring and disruptive alarms are not efficient for waking up in the morning. Loud alarms are the perfect recipe for cultivating sleep inertia, or morning grogginess, which can lead to poor memory, a lower level of alertness and slower response levels for anywhere between 30 minutes or two hours after waking up. Radar is one of the best in its field in filling in these criteria.
Radar begins with a series of loud, abrupt beats followed by softer notes — the perfect equation for inducing anxiety. Similar to common emergency alarms, Radar’s threatening connotation elicits feelings of panic and fear, which is not a good way to start off the day. As a result, Radar users suffer from morning grumpiness and a negative outlook on life.
To make matters worse, the period of disorientation after the alarm goes off encourages lagging behavior, like pressing the snooze button a couple hundred times. Not immediately getting up after waking up can furthers feelings of stress and anxiety, repetitively.
“The chronic use of snooze button trains your brain to think ‘just a few more minutes’ rather than ‘time to wake up’ when it hears your alarm,” Brooklyn Bedding writer Andre Willis said.
Relying on this button for extended periods of time makes the body accustomed to drifting in and out of light sleep.
On the other hand, melodic tones with a gradual increase in volume slowly pulls one out of sleep. Whereas a jolting sound can be disorienting to a sleeping person, pleasant sounds help the body adjust into the awake state.
For this reason, it is advised to make your favorite song your alarm. Noise that you are familiar with can promote morning alertness and begin your day on a positive note.
If you are too lazy to upload a song, there are some decent preexisting options on the Apple Clock app:
- Slow Rise:
The chiming sounds in Slow Rise is the perfect balance between upbeat and relaxing. The echoing background that accompanies Slow Rise makes for a seamless transition from the state of rest to awake.
- Silk:
Silk is underappreciated. With its gentle melody and slow tune, Silk is perfect for achieving that gradual awakening from a deep slumber as calmly as possible
- Uplift:
On the faster side, the clear notes in Uplift really uplifts your outlook for the day with a melody similar to that of the introduction to any coming of age movie.
- By The Seaside:
If you are looking for something upbeat, By The Seaside is perfect for you. With a steady rhythm and consistent vibrations, this alarm is at the optimal tempo for avoiding sleep inertia.
- Ripples:
Ripples is a softer version of Waves, providing a soothing sensation to the mind and the half awakened body.
At the end of the day, what you wake up to is your choice. Sometimes we make bad decisions, and that is okay!
