App Review

Every Whitney Young student knows the feeling of walking through school with almost no energy, falling behind in classes, and unable to pay attention in class. It all starts with the “BEEP BEEP BEEP” early in the morning, a piercing sound that no one looks forward to hearing. Sleep Cycle, an iPhone or Android app, is the solution to every student’s rough morning and fatigue throughout the day.

Found in the app store for $2.99, Sleep Cycle must be turned on before bed. Set the latest time that you can wake up, and the window that you allow Sleep Cycle to wake you up. Place the phone next to you on your bed and fall asleep normally. Using the phone’s microphone and accelerometer, the app will measure how deep in sleep the user is. The app will wake you up during your lightest sleep phase, which reduces the groggy morning feeling.

Brandon Dokliev (’17), another user of the app, loves it but is occasionally “annoyed that the app wakes [him] up earlier than [he] want[s],” which tends to happen if the user’s lightest sleep phase happens before the alarm time. However, this can be fixed by a user planning their sleep. The average sleep cycle is 90 minutes, so planning a night’s sleep to be a multiple of 90 minutes is most effective and the app will tend to alarm towards the end of the wake-up window. The alarm will also automatically snooze if it senses that it isn’t working, which helps the wake-up process.

Ryan Rosen (’17) “love[s] Sleep Cycle so much, [he] bought the other two apps” from the same producer, Power Nap and Life Cycle. Lauren Radomski (’19), my sister, is very glad that I use the app as well. “His last alarm was so loud I could even hear it from the third floor. I don’t want to be woken up at 5:00 when I don’t have to,” she added.

Sleep Cycle is an app that will really help your daily routine, and with a flat rate cost, it is an investment worth making.