My Favorite Upgrade to My Bedtime Routine for Improving Sleep
Hatch Restore 3 alarm clock in New Putty and Hatch phone app / Product photo via Amazon
After what felt like a lifetime of exhaustion, this past December I was diagnosed with sleep apnea and two months ago I started using a CPAP machine. Soon after, I started to feel better; I wasn’t as tired and my brain was less foggy. I didn’t need to take an afternoon nap every day. I even, on occasion, experienced big bursts of energy!
But I still feel tired sometimes — to my dismay, CPAP doesn’t solve all my problems! Seeing how much better I felt when I started using a CPAP machine inspired me to improve my sleep hygiene in other ways, too.
These are my main issues that I wanted to address:
Staying up late
Scrolling on my phone in bed right up until I turn out the lights and go to sleep
Not being able to fall asleep for a while (sometimes even hours) because my mind is racing
Hitting the ‘Snooze’ button in the morning many times — for up to one to two hours or more
Drinking caffeine late in the day
Multiple medical providers have told me I should stop drinking caffeine by around 2pm, but I still often need that late-afternoon — or even late-evening — boost, sometimes sipping coffee until 9pm. Being a coffee fanatic, I’m going to put this particular sleep hygiene goal on the back burner for now, but I found something that’s helping me address the rest. This is my favorite upgrade to my bedtime routine for improving my sleep (other than my CPAP machine).
My Hatch alarm clock setup with my CPAP machine in the background.
Hatch Restore Sunrise Alarm Clock
I’ve had the same clock radio alarm for more than 20 years, so when I saw ads for the Hatch sunrise alarm clock flooding my Instagram feed, I was ready for an upgrade. I got the newest version, the Hatch Restore 3. It comes in three colors: Putty, Greige, and Cocoa. I opted for Putty because I wanted it to be as neutral and unobtrusive as possible. (Note: On Amazon, this color is referred to as “New Putty.”)
How It’s Helping Me
Here’s how this alarm clock is helping me address all my sleep hygiene issues — other than cutting back on caffeine 😉
The “Cue to Unwind” setting on my Hatch alarm clock 💜
Going to bed earlier ✅
I’ve set up a “Cue to Unwind” on my Hatch alarm clock. I chose 10pm to begin my nightly wind-down, so at that time, a lavender light turns on and gentle music begins playing to signify that it’s time to start getting ready for bed. While I occasionally override it, this has helped me establish a consistent earlier bedtime during the week.
Putting away my phone before getting into bed ✅
There’s a phone app to go along with the Hatch alarm clock, and the app prompted me to participate in a seven-day challenge to put away your phone by a certain time before bed. I picked 10pm to coincide with my nightly “Cue to Unwind” and stuck with this challenge for the full seven days. Since the challenge ended, even though I do still sometimes bring my phone to bed with me, I’m not scrolling on it up until the moment I turn off my bedside lamp and close my eyes to try to fall asleep. This is because I set up a nightly “Unwind” routine, too, which consists of a 10-minute meditation along with a soothing red-light setting, followed by 10 minutes of white noise — specifically, ocean waves softly crashing on a beach. Before I hit the button on my Hatch alarm clock to begin my “Unwind” routine, I put away my phone if I haven’t already, turn off my bedside lamp, and snuggle down under the covers to get ready for relaxation and sleep.
Ready for my nightly bedtime meditation 😴
Falling asleep faster ✅
My nightly meditation and white noise settings help here, too. There are many meditation options to choose from, and I selected a series called “Meditations for a Racing Mind” that the Hatch app recommended to me after I answered a few questions about my sleep patterns and issues I want to address. Even if I’m only passively listening to the meditation and not really paying close attention, it still prevents my mind from churning through thoughts, regrets, wishes, and to-do’s. Now, I usually fall asleep before the 10-minute post-meditation white noise session ends, and occasionally shortly thereafter, instead of ruminating for hours, unable to quiet my thoughts and fall asleep.
Rise and shine! ☀️
Not pressing ‘Snooze’ for as long ✅
The Hatch is my first sunrise alarm clock, and the prompt to wake up is much gentler than my previous clock radio that blared out a barely recognizable pop song because my apartment gets such bad reception. With the Hatch, my alarm is now a sunrise-like light that starts “rising” 15 minutes before my wake-up time, accompanied at wake-up time by soothing music and nature sounds, including birds chirping. When I hit ‘Snooze,’ the sounds temporarily turn off but the light stays on, so it’s not exactly conducive to remaining asleep. I went from snoozing for an hour or two before, to usually only hitting the Snooze button two to three times (for 9 minute snooze sessions each) now. I still have some room for improvement in this area — and it would be great if I could pop out of bed as soon as my alarm goes off, without snoozing at all! But I’ve definitely made progress, and wake-up time doesn’t feel quite as brutal anymore.
My nighttime routine on my Hatch app
Everything on the Hatch Restore 3 is customizable — the light color, brightness, and duration; white noise; meditations; alarms; cues; and routines. And there are many options in the app to choose from. The Hatch app is free but you can upgrade to a paid subscription to have more choices for your bedtime and wake-up routines. My Hatch alarm clock came with a 30-day free trial for the subscription and I’m still within that period, so I don't know how different the free version is. From what I’ve read online though, the free version still offers plenty of options and many people seem to find it sufficient without the paid upgrade. The alarm clock itself is on the pricey side and was a splurge for me — but after 20 years, I needed an alarm clock improvement! And it was totally worth it to me for the way it’s upgraded my bedtime routine and made me look forward to going to sleep 😴
Buy it here: Hatch Restore 3 Sunrise Alarm Clock in New Putty on Amazon, $170
Related articles:
“I Did an Overnight Sleep Study” on my Substack, Rebuilding With Jennifer Garam
“Is This the Thing That’s Going to Solve All My Problems?” on my Substack
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