‘Sleep Cycle’ – my first paid iPhone app

I travel every week and most of the time I do not sleep properly. So I bought the app as it was only $0.99 and #1 paid app position in many countries, including Germany, Japan, France and Russia (so many people cannot be wrong).

How it works (from the Sleep Cycle site)
Have you ever woken up feeling completely wrecked when the alarm clock goes off, despite the fact that you have slept “enough” hours? When this happens you have probably been awakened during a deep sleep phase, and your whole day can turn into one long zombie marathon.

Other days you spring out of bed with a smile on your face, feeling completely rested even though you shouldn’t. As the alarm clock goes off, chance seems to play a big role in how your day will become. But does it really have to be that way? This is where the Sleep cycle alarm clock application comes into play.  

During the night you go from light sleep to deep sleep, occasionally entering into a dream state which is called REM-sleep. These are things that your normal alarm clock does not care about, and will go off at the set time regardless of whether you are in a light sleep phase or in the deepest sleep. However, since you move differently in bed during the different phases, the Sleep Cycle alarm clock is able to use the accelerometer in your iPhone to monitor your movement and determine which sleep phase you are in. Sleep Cycle then uses a 30 minute alarm window that ends at your set alarm time and wakes you in your lightest sleep phase.

“This isn’t really something new. These so called bio-alarm clocks have been around for years and work very well, but they usually come with a hefty $200 price tag. I realized that the iPhone has all the components needed, and decided to make an alarm clock that works exactly the same, but sell it for a dollar or two instead.” Maciek Drejak, the programmer behind the application, says.

Does it work?
It doesn’t (for me) and I stopped using it. It would be too easy, a $0.99 investment to solve my sleep problems or at least some of them.
I ‘analyzed’ my sleep graphs and at the beginning of the week I get some deep sleep, but as the week progresses the deep sleep diminishes (stress due to work?) and only at the end of the week-end I get back to ‘normal’ but it takes a few days; I travel and the cycle starts again.

Last recordings from Sunday to Sunday: