Post by Stephanie Noble.

On weekdays, I wake to a squawking beep that is impossible to ignore. That is by design, because it is not easy to get up at 5:00a.m. when my body is saying, “Just another hour or two would be so much better .”

We may not raise corn or cows, but our commute has us keeping farmer’s hours.

“Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” My first grade teacher had us memorize this advice from Benjamin Franklin and for most of my life I have followed it, although never quite as early to rise as I currently manage.

On the weekends and holidays, the squawking is turned off. It is replaced by a much more palatable, “Dad? Mamma? DAD? MAMA? DAD?? MAMA??” refrain of our son letting us he’s ready for us to rescue him from his crib and start our day’s adventures.

Sometimes, if Alarm Number Two is really tired and sleeps past 6:30, I wake up to the avian songs of our neighbors who have built a nest next to our window.

Basically, five days of my week I am rushed out of deep sleep in a way that is extra harsh when compared to my weekend wakeup calls.

Thus my quest for a gentler alarm clock, one that breaks through the cozy comfy dream world to get my butt out of bed, but maybe with a little more kindness than the squawking beep that puts me in a bad mood.

The Zen Alarm Clock Company in Boulder, CO has created Zen Clock’s ‘E tone’ chime has been hand-tuned to produce the same tone as the tuning forks used by musical therapists. The 10 minute chime progression sequence follows the “golden ratio progression” to gently move one from sleep to an awake state with music.

I’ve also been looking at Soleil Sun Alarm SA-3 Sunrise and Sunset FM Radio Alarm Clock. It gradually lightens the room to  Set the alarm for your desired time to wake in the morning, choose the Sunrise time (i.e., set sunrise for 15 minutes and for 15 minutes prior to alarm time the light will gradually get brighter and brighter until the intensity awakens you.  Just like natural sunlight. It can also be set to nature sounds like chirping birds, crickets, flowing water or an ocean.

Much better than the rude squawker!