Aha! So there are other nerdy, geeks out there who think all this sleep cycle stuff is kinda interesting, too.

So, now to answer all those questions I keep getting…

How does the app know what phase you are in?

Since you move differently in bed during the different phases, Sleep Cycle uses the accelerometer in your iPhone to monitor your movement to determine which sleep phase you are in.

That same accelerometer that lets the girls play MonkeyBall (where you tilt the phone this way and that to get the ball to go somewhere – I don’t know. I’ve never played it…) can sense your movements while you sleep. You put the phone at the top of your bed, right under your fitted sheet so it holds it in place and can detect your movements.

Are you afraid that the cell waves are going directly into your head?

That was my first worry. But you put the phone into airplane mode – so the wireless is shut off. So no waves. Nowhere near my head. So it is fine.

So…how are you sleeping? Without J. home?

Ha! The first night…miserably. Remember my nice deep sleep when he was home? Well, the first night he was gone looked like this:

Went to bed / woke up: 11:10 PM / 5:51 AM
Total time: 6h 40m

Just enough little deep sleeps to make it so I wasn’t exhausted on Wednesday morning, but I certainly did not wake refreshed.

So I figured the next night I would be really tired and sleep really well:

Went to bed / woke up: 11:05 PM / 6:39 AM
Total time: 7h 33m

A much nicer stretch, but it took me 2 hours to fall asleep! I finally had to resort to reading. Still woke up before the alarm. And also woke up with a wicked head cold. NOT feeling refreshed.

So last night, I went back and forth trying to decide whether I should take some Nyquil or not before going to bed. I almost felt flu-ish, fever, chills, just all around horrible. But then, I HATE Nyquil. It makes me loopy and gives me horrible dreams. And especially didn’t want to take it knowing that I didn’t have backup if one of the girls got up or needed me. In the end, I felt just bad enough that I took half a dose knowing that if it just helped me sleep and stopped my runny nose, I might feel better in the morning.

And check last night’s graph out:

Went to bed / woke up: 11:16 PM / 7:08 AM
Total time: 7h 52m

There isn’t even a line for going to sleep. I think I was asleep in 30 seconds. My “awake peak” was when I had to get up, blow my nose and get a drink at 3. Em didn’t have school today so I didn’t set an alarm and slowly woke up right before 7.

So there you have it. Just need to self-medicate with Nyquil when you are worried about sleeping, I guess. And I did wake up feeling pretty good, but there have been a few other Nyquil side effects today.

We made cupcakes this morning so we could get them in the oven before Addie’s playdate. I put them in and then wandered off to change the beds and pick up the house. Our kitchen is in the back of the house and you really can’t hear a thing that goes on back there. So I didn’t hear my timer. And remember I have a wicked cold, so I can’t even smell the cupcakes baking.

I wandered back into the kitchen with water glasses and such and looked at the oven and thought, “Why is the stove on? I didn’t make eggs this morning, did I?” And as I was about to shut it off remembered that it was on for the CUPCAKES! That were most definitely done.

I’m totally blaming it on the Nyquil…or maybe I got too much sleep last night?

Nah. Definitely the Nyquil.