The Disconnected Bedroom

http://blog.jgc.org/2011/09/disconnected-bedroom.html

by jgrahamc • 15 years ago

68 21 15 years ago

blog.jgc.org

buff-a• 15 years ago

If there's one thing that is guaranteed to keep me awake its a good book. Screw checking email... just one more chapter.

yardie2• 15 years ago

I just burned through The girl with dragon tattoo trilogy and I'm more than halfway through the 2nd book in the Hunger games trilogy (started on the first one on Saturday). Reading on the Nook Color has been fantastic and I only stop once the battery is too low and needs a charge. Like you, just one more chapter...

slug• 15 years ago

One thing that I noticed (and backed by circadian rhythm research) is that using electronic bright devices at night disrupts the sleep pattern, making it more difficult to fall asleep, and so I keep on reading.

For this reason, I prefer to read with a nook e-ink, illuminated by a nightstand lamp with a switch off timer, say 1 or 2 hours, to "force" me to go to sleep in a timely manner. This way the lighting is not right in front of my eyes but shining somewhere from the back.

ajtaylor• 15 years ago

Been there, done that! I do it less often these days, but I can't count the number of times I went to bed in the wee hours of them morning because I was trying to finish that last chapter, and then another, and then another...

mike-cardwell• 15 years ago

Author needs to do some more research into what's already possible with Android. I use "Llama" on my Android phone:

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.kebab.Llama&fe...

I've configured it to detect when I'm at home and put the phone into silent mode if it's between 11pm and 8am.

rjd2• 15 years ago

Kind of off topic but I did some thing years ago that worked great for sleep.

I had a tropical fish tank, kinda large few metres long. I can sleep quite soundly to the sound of running water, intact I find it relaxing. I have bad tinitus from being in rocks bands and concerts when I was younger, so they water masks the ringing.

Anyway I decided to black out my room similar to the article, took everything out, replaced my curtains so no light got in my room at all. I then created an artificial sunrise.

At 6:30am every morning the sun would rise in my room, over the course of 30 minutes it would get brighter and brighter. The sun of cause was the UV lights on the fish tank, but instead of just switching on I set them to slowly increase in brightness over 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes a room lamp came on, and then music started playing on my radio, 15 minutes later the dreaded alarm went off.

Before I set this up I couldn't wake unto even to my alarm, I would literally sleep through it. After I set up the artificial sun rise I started waking before the radio started playing.

simondlr• 15 years ago

How did you automate all of this? Would love to know!

rjd2• 15 years ago

You can buy commercial set ups that do this, but they don't have daylight bulbs, which is how I got the idea to do it to my tank.

I used all off the shelf products. The first step was an electric wall socket timer. You can pick these up at any hardware store.

I had one going off at 6:30am for the fish tank lights (one daylight/UV & one standard neon), second one at 7am for a desk lamp to complete the full bright light effect.

On the fish tank I lights I had a second device I'm pretty sure I brought off a marine tank supplier. All it did was slowly ramp up power flow. I just put it between the lights and the wall timer and it just slowly lifted the current flow to the lights.

Last bit was a dual alarm clock, first alarm at 7am played music, second at 7:15 set the alarm.

Oh and the curtains, the main bit to hide the actual outside light pollution which could undermine the whole trick.

Bostwick• 15 years ago

I bought a sunrise alarm clock [1] to do something similar to this. It's not nearly as fancy as rjd's setup, but it works really well for me. I put blackout curtains on the windows in my room. I usually wake up at 7, so I'll set the clock to reach full brightness at 6:50, and then the alarm on my cell phone goes off at 7. It works really well, especially in winter.

[1] http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00196LFGW/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp...

chli• 15 years ago

On my Android phone I use that:

https://market.android.com/details?id=net.geekherd.bedsidepr...

It let you disable all notifications, dim the screen and customize the alarm clock style.

You can also set a white list for incoming SMS and/or phone call.

It's a replacement for the "docking" application, so it is enabled as soon as I put it on the docking station next to my bed.

ericHosick• 15 years ago

A picky point (I like a lot of what the author had to say) is:

The idea of a TV, as we understood it in the 70s - 90s, is kinda dead. Now, to say there is no TV in the house is the same as saying there is no internet (used only for entertainment) in the house.

chadgeidel2• 15 years ago

I've got a TV, and watch it occasionally (Movies/Netflix/Vido Games). No OTA programming and I don't have cable/satellite.

I'll never have a TV or computer screen in the bedroom. My cell phone is in there because I use it as an alarm (Wakemate).

rglover• 15 years ago

This is actually something I thought about last night. There's a television in my bedroom, and depending on how tired I am, I'll also have my laptop and a cell phone. Although I use my phone primarily for an alarm clock, I do find times where I wake up and can't fall back asleep, so I pick up my phone and play with a few apps. It's strange because my body feels like it should be asleep, but I force it to stay awake to read a blog post or a few more tweets. Obviously not good. I do like the idea of a "limitation app" that would prevent things like certain phone numbers calling or limiting emails till the morning, but without a jailbreak I'm guessing that's fairly impossible. If not, though, that's something I'd buy in a heartbeat.

engblaze• 15 years ago

Tasker for Android can do all of the things mentioned in the post to create a "bedroom mode", plus much, much more: http://tasker.dinglisch.net/index.html (on Android market too but the direct version is cheaper)

It's like a GUI scripting engine for your phone. Very similar to Locale, but you don't have to pony up for extra plugins to do fancy stuff. Well worth the asking price.

bh42222• 15 years ago

I've had a strict disconnected bedroom policy for a long time. I even make sure the digital clock which wakes me up is the soft red LDC type, not the green or blue types, the light of their displays is so bright you can almost read by it.

But I've recently put something next to my bed which has ruined my sleep schedule. What? Books. Plain paper books. I blame it all on George R. R. Martin.

andyking• 15 years ago

Excellent post. I did this recently when I redecorated my room. It used to be filled with all manner of electronic gadgetry - there was a computer, an FM radio, a DAB radio, mobile phone chargers protruding from every wall, it was like sleeping in a Best Buy. The only thing I've never had in there is a TV.

Since I redecorated, there's been just one clock radio by my bedside, with an auto-dimming soft blue display (Pure Siesta[1], if anyone's interested, highly recommended) and a charger for my Android phone, plugged in out of reach of my bed to avoid the temptation to check emails, websites, Twitter etc in bed. (Incidentally, I've also self-banned the radio station I work for from my bedroom. Too much temptation to tune in, check what's being broadcast, and being woken up by the voice of a co-worker is vaguely creepy. I always listen to other stations in bed.)

I'd highly recommend doing it, if you have another room to put your electronics. Lots of things on standby can create noise, flashing lights, glowing LEDs, mains hum, and it's not conducive to a good sleeping environment. A quiet space, disconnected from the distractions of the outside world, is essential for relaxation.

[1] http://www.pure.com/products/product.asp?Product=VL-60907...

corin_• 15 years ago

Personally I find books are just as capable of engagement as TV or the internet, and I actually have an iPad in my bedroom for the same logic as jgc has a kindle.

On it I have TV shows that I've seen many times (a few favourites such as The West Wing), to the point that I still enjoy watching them, but at the same time know what is about to happen. These are great for getting me to sleep, and because I'm not having to actively concentrate on what I'm reading, I can fall asleep as soon as I'm ready to, while the iPad plays on in the background - unlike a book, where I have to actively decide when to make the switch from reading to sleeping.

icebraining• 15 years ago

I don't get it, why not shut turn off the phone? Why keep it turned on all night? I've never had an Android (nor iPhone), but on my S60 I just set the alarm and turn it off. Checking the emails before sleeping would require turning it on, inputting the PIN, connecting, etc.

The Disconnected Bedroom

Related Stories