Review:Zen Alarm Clock
From AJS.COM
Monday May 7, 2007 - Updated Monday, August 6, 2007
Review by Aaron Sherman - AJS Reviews
Overall: The best alarm clock I've ever used: 10 out of 10
The Zen Alarm Clock changed my life. No really. I was one of those people who always over-slept, and always got used to new alarm clock
s over time. That was ten years ago. Today, I always get up, even when I've had four hours of sleep. When it first goes off, it chimes once, and no reasonable person would wake up. Over the course of 10 minutes, it chimes ever-more-frequently, and eventually chimes every 4 seconds. However, over that period of 10 minutes you've been gradually brought to a state of wakefulness that resembles the way a good teacher will train you to end meditation. You're fully awake by the time you get up to turn it off, and though you might still be tired, you don't have to fight off the urge to simply close your eyes and keep sleeping. The only down-side is the price-tag, but knowing how well this worked for me, I'd pay twice as much today! The Zen Alarm Clock is one several next-generation approaches to alarm clocks, many others of which also show promise.
The hype
The only drawback of the Zen Alarm Clock is its hype. The company that sells it tries to push it as a sort of holistic medical tool, which makes it sound like some new age, crystal-powered gizmo. It's really not, but I have to admit that the new-agey hype around the Zen Alarm Clock was probably the biggest hurdle for me in purchasing one. In the end, I decided that a clock with a metal bell was just a clock with a metal bell, and I bought it anyway.
That said, there are applications of this clock to meditation. It's a useful tool for ending a meditation session at a particular time without ruining the relaxed state that you've achieved. Meditation's benefits are uncertain, but if you practice such techniques, this is the "egg timer" for you!
