The co-founder behind the revolutionary alarm clock isn’t immune to responding to Slack messages before breakfast.
You already know sleeping with your phone in arm’s reach is bad for your health. The blue light and microstress of reading emails before bed messes with your sleep — as do the text and social media notifications if you don’t sleep with your phone on airplane mode. If your phone serves as your current alarm clock, there’s a good chance that it’s the last thing you look at at night and the first thing you look at in the morning.
The solution to a healthier evening and morning routine? Using an actual alarm clock instead, and the ones by Hatch have become a cult-favorite in the wellness world. With options for both kids and adults, it’s more than an alarm clock. Instead of waking up to a blaring buzzer, the Hatch Restore nudges you awake with sunrise-mimicking light. (Eventually, birds will start chirping, too.) Or, you can choose to wake up to another sound, like the Gilmore Girls’ “La La Song” (new for fall) or “Coffee & Flannel” music.
There are wind-down routines too, like an emo sound bath or meditation. And that’s in addition to the library of sounds you can listen to while you sleep, like pouring rain, stormy sea, or pink noise.
RELATED: Listen to Noise for Better Sleep
Ann Crady Weiss is the co-founder and CEO of Hatch. She’s also a mom of three, wife, and venture capitalist. What does the morning routine look like for someone who reimagined the alarm clock? Here, she shares how she wakes up.
Before we get into how you spend your mornings, let’s talk about how you sleep. What settings do you use on your Hatch Restore 3?
Ann Crady Weiss (ACW): I have a reading light that goes on around 10:30 p.m., which is my signal that it’s time to chill and get ready for bed. I allow myself to still use my phone during this time. Then, I read for 20 minutes. After that, I transition to doing something that isn’t on my phone, which for me is [the Hatch+ Restore exclusive bedtime podcast] “The Nightly,” which features a bunch of comedians, and every night there’s a new episode. Once the episode ends, I go to sleep.
Do you sleep with your phone in another room?
ACW: I don’t! But I do keep it on my desk, which is at the other side of the room, so it isn’t in arm’s reach.
What time do you wake up?
ACW: My alarm goes off at 7:30 a.m. Right now, I have it on ‘90s nostalgia jams. It shuffles through six different ‘90s songs. Then, I wake up my 12-year-old so he’s up for school. I have three kids. My oldest has graduated from college. She’s actually home right now, but she does her own thing. I also have a 20-year-old, who is a sophomore in college. But my 12-year-old likes to be woken up in the morning, so I go get him up.
Walk us through your typical morning routine.
ACW: We just got a new puppy, a labradoodle who is so cuddly and wonderful. I just love him so much. He is the bougiest of bougie. My son takes the dog out while I make breakfast, and we eat together.
I generally make the same breakfast for my son and me every morning: Greek yogurt with a little bit of honey and some homemade granola that my mom makes. I like to put fresh fruit on mine, too, like raspberries, blueberries, and banana. After we eat, my son makes his lunch. We have a rule in our house where once you turn 10, you have to start making your own lunch.
I [also] make a cup of decaf coffee with half-and-half, which I have with my Greek yogurt.
Do you integrate any form of movement into your morning?
ACW: I do. Usually, it’s something that won’t make me super sweaty, like a short walk. We also have a Tonal, so I’ll do that if I don’t go for a walk. My son likes to use it, too. I try to do more cardio in the evening and then I’ll shower. But in the mornings, we’re moving and grooving, so I keep it easy.
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Since you work from home, when do you start tackling your to-do list?
ACW: Usually, I’ll wake up, go pee, take my medicine, and look at my emails all before I wake up my son. I actually look more at Slack than email because that’s more how we communicate at work. Besides email and Slack, I don’t check anything else on my phone. I don’t look at social media in the morning. At night, it’s a whole other story, but I don’t do it in the morning.
My desk is actually in my bedroom. My son walks to school with a friend, so once he’s out the door, I settle into work. The lines between home and work are very blurry for me. I often just wear something casual, like a tank top or sweater — whatever I happened to throw on. If I have any external meetings, I make a bit more effort. But typically, I’ll sit down, check Slack again, and get straight to work.
This conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.