The Hatch alarm clock wakes you with light instead of a blare, from a company that started with baby sleep. Here are the Restore 3 and its siblings with the sleepbuds, silk and bedtime rituals I pair with them.
Hatch Alarm Clock and the Rest of a Calmer Bedtime
Ann Crady Weiss and her husband Dave Weiss, who met at BabyCenter, co-founded Hatch in 2014 as Hatch Baby, after Ann's long nights awake with her first baby and Dave's ongoing insomnia. They drew on strategies from cognitive behavioral therapy, and the first hit was Hatch Rest, a nightlight, sound machine and time-to-rise light for kids; the company pitched on Shark Tank in 2016. Adults wanted in, and Hatch Restore, the grown-up version, made Time's Best Inventions of 2020. Today the Hatch alarm clock, a sunrise alarm that brightens gradually before your wake time, has become a bestseller among teens and young adults, which says a lot about how tired everyone is of waking to a phone. The Restore 3 in Putty combines light, sound and a wind-down routine, the Sleep Clock is the bedside clock version, Hatch Baby is the original for nurseries, and Hatch Go is a portable sound machine for travel. Keep your phone out of the bedroom and let the clock do the job.
Four sleep tools
Ozlo was co-founded by three former Bose employees who acquired the original Bose Sleepbuds patents and research after Bose left the category, and its Sleepbuds mask snoring and traffic for side sleepers. Key Kawamura and Ali Ganjavian of Studio Banana created the Ostrichpillow in 2012 after someone put their head through the neck of an old sweater on a studio table, and the Embrace is the brand's heating pad. Canopy's first product was a bedside humidifier, and it develops its devices with a cosmetic dermatologist; the portable version helps with dry winter air. Slip, started by Fiona Stewart after a dermatologist suggested silk while she was on acne medication, makes the silk sleep mask.
Silk, a soak and a candle, and the skip
Slip launched in 2004 as the first silk pillowcase marketed as a beauty product, and it is still a family-owned business in Brisbane. Clelia Angelon founded Surya Brasil in 1995 after discovering henna in Chandigarh, India, and the muscle relief soak is an easy pre-bed bath. Shore Magic's Beauty Sleep pairs its collagen with magnesium and L-theanine and is melatonin-free, and Maison Louis Marie, which began with candles Marie du Petit Thouars mixed in her own kitchen, makes L'Etang Noir. What I would skip is falling asleep with a candle lit. Blow it out when you turn off the lights, and check any supplement with your doctor.
A pillowcase, a soak, a powder and a candle
A calmer bedtime
Set the same wake time every day, weekends included. Dim the lights an hour before bed and start a slower routine. Keep the room cool, dark and quiet, and put the phone on a charger across the room. If you still struggle to sleep for weeks, talk to your doctor, since insomnia is treatable. A clock helps, but habits do most of the work.
