Pokémon Sleep is an annoying but effective way to wake up

Use I’ve been using Pokémon SleepI’ll be there for one week. It’s a game I hate, but it makes me feel better physically than in recent months. I suppose this is now my life.

It’s not that my sleep has improved; it’s that Pokémon SleepThe game encourages me to get up and start my day, instead of hitting the snooze until the very last second. Playing Pokémon SleepIt is a bit annoying, but I think it helps me to get up in the morning.

This is the premise Pokémon Sleep is that I’m helping a Pokémon researcher to track the sleep habits of various Pokémon. It means I’ll find a Snorlax every week and sleep right next to it. (In other words, I leave the app open on my phone while it’s face down next to my pillow as the Snorlax “sleeps” and I sleep.) When I wake up, I find that lots of other Pokémon have also come by to sleep next to the Snorlax, and I take pictures of each of their sleeping positions. After that, they wake up and I can give them treats in order to coax them into being part of my collection; once I’ve given them enough little biscuits or whatever, they join my crew, helping me collect berries that I can feed to Snorlax to increase its “Drowsy Power” (thereby encouraging more Pokémon to sleep nearby).

Image: The Pokémon Company

I have been tapping my phone a lot throughout the entire experience. First, I tap on sleeping Pokémon to take pictures of them before they wake up. Once that mindless chore is done and the Pokémon have woken up, I tap on them again to get them to give me berries for Snorlax. Once I have tapped on each berry, they will magically appear in a collection bucket. Why do I have to tap so many times during this process? I don’t know. It’s annoying. I’m not a fan.

It is still not finished. Snorlax needs to be tapped to prepare breakfast. You have to choose a dish and wait for it. Snorlax could be served for lunch or dinner, but I don’t have time to make that. Snorlax is lucky to get breakfast out of me, especially before I’ve had any myself!

Image: The Pokémon Company via Polygon

As if all of that weren’t enough phone-tapping for one morning, I then You can also find out more about us on our website. to tap through various menus to level up my Pokémon, as well as spend the sleep points that I’ve earned overnight to buy more treats and incense to lure more Pokémon into my clutches. By the time I’m done with all of that, it’s been five to 10 minutes, and I’m annoyed but also wide awake.

My sleep is the same as it’s ever been, except now I’m not dozing until I absolutely have to get up, because I’m too busy clicking on these stupid little Pokémon. That means I’m waking up on time to exercise before work starts — something I successfully did every single day last week, and again this morning. Since I’m unable to get motivated after work, I only exercise in the morning. The pull of my girlfriend and playing video games while cuddling on the couch becomes too great. Exercise in the morning is a great way to start the day.

Pokémon SleepDoes not track my sleep very well. It’s not a very good alarm clock, either. Fitbit, the wristband I wear, does an excellent job of tracking sleep and setting alarms (not to forget tracking my workouts, which were, up until very recently, more irregular). I tried Pokémon Sleep because I was curious about how it would stack up compared to other sleep apps I’ve tried (poorly), and also how it would hold up as a game (annoying but effective).

Playing is something I absolutely hate. Pokémon Sleep. But here’s the thing: Playing it wakes me up. I’m not happy that this is working. Exercise every day feels amazing. The feeling of playing is a lot more exciting than exercising Pokémon Sleep, but I can’t deny the impact.