Photo: Instagram @pavlok.
Morning workouts always seem like a good idea until your alarm clock goes off. That’s when you realize how warm and cozy your bed is, how “restless” you slept last night, and how long the day ahead of you is going to be. The snooze button on your alarm clock (aka iPhone for most) is a godsend, and it’s simply too easy to just keep pushing off your workout until, oops, you have to go straight to work.
Well, thankfully, someone came up with a way to prevent you from oversleeping ever again. The Pavlok wrist-shocking wearable alarm band wakes you up with a nice jolt of energy. Literally. The Shock Clock (which was launched on Indiegogo this spring) links to your smartphone. You set your alarm through the app, and when the morning comes, the wristband zaps you awake.
Sound like torture? Maybe. Is it effective? Probably.
The thing is, once you’ve been hit with a zap of energy, there’s really no turning over and going back to bed. You can’t just gently drift back to sleep after a wakeup call like that. You’re slightly confused and definitely scared, and there’s no place for drowsiness with a combination of those two. Also, for those who aren’t quite into being actually shocked, there’s a vibrate setting as well.
The company claims that since your brain actively avoids pain, after a couple days of a shock wake up call, you’ll begin to wake up just before your alarm is set all on your own. If you set your alarm for 6:00 am for a couple days, you’ll naturally open your eyes at 5:58 or so. The company claims that this is your “reptilian brain” protecting you from imminent pain.
The company is of course named “Pavlok” after Russian psysiologist Ivan Pavlov who studied how conditioning shapes behavior patterns in dogs. The name is meant to invoke the idea of forced conditioning.
The company’s original wearable device, Pavlok’s wristband, released in 2014, is designed to help wearers break bad habits. Using the compatible app, you could program the device to shock you whenever you skip a workout, check social media too much, etc. The pain induced by bad habits helps condition your brain to prefer good habits.
The full wristband retails for $199, but the simpler Shock Clock can be yours for just $129. Quite a bargain for your morning dose of pain, if you ask me.
