Hey, parents, when was the last time you slept until you woke up, naturally, without an assist from kids or alarm clocks? For me, the answer is yesterday, and it was such a rare occasion that I had to reflect on it. From the birth of my oldest child thirteen years ago, until this week, I guess there have only been a handful of such days. When the kids were younger, there were the usual disruptions — crying infants, toddlers terrified of the closet, bouts of barfing, kids that had to be coaxed out of bed on schooldays but pounced on your chest at 6 AM on weekends.

As the kids aged out of nocturnal nuttiness, I rediscovered exercise, but our busy schedules required that I get my workouts in before the sun rose, even on weekends. So days when I awake naturally are extremely rare. As I’ve struggled to regain a bit of health, well-being, and lose weight, I’ve read quite a bit on the subject. Tons of the research in this area indicates the importance of sleep. Loss of sleep leads to all sorts of health problems and contributes weight gain.

I struggled mightily to roll my bedtime back from 11:30 to 10:45, but I still have a hard time making myself wrap things up and head for bed. The alarm goes off at 5:15 on long run days and 5:45 at the latest. Averaging just over six hours a night. Not good.

I can do better, and I’ve turned to the internet to get help. TechCrunch pops up in my feed reader fairly often and it was from that bunch that I first read about the Lark. The Lark is an alarm and sleep measurement gadget that works with your iPhone to not only wake you up, but to improve the quality of your sleep. It retails for $129. The sleeper downloads an iPhone app, wears the watch-size sensor, and hits the hay.

For the last two years, I’ve jerked out of sleep and spasmed to turn off the alarm before it awakened my snoozing spouse. The value of the Lark is apparent the first time the lightly buzzing wrist unit quietly wakes you. My morning runs are now guilt free. Be warned, the oscillator in the device is a bit buzzy — certainly less noisy than an alarm clock, but possibly capable of awakening a nearby light sleeper.

When the alarm is turned off via the iPhone app, the sleeper is presented with the night’s data: time spent asleep, number of awakenings during the night. You’re even get a grade — I’m mostly OK, with a Fair or Poor mixed in.  I’ve logged only one Very Well. After a week of data is collected, users are treated to full-blown analysis of their sleep quality. This analysis is available on an ongoing basis for users that pony up a subscription see of about $60 a year.

The report is a bit cookie cutter, though cleverly written (even referencing the Meyes-Briggs personality type it so resembles). There are concrete take-aways that I am trying to put in place — more consistent bed times, darker bedroom.  Data junkies like me will love this thing, for the geek factor and the spouse pleasing potential.

My quality of sleep has also been improved by my Sleep Number Pillow. No, I don’t have a Pillow Number, but my head-holder is highly customized. Purchasers of this pillow system choose an inner core, an outer core and a cover. I’m a side sleeper with allergies (including an allergy to feather down), so I chose a memory foam core, an anti-microbial silver infused down alternative for the outer layer, and the In Balance temperature regulating cover. The result is a nicely firm and supportive pillow, and this temperature regulation feature is amazing. Somehow this pillow feels like it’s ten degrees cooler than the room when you lie down, and I’ve never since awakened to flip the pillow for the cooler side. It seems that the cover conducts and dissipates the heat energy.

Even though vacation has helped my sleep overall, I pine for my Sleep Number Pillow. No a/c here on Cape Cod, and I would love to put the temperature regulation to the test. Being away from my pillow has been proof positive how much I love it. If I had to pay for the pillow (Sleep Number provided me a pillow to test), it would set me back $169 — which seems pretty high for a pillow. I wouldn’t give you mine for that much, so you’ll need to give your money directly to Sleep Number.

Overall, I am liking what the Lark and the Sleep Number Pillow are doing for my nights.