Ive sucked at sleeping for a decade. The Hatch Restore 3 makes bedtime feel less chaotic, but its not a cure-all.

The fact that there are people who can simply fall asleep when they're tired is mind-blowing to someone who's had serious trouble sleeping for over a decade. (Like, what do you mean you just go to bed at night?) After years of feeling like a zombie 24/7, relaying the same story to different doctors, and feeling resentful when someone in my life casually takes a nap, I've developed a serious "that won't work on me" attitude about most sleep products.

At the risk of sounding like I'm trying to win the insomnia competition, that's all just background on why I roll my eyes at trendy melatonin gummies or sleepy teas. So I'm kind of shocked that a Hatch alarm clock — perhaps the mother of all viral sleep products — is actually somewhat helping me wind down at night.

What does a Hatch alarm clock do?

The Hatch Restore 3 is a premium sunrise alarm clock that's also a sound machine and color-changing lamp. Sunrise alarm clocks use gradual brightening light to signal to our body that it's time to wake up, promoting a more natural transition out of sleep than being jolted awake by an annoying siren.

But the Hatch Restore 3 acts like just as much of a sunset alarm clock. Our bodies respond similarly well to light cues to get sleepy at night, and the bulk of Hatch's features actually come into play the evening before. If you have the paid subscription, the Restore 3 provides a ton of calming wind-down entertainment content like bedtime stories and podcasts to keep you from craving phone stimulation before bed.

Sleep is second nature for some, but I have to hone it like a skill

OK, but what about the people who... don't really get sleepy at night?

I don't know what I did to so royally cook my circadian rhythm and nervous system, but it's not just that I don't necessarily get tired at night — it's that my mind is also wired at night. And scrolling too late is just a fraction of my issue. There are nights when I effortlessly don't look at my phone for an hour or two before bed, but only because I randomly got the motivation to scrub my bathtub at 11 p.m. To be fair, I only got in the habit of squeezing tasks in while I'm "up" because I spent years trying to stick to a "normal" bedtime, lying awake until the wee hours of the morning (often not sleeping at all), regardless of if I was physically exhausted.

The ~night owl~ thing was a silly little quirk in high school and college. But nowadays, my late-night brain activity is now spiked with adult worries that weren't on my radar back then: Health anxiety, productivity anxiety, and general state of humanity anxiety are the big ones, all floating alongside anxiety about not being able to sleep. I'm not sure how much of my insomnia stems from severe racing thoughts, but it's unsustainable now.

I spent months using my insatiable late-night need to Google everything in the world to figure out how to get myself back on track. It became clear that making my room pitch dark and 68 degrees wasn't enough. I needed to start being just as strict with my sleep routine as I was with my skincare routine or cleaning routine. Part of that just requires the discipline to get my non-negotiables done earlier, but I was curious about whether a sunrise alarm clock could help my schedule (or lack thereof) feel less overwhelming.

The Hatch Restore 3 is helping me romanticize routine

Up until a few months ago, I would have died on the hill that a sound machine was no better than letting an eight-hour YouTube video of rain sounds play out of your phone. But after having the Hatch Restore 3 on my nightstand, I'll vouch for the Hatch experience being much different than simply using my phone.

First, I have to note that the Restore 3's speaker quality is divine. Sounds are velvety smooth without the faint crackle that you hear with an iPhone speaker, and there's never a harsh cutoff between sound loops. But the audio quality is hardly the most important difference — it's the whole pre-sleep routine that the Hatch inspires.

My favorite Hatch feature is the "cue to unwind." Every night at 10:30, my Hatch automatically starts glowing and playing dreamy music. I use "Lavender Sky," the average ambient tune that sounds like something you'd hear at the massage studio, plus a matching light that flickers between purple and blue. The human brain really likes repetition — repeated actions are how we form a habit that feels subconscious, not forced.

I clearly struggled to start my bedtime process at a decent hour on my own, so the Restore 3's cue to unwind has been a helpful tangible reminder that it's time to start chilling out. The sound and light combo makes me want to be responsible and read instead of immediately opening TikTok when I get in bed. Any mental chatter that I need to remember (an idea for work, a chore, a text I need to send, even a new outfit brainstorm) gets written down by hand in a notebook instead of my Notes app. Then, it's up to my self-control to actually save those tasks until tomorrow.

Like unwind cues, Hatch sleep routines can involve whatever combination of sound and light that helps you doze off. (The sound options are different, though.) I opt for thunderstorm sounds or "shower in the next room." One press of the big top button shifts your Hatch from unwind to sleep mode.

There are a ton of free sunset routines that gradually dim the clock's light to help lull you to sleep. Sleep routine duration can be set to last for a few minutes, a few hours, a full day, or just until you tap the clock. I feel like the whole sunset thing isn't that helpful if you use a sleep mask, so I've actually been utilizing the sunset sleep routines while I'm still awake and trying to get tired.

It's a bummer that the Hatch Restore 3 isn't waterproof. The cozy lighting would be much more valuable in my bathroom when I'm showering and self-caring. All of my steps take forever, and the harsh bathroom lighting certainly isn't conducive to mellowing out.

In the morning, the gradual sunset starts five minutes to an hour before your alarm goes off. It slowly brightens while shifting between orange and peach tones — it's kind of dull in my room that gets a lot of sun in the morning, but it probably hits so hard in a dark room. I appreciate that the alarm sound fades in instead of hitting at full volume immediately. The bird chirps are a cute touch.

Isn't this all just stuff you could do without a $170 alarm clock?

When all of the premium features come at an extra monthly cost, the Hatch Restore 3 feels a bit overpriced — especially considering many of its features can be replicated with less expensive devices. Smart lightbulbs could be set to turn a certain color at a certain time. It's not hard to find a dedicated sound machine for $40 or $50, or a cheaper sunrise alarm clock in general. If you're most concerned with staying off your phone before bed, you could just buy a Brick for $59.

Can you use the Hatch Restore 3 without a subscription?

Yep, you can technically get full use out of the Hatch Restore 3 without paying extra (that's what I do). Free audio options include 40+ sleep sounds and 20+ alarms spanning nature sounds, color noises, fans and other humming appliances, and soothing lo-fi beats. There are definitely enough options for my needs, mostly because I don't care enough to pay for anything more elaborate. But without the ability to filter out Hatch+ exclusive sounds in the app, it does get frustrating to see a lock on nearly every sound you swipe past.

The paid Hatch subscription costs $4.99 per month or $49.99 per year. Aside from the larger sound library, Hatch+ unlocks access to a ton of sleep content like sound baths, bedtime podcasts, guided meditations, and audiobook snippets. So, without paying for Hatch+, you're losing out on most of the entertainment options that were supposed to help build your phone-free nightly routine.

Hatch+ also gatekeeps many more alarms than sleep sounds. Most genres of music (grunge, '90s and "Hatchstreet Boys," elegant instrumentals, etc.), anything seasonal, and meditation shuffles are all locked. Maybe you've seen a Hatch ad involving a celebrity recording a funny or inspirational wakeup call — yep, locked. The celebrity ones might be mildly amusing the first few mornings, but hearing the same voice yapping about how it's going to be a great day feels like severely unserious long-term alarms.

The actual sunrise part needs a relatively dark room

You may not be able to take full advantage of the Hatch Restore 3's actual sunrise sequence if your room gets blindingly bright in the morning, or if you wear a sleep mask.

Since all of the blinds in my apartment are borderline worthless, I sleep with a black t-shirt over my eyes. (I can't stand a sleep mask strap.) Even though it's not attached to my head, I usually wake up with it repositioned to block out morning light. So am I really getting the full effect of the gradual rosy glow that comes on before my alarm goes off? Doubtful.

My coworker Samantha Mangino, who also has a Hatch Restore 3, made an interesting point: She wishes that it had a normal alarm sound. Hatch is so set on waking you up gently that it doesn't consider heavy sleepers who want to try the sunrise function, but need a noise less gentle than wind chimes.

Is a Hatch alarm clock worth it?

If you always feel chaotic at bedtime or upon waking up, the Hatch Restore 3 could be really helpful in getting your rest routine under control. You'd be surprised at how much stress is simply coming from being scared awake by a blaring phone ringtone.

The nightly unwind cues automatically create the relaxing environment that you may have been struggling to create for yourself. My decade-long inability to sleep at a normal time has hardly been cured by scheduled ambient sound and lighting, but the Restore 3 has made me take my bedtime routine more seriously — successfully leading to dozing off a tiny bit earlier on some nights. Is that worth $170? Maybe, if other sleep products haven't been effective.

But a Hatch alarm clock can only build the phone-free routine it claims if you're making a conscious effort to stay off your phone — or if you're paying for Hatch+. The gradual dimming light won't magically knock you out if you're still on TikTok in bed, and most pre-sleep anti-phone entertainment is exclusive to the $4.99 per month subscription. If you don't want to pay for Hatch+, you'll need to be strict about sticking to screen-free entertainment when your unwind cue comes on. Otherwise, a $170 alarm clock won't be much more than a color-changing lamp on your nightstand.