#1. Replace your beeping alarm with an Alexa music alarm
Why? Instead of fumbling around to turn off your alarm in the morning, just ask to Alexa to do it. Plus, it’s much nicer to wake up to your favorite morning music than to a beeping alarm clock.
How?
- “Alexa, set 6:45 am alarm”
- “Alexa, wake me up to Otis Redding at 7 am” (insert song or artist of your choice!)
- “Alexa, stop” to turn off the alarm in the morning
Pro Tip: Set a recurring alarm. “Alexa, wake me up to Bruce Springsteen every weekday at 7 am.”
#2. Turn off the bedroom lights when you're ready to hit the pillow
Why? When I say "Alexa, good night," she says "good night Katherine" and turns off my bedroom lights. It's really nice to be able to turn the lights off with just a few words.
How? Easily set up a bedtime Alexa routine that turns off your smart lights with any Alexa command you’d like.
Pro Tip: If you want to use Alexa to control your lights without the hassle of setting up smart lights, an Alexa plug is the answer. Compared to setting up smart lights, setting up an Alexa plug is a piece of cake.
#3. Play ambient sounds through your Echo speaker
Why? A lot of people can't fall asleep without some kind of ambient sound in the background. Alexa gives you a large selection of free sleep sounds — from a babbling brook to rain to simple white noise.
How? "Alexa, play thunderstorm sounds" or "Alexa, play rain sounds."
Pro Tip #1: Set a sleep timer. This will stop your ambient sounds from playing all night. Just say "Alexa, set sleep timer for 2 hours" to turn off your ambient sounds in 2 hours.
Pro Tip #2: Different ambient sounds turn off after different amounts of time. And some don't turn off at all unless you tell them to with an "Alexa, stop." So it’s always smart to set a sleep timer.
#4. Turn on do not disturb while you are sleeping
Why? There is an easy way to avoid middle-of-the-night surprise Alexa announcements: turn on do not disturb every night when you go to sleep. You really don’t need to know at 3 am that your paper towel delivery is expected to arrive tomorrow.
How? Schedule a nightly Alexa routine that turns on do not disturb.
Pro Tip: Do not disturb won’t interfere with your alarm. Don't worry, it will still go off.
#5. Awaken as the lights gradually come on in the morning
Why? It’s a peaceful way to wake up.
How? All you have to do is set up an Alexa routine that kicks off at your chosen wake up time and turns on the lights. I have it set up to turn them on gradually over 15 minutes.
Pro Tip #1: Set the lights to turn on before your music alarm goes off. You’ll feel more ready for your alarm if you’re already kind of waking up with the lights.
Pro Tip #2: If you have smart lights, you can use the new Wait feature to make your lights come up gradually. Just add multiple lighting actions at different brightness levels to your routine.
#6. Get your morning weather, news and traffic updates from Alexa
Why? Instead of pausing to check your phone, just ask Alexa as you’re pulling on your pant leg or washing your face.
How?
- “Alexa, what’s the weather?”
- “Alexa, what’s the news?”
- “Alexa, what’s the traffic?”
Pro Tip #1: Customize your news and traffic. Easily update your Alexa settings to choose your news sources and get the traffic update for your morning commute.
Pro Tip #2: Set up an Alexa routine to get this information with a single Alexa command. That way you can just say “Alexa, good morning” to get your morning update.
Pro Tip #3: You can also ask Alexa what’s on your calendar. It’s easy to link your calendar to Alexa.
Katherine Prescott is the Founder of VoiceBrew, a free weekly email that helps you get the most out of Alexa.
