Sleep is an integral part of the daily routine and has an impact on mental and physical health. Both the quantity and quality of sleep matters. Sleep difficulties revolve around inability to fall asleep, insufficient sleep, disturbed sleep, inability to stay asleep, etc.
A sleep app is a useful tool which can be used as relaxation or a way to track your sleep cycle. Recently, many sleep apps have emerged in the market. These apps range from ones that focus on tracking your sleep cycle to ones that provide meditation/sleep soundscapes. The best sleep soundscapes are ocean waves, rain and water sounds, binaural beats, nature sounds, meditation. Some apps will track how much time you spend in REM cycles.
The key to choosing the right sleep app for you is to first choose what kind of help you need – Is it difficult for you to fall asleep? Do you spend a long time in bed before falling asleep? Do you have trouble staying asleep (waking up multiple times)? Do you have frequent nightmares? Do you have many thoughts before going to sleep? Do you feel dissatisfied after waking up? After figuring out which aspect of sleep needs help, you can go ahead and choose the right kind of sleep app.
Following is the list of some sleep apps :
Lets Get Happi
Lets Get Happi is an app that offers a variety of meditation sounds such as body scan, Zen, Yoga Nidra, Restful Reverie, etc. This app also offers online counselling, journaling, self-assessment tests.
Calm
Calm is a famous and award-winning mindfulness app. It is available on IOS, Android and Desktop. Calm’s interface is very easy to use and it has different sections. The ‘Better Sleep’ section includes bedtime stories (for kids and adults) recorded by famous celebrities. The app also offers a variety of breathing and calming exercises. There is a limited free trial and then you need to pay monthly or yearly.
Sleep Cycle
The Sleep Cycle app offers guided meditations and sleep coaching programmes. This app also tracks your sleep patterns, coughs, snoring, sleep talking, and offers tips to improve your sleep quality. It also has a feature for an alarm to gently wake you up when you are in the lightest sleep phase.
Slumber
The Slumber app offers a combined experience of bedtime stories + meditation + sleep soundscapes to help the user to fall asleep faster.
Noisli
This app offers the user a variety of sleep soundscapes such as nature sounds, white noise, buzz of a coffee shop). The user can create their sleep playlist.
Loona
This app is used for relaxation and sleep. It is a combination of 3D coloring, interactive storytelling and meditative music.
Shuteye
This app works on an artificial intelligence algorithm. The AI analyzes the noises that you make in your sleep. This app doesn’t require a physical tracker on the user’s body. This app simply asks you to keep your phone on charge near you. It has been found effective in recording the time it takes you to fall asleep and the time spent in light and deep sleep. After continuous use of the app, the user will receive a sleep score, and will let you know if it’s within the normal range of the other users. Shuteye also offers smart alarm, white noise, sleep aids and dream analysis articles.
Sleep apps are an effective way of managing your sleep difficulties.