Everyone knows sleep is important for staying healthy and getting rid of toxins. However, it can be hard to fall asleep when you’re anxious about work. Since worrying about it is clearly not helping, let’s show you something that can help you.
There is more technology than ever that claims to help you sleep better. There are wake-up lights that simulate the sunrise and mattresses that use science to turn your body heat into healing heat. And let’s not forget meditation headsets that claim to relax you enough to help you fall asleep.
The trick is to use the data and technology in a way that helps you sleep better (because it can easily distract you and do the complete opposite). Experts say that about 30% of adults in the US already monitor their sleep using their smartphone or wearable technology. So how to make tech work for you? In this article, we will talk about just that – how tech—such as apps and sleep gadgets—can help you sleep like a log.
Five Apps to Help You Sleep
We’ve found the best sleep apps to send you happily off to dreamland. Here we go:
- Sleep Cycle: Sleep Cycle is a time calculator app that helps people manage their sleep cycles. With sound and vibration analysis, your phone’s built-in microphone picks up on your movements while you sleep. The app then looks at the data to figure out what stage of sleep you’re in and the best time to wake you up within the 30-minute window you set. It has features like ‘Fixed Wake-up,’ which lets users set their wake-up times. It also tells you when you should go to sleep. Its ‘Sleep Now’ feature tells you the best time to set your alarm clock so that you wake up feeling good.
- Headspace: Headspace is an excellent app for anyone who wants to try meditation or improve their current practice. Using this app before sleep can help you wind down and drift off faster and sleep better. The length of the meditations ranges from a few minutes to several hours. This is great in both cases – if you don’t have much time or have too much time. You can also choose between guided and unguided meditations to help you relax and feel less anxious.
- Calm: Calm is another app on our list of the best sleep apps that can help you relax. If you are fond of bedtime stories, then this app is perfect – people with calming voices, like Harry Styles, read bedtime stories to you – just navigate to the ‘Sleep Stories’ section. While only a few stories are free, if you pay for a subscription, you can access a massive collection of meditations and stories.
- Pzizz – Sleep, Nap, Focus: If your brain is buzzing with to-do lists and events of the day, this app is for you. It has a collection of music, sounds, and binaural beats to help you relax. Pzizz uses an algorithm to make a slightly different soundtrack every time you use it, but the tones are similar enough that your mind relates them with sleep. This helps you calm down and sleep.
- Digipill: Digipill is a digital pill that can help you sleep better, feel less stressed, lose weight, get more motivated, and relax. It uses a unique mix of language and audio to engage and stimulate your mind, change the way you think, and improve your health. Choose an audio pill based on what you need at the moment, put on some good headphones, and close your eyes. Your first pill is on the house. You can buy extra medicines at the in-app pharmacy, sign up for repeat prescriptions, and access all pills.
Five Gadgets to Help You Sleep
Even if you don’t always get seven to eight hours of sleep, you can use technology to make sure that the sleep you do get is of the highest quality. Here are a few things you can do to sleep better:
- Smart Nora: Smart Nora is a new way to stop snoring. You just need to put the expander under your regular pillow and tap the gadget before going to sleep. When you snore, a tiny microphone within the Smart Nora pebble picks up on the sound and tells the pillow spacer to inflate and deflate gently, which makes your pillow rise and fall. The slight movement of your head activates your throat muscles and gets your airways working normally again, preventing snoring and helping you sleep better.
- Balluga: Balluga has coupled a unique suspension system with modern technology to make it possible for everyone to construct their ideal sleeping environment. This bed will give you the best sleep you’ve ever had. You can adjust the firmness, heat, and position at night, preventing compression or sagging over time. It keeps you cool in the warmer months and warms up in the winter to get into a warm bed. It also has a light under the bed that comes on when you get out of bed.
- Koala Weighted Blanket: People who have trouble sleeping or feel anxious at night can get a lot of comfort from weighted blankets. The weighted blanket is similar to a regular blanket or quilt, but it is full of glass beads to make it feel thicker. The Koala Blanket is lightweight and breathable without being heavy, so you can use it all year round. The weight of the blanket makes it feel like a warm hug and helps you feel less stressed and calmer.
- Hatch Restore Clock: A loud alarm gets you out of bed with a cortisol rush, but it’s a stressful way to start the day. Sunrise alarm clocks, such as hatch restore, softly wake you up by releasing light that slowly brightens your room, like the Sun. The Hatch Restore also provides a relaxing routine with a sunset, pleasant music, and sleep noises. Sticking to a routine has proven to be the most efficient strategy for managing sleep problems.
- Moona: The Moona cooling system is a temperature-regulating gadget that consists of a pad that fits into your pillow and connects to a reservoir on your night table that cools and flows water. While it may not cool your entire body, it will efficiently cool your head. It’s like having the cool side of the pillow all the time, but without having to turn it. It is quite effective during the hot summer months, and with the fan set to run continuously, it can also function as a white noise machine. You can also program it to wake you up in the morning.
Do Not Disturb!
Many things can make or break our sleep at night. Some of it, like room temperature and white noise, are easy to change to our liking, while others are off-limits to us (street noise, neighbors).
In such cases, you can use technology to sleep better.
While sleep gadgets and apps can help, there is no quick fix or cure for sleep issues. If nothing else works, make an appointment with an expert.
