Ten top sleep apps
30 day sleep challenge day 28: Sleep apps
#8anight
Sleep cycle
‘Waking up made easy’ . Using your phone’s accelerometer to record your sleeping habits, sleep cycle tracks your sleep through the night to ensure it wakes you at the best point for optimal rest. You set the window of time you would like to be woken in (within a 30 minute period) and the alarm will wake you at the lightest phase in your sleep cycle. Your data is stored on the app so you can monitor how well (or not) you are sleeping.
Sleepio
This six week sleep improvement program designed by sleep experts features the latest Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) techniques to help you fall asleep faster, stay asleep through the night and feel better during the day. The whole course takes place on the app (or you could do it on your iPad or computer). Each weekly 20 minute session is led by ‘The Prof’ who talks through techniques personalised to you. Between the sessions you are advised to keep a sleep diary to help track your progress and you are sent regular reminders to keep you motivated. The app is £14.99 a week for weekly course sessions (which you can cancel at anytime), or you can pay £99 for the full CBT course and 12 week’s support.
Pzizz
Using a combination of music, words, sound effects and binaural beats, Pzizz claims to be the solution to insomnia and helps the user de-stress and re-energise. Whether it is a full night’s sleep or a restorative power nap you’re looking for, Pzizz allows you to set your listening time (between 10 minutes and 10 hours) and generates a unique sleeping soundtrack for you. All music and sounds are taken from their library and the user is able to adjust volume levels, sound effects and vocal tracks to achieve their perfect sound. With over 10 billion possible combinations of audio, there is no worry about the app repeating itself in the near future.
White noise app
White noise has a whole host of benefits; it blocks out distractions, relaxes and reduces stress, increases focus while enhancing privacy, soothes headaches and migraines and masks tinnitus. Even when sleeping, the brain is constantly listening for sounds and if it is too quiet, unwanted outside noises can disturb your sleep. The white noise app has over 40 perfectly looped sounds including air conditioning, beach waves, brown noise and white noise. The advanced alarm and timer system slowly fades the audio in and out so you wake feeling more refreshed.
Relax and sleep well by Glenn Harrold
Clinical hypnotherapist Glenn Harrold will help to clear your head and soothe you to sleep with the 27 minute hypnotherapy session which promises to ‘take you on a relaxing journey into the deepest levels of self-hypnosis’.
F.lux iOS
Twilight Android
F.lux and Twilight work to reduce the impact of blue light through automatically adjusting the colour temperature of your screen. They will adapt your phone’s display to the current time — warm at night and bright like the sun in the day thus working with your circadian rhythm and the light in your natural environment.
Sleep genius
The most scientifically designed sound program created. Following decades of research to algorithms have been developed to trigger the brain to help you fall asleep more quickly, more deeply and for longer. Developed by neuro, sleep, sound and music scientists from research to help astronauts to get to sleep, the program helps prepare your brain for sleep and guide it through each stage in the sleep cycle and then wake you with a gentle alarm. It claims to be particularly good for sleep deprivation.
My Yoga Guru iOS
Yoga Guru Android
Using Hatha yoga techniques, My Yoga Guru and Yoga Guru guide the user through poses and techniques. The combination of meditation stress reduction techniques and consistent exercise aim to improve sleep patterns and quality.
Relax melodies
A relaxing sound generator which allows the user to create and save a sleep mix through selecting sounds and music suited to them.
Universal Breathing — Pranayama Free iOS
Pranayama Breathing Pro Android
Pranayama breathing is engineered to teach your body how to breathe properly by training your lungs to breathe at their full capacity. The apps allow you to focus on your breathing technique. Health benefits include falling asleep faster, reduced blood pressure, headache and migraine releif and lowering stress levels and boosting moods.
