Great Apps to Help You Fall Asleep
Every Monday morning, you arise peacefully, feeling energized and ready to start your week. You are unfamiliar with your alarm’s snooze function, having never used it. (You certainly wouldn’t be able to enable it without even opening your eyes.) Indeed, you probably don’t even use an alarm at all, because you always wake up naturally, when your body is ready.
Does this sound like you? Congratulations! You are already great at sleeping and have no further need for this article. Just so you don’t feel as though you’ve wasted your time, here’s a gif of a bunch of early birds that have just as much pizzazz as you do.
If you think there's no way you could ever get up bright and early and be excited about it, and you want to learn how to feel less like a zombie in the morning, then please do read on.
Getting enough sleep is something that many of us struggle to prioritize, despite the many negative effects of failing to do so. If you think you need a little help getting your sleep patterns on track, check out some of these apps that aim to eradicate chronic fatigue and ensure that you never sleep badly again.
Don’t send mixed signals
If you spend most of your day looking at a screen, it's possible that this is messing with your circadian rhythm and preventing you from falling asleep at the right time. Download Twilight on your Android phone (free), and set it to activate its LED filter as soon as the sun goes down. This will block out blue light from your phone that could otherwise confuse your body and keep you awake.
iPhone users running iOS 9.3 (or a more recent version) can achieve a similar effect with the Night Shift function in their phone’s settings. You can use the function to block blue light between certain hours, or whenever the sun is down.
Respect your bedtime
Now that you’re a grownup and your mother doesn’t dictate your bedtime, you may need another authority figure who will. That’s where your phone comes in. Android users can download SleepyTime: Bedtime Calculator (free), which will tell them when to go to bed, depending on how many sleep cycles they hope to catch.
If you use an iPhone and are running iOS 10, a similar function will already be available in your Clock app. With it, you will be able to input your desired bedtime (which you’ll have to calculate yourself), and the time you wish to wake up at. The app will send you a notification to remind you to go to bed on time, and will set an alarm for you in the morning.
Demand a lullaby
Is simply hitting the hay at the right time not enough to get you snoring? It might be time for a little auditory help. You can try listening to white noise – soothing sounds that can be layered to create the ultimate relaxing symphony. Plenty of Android users swear by Atmosphere (free), which allows you to choose from dozens of sounds, grouped into collections with names like countryside, forest, urban, and beach. Set a sleep timer and let yourself drift off to the sounds of rowboats, rain, and/or roosters.
If whale sounds and Chinese flutes won't cut it, another great option is guided meditation, which is like bedtime stories for adults. Both Android and iPhone users can download Relax Melodies: Sleep Sounds for free, and listen not only to calming sounds, but also to guided meditation courses to help them use mindfulness to fall alseep.
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Have you tried all these apps and still can't sleep? Read our doctor's tips for dealing with insomnia.
Want to relax when you fly? Check out our guide to dealing with flight anxiety.