November 7, 2022

8 Apps to Help You Sleep Better

About Brookdale Senior Living

Sleep is important for many aspects of our health. Experts generally recommend seven to nine hours of Zzzs for adults each night, but good sleep isn’t always easy. In some studies, more than a third of Americans admitted to not getting enough rest.

"Sleep is important because it allows our bodies to recharge. Without enough sleep, our brains and bodies would not be able to function properly,” says Logan Foley, a sleep science coach and managing editor for SleepFoundation.org. She explains that as we get older, the quality of our sleep can deteriorate. This, she says, is often caused by our body's internal timekeeping system. “The body isn't able to process circadian rhythms efficiently, which causes older people to go to bed and wake up at earlier times,” adds Foley.

Sleep apps can serve as a great motivational tool to help track the quality and quantity of your sleep and potentially provide insight to your personal sleep data. Here are 8 sleep apps to consider:

Pzizz

Want some help falling asleep at night or a little assistance when looking to sneak in a daytime nap? This is what Pzizz was made for. It uses psychoacoustic principles, aka the branch of psychology that looks at the psychological effects of how humans perceive sounds. Pzizz aims to help you get to dreamland with a combination of recorded music, voiceovers and sound effects. There are even some sessions dedicated to helping you to improve your focus during the day.

Headspace

Meditation can have a variety of benefits for some individuals. In addition to helping with stress and anxiety, it can also help you to calm down and drift off to sleep. Headspace offers many types of meditations, including an entire section to do while lying in bed and preparing to fall asleep. These meditations are guided by a former Buddhist monk named Andy Puddicombe, who has a very soothing voice. Completely new to meditation? The app has an entire program dedicated to helping newbies find their Zen.

Sleep Sounds

Do you like falling asleep to soothing sounds? This app may replace your white noise machine. From cats purring to heavy rain to the night sea, you’ll find a variety of soothing sounds within the Sleep Sounds app. You’ll also have fun trying out some of the app’s more unusual sounds, like heavy thunder, wind in an open door, London train station, and a unicorn music box.

Sleep Reset

Think of Sleep Reset as a sleep clinic inside an app. It includes sleep-inducing strategies that are based on cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia. Users have the option to receive an in-depth sleep assessment from a professional, take lessons on sleep science, review sleep data and patterns that the app can track, listen to guided sleep meditations, partake in sleep-oriented exercises, and even connect to a sleep coach.

Slumber

Want to fall asleep to a bedtime story? Slumber offers sleep meditations, bedtime stories (including some led by therapeutic hypnotist Dan Jones), and music and soundscapes that can help you to unwind from a long day. You can also listen to immersive stories with guided imagery or calming music that makes you feel like you’re walking over leaves in a crisp autumn forest.

Calm

How does falling asleep to a story narrated by Academy Award-winning actor Matthew McConaughey or singer Michael Bublé sound? This app is known for its bedtime tales that pair soothing voices with calming music—and it has many famous narrators to choose from! It typically opens with a prompt to “take a deep breath” and then offers a variety of meditations to try out. The library is extensive, so it’s unlikely you’ll ever run out of creative ways to help you hit the hay.

Sleep Cycle

If you’re looking for an analysis of how well you sleep, this app may help you get started. Place your smartphone near your bed and this app monitors how much you move in your sleep, when you’re still, if you snore, and more. It can also tell you all sorts of fun facts like the best possible time to wake up in the morning based on your personal sleeping patterns. Sleep Cycle works to teach users about their sleep quality, heart rate, how much time they spend in bed, as well as what time they typically fall asleep and wake up.

SnoreLab

Keeping your partner up at night by sawing logs? This snoring management app may be able to help. SnoreLab tracks your snoring and can give you a whole host of fancy statistics to know about your snoring situation. It will also give you information about what causes snoring as well as solutions to try that may be able to help you to become less of a snorer. Less snoring generally equals better sleep, for both you and whoever you share your bed with!

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