Tech Tips and iPhone apps to improve your sleep

7 iPhone apps to improve your sleep

Do you want to fall asleep quickly, sleep soundly throughout the night and wake up feeling refreshed? We all do!

Sleep is our favorite topic here at A50, and apps on your iPhone can help you improve your sleep and sleeping habits. Everything from sleep timing to meditation before bed - the phone can be used to improve your sleep so you wake up refreshed. 

Here's a list of our favorite iPhone and Android apps to help you achieve a great night's sleep. 

Calm App

Apple selected the Calm App as their app of the year for 2017 so using this app, you know you're in good company. We've been using the Calm App for more than 3 years and love it. A late night meditation or Calm bedtime story can be just the ticket to a good night’s rest after a stressful day. Work or kids driving you nuts? Calming the mind and focusing on breathing in bed is a great way to relax and let go of the day. We love the Calm App which provides many free meditations and is one of Apple's recommended apps. Download for your iPhone and Android.

Bedtime

Guess what? The Clock app on your iPhone has a feature called Bedtime which is a little known secret! You set the time you want to wake up, how many of hours of sleep you want, and it chimes to remind you to go to sleep so that you don’t stay up binge watching Narcos on Netflix. :)

Onward

The smartphone app that is designed to make you use your smartphone less. This app was created with the goal of reminding people to maintain a tech-life balance. It works by monitoring your phone usage and helping you to cut down on on screen time. Reducing phone usage before bedtime is key to a better night's sleep. Download for iPhone. 

Sleep Cycle

This amazing high-tech app monitors your sleep via the built in microphone on your phone or tablet. It tracks the quality and duration of your sleep and lets you know how deep your sleep is during the night. This app has been featured in the NY Times, Wall Street Journal and Wired Magazine. Download for iPhone and Android. 

 

 Apple's Night Shift and Google's Night Light

Leading sleep experts advise that we should avoid looking at our phones before we go to bed. The reason for this is because the blue light that our phone screens emit tells our brains that it is still time for us to be awake. Apple’s “Night Shift” and Google’s “Night Light” are built in features that allow you to manually or automatically transition your phone’s screen to a warm yellow tone in order to help tell your brain that it’s time for bed soon. (images from Macrumors and Pocketnow)

 

Freedom

Get off social media before bed! Cutting out FB, Twitter and Instagram before bed is crucial to relaxing and sleeping well. Freedom allows you to set periods of the day where your phone doesn’t allow you to use certain apps and forces you to partially unplug. Download for iPhone. 

 

White Noise Generators

Tuning out background noise with this white noise generator can lead to a peaceful sleep. Whether it’s listening to a crackling fire or the hum of a fan the White Noise Generator by Relaxio or White Noise Lite helps provide comforting sounds to whisk you away into a blissful sleep. No more need to count sheep with this convenient noise app. Download for iPhone and Android. 

Lastly - we highly recommend that you disconnect from Social Media before bed! Social media keeps your brain fired up and will cut down on your sleep. We also recommend storing your phone away from your bed while you sleep, so you don't grab it to check your email while you're in bed or first thing when you wake up. These distractions disrupt your sleep rhythms and will prevent you from relaxing at night and sleeping soundly. 

 

 

More on our BLOG! 

- 5 tips to sleeping cool and reducing that AC Bill HERE. 
- Extra tips to relaxing before bed HERE.
- Why sleep is so important for your health HERE. 
- What to look for when choosing bedding HERE.