A good night’s sleep is a tricky thing to accomplish. It always seems that no matter how hard you try to sleep at the perfect time, you don’t actually turn out the lights till much later. This is a huge problem for those of us that rely on a good night’s sleep to power through another day of deadlines, meetings, and computer screens. You’ve done everything from eating dinner earlier to drinking a warm glass of milk every night, but maybe the trick to sleeping better can be found through a new kind of sleep aid.
While there are plenty of debates circling the negative effects of sleeping next to your phone, there’s actually a growing number of sleep management apps. These apps range in function from providing you with meditative soundtracks to monitoring how much you move at night. But all of these apps are aimed at improving your ability to sleep well at night and for that, it’s worth trying!
Here are the 5 best sleep apps to help you wake up feeling refreshed and ready to conquer the day:
- Pillow – Pillow is a simple sleep tracking app that comes with a customizable smart alarm that tracks how many hours of sleep you’ll get depending on what time you turn on the alarm. It also tracks your movement at night to determine how long you are in REM, deep sleep, and light sleep. It then takes this information to show you which nights you slept the best and worst. Another added bonus is a wide variety of nicer sounding alarms to pick and choose from.
Works with iOS - Sleep Genius – This app combines high-technology sound bites to create the best sounding background noise to help you fall asleep better. It allows you to decide whether you want the sound to be played continuously or to turn off at a certain time. Its alarm system is also designed to help you wake up easier with 5 minute “Revive Cycles” that will awaken you gradually instead of abruptly.
Works with iOS and Android - Sleep Time – Sleep Time tracks your sleep cycle based on how much you move to determine when is the best time to wake you up in the morning. After you move from a deep sleep to a light sleep and a certain amount of hours have passed, Sleep Time will set off your alarm during your lightest sleep phase so that you wake up feeling energized and not tempted to go back to sleep. It also provides soundscapes to help soothe your mind and make falling asleep an easier task.
Works with iOS and Android - SleepBot – SleepBot prides itself in being the easiest sleep app you’ll ever use. It comes with a simple time log or comprehensive sleep tracker. It records sound levels to measure if you were restless at night due to higher noise levels. This app also has a smart alarm that wakes you up at the best possible moment in your sleep cycle. Another great feature is its ability to record your sleep pattern over a long period of time to determine if your sleep is improving or not.
Works with iOS and Android - Sleep As Android – This app helps you track your movement at night including snoring and sleep talking as well as wakes you up during the best possible moment in your sleep cycle. It also includes a solution to falling back asleep right after turning of your alarm. Sleep As Android requires you to perform a task such as solve a math equation before you can dismiss the alarm forcing you to wake up. Sleep As Android also includes lullabies to help you fall asleep and a useful powernap feature to help you take the most efficient nap.
Works with Android
If you’re finding it increasingly harder to get a good night’s sleep and your productivity is suffering because of it, try using one of these 5 sleep monitoring phone apps. All of them come with great resources to show you just how well you sleep at night or didn’t and come with alarms that will work better for you.
Bonus app: if you’re looking for ways to take care of those friends or family members that always seem to call you in the middle of the night, try out YouMail! We have a status voicemail greeting that lets callers know you’re sleeping among other features to let callers know you’re unavailable. Check us out here!