There is no better feeling than climbing into bed after a long, stressful day, snuggling into your doona and falling asleep, with the hope of the sweetest dreams and waking up recharged and refreshed.
We all know the doctors’ orders of 8 hours rest being the optimum amount your body needs to rest but did you know that many biological processes happen during sleep, the brain stores new information and gets rid of toxic waste, the body restores energy, repairs cells and nerve cells communicate and reorganise which promotes healthy brain function. Sounds important right? That’s because it is!
Unfortunately, not everyone is given the gift of sleeping easy, if I’m stressed or I eat too late I can be staring at the roof of my bedroom for hours on end doing my head in about not being able to sleep which just makes the whole process that much harder. While I know a top tip is to minimise your screen time before bed, I have also found some epic apps that have helped me to sleep through the night and fall into the sleep zone so fast that not being able to sleep is now a thing of the past.
There are a ton of apps out there, and these apps below can make it easier to fall asleep, wake up and monitor your sleep trends.
Check them out here and happy dreaming.
Meditation is a fantastic way to switch off before bed and release the stresses from the day. The app offers guided lessons on breathing exercises to relax the body, soundscapes like Rain on Window, Distant Ocean Surf and my all-time favourite Rain on Leaves. It even boasts sleep stories (some of which are narrated by Mathew McConaughey), it also has a sleep feature so you can put a timer on when your soundscapes and guided meds will finish. Though technically free it does only give you access to a limited number of soundscapes. I went for the yearly subscription which unlocked the entire library of masterclasses, hours of guided meditation and more than 120 sleep stories and let me tell you, it was the best $69.95 I’ve ever spent. Check out the free version for yourself before you commit, but honestly, it’s made sleeping my favourite time of the day all over again.
With over a billion sequences called “focus scapes,” this incredible app uses psychoacoustics (the psychological effects of sound) to help treat insomnia. Using a combination of sound effects, words and music Pzizz helps you to not only fall asleep but to re-energise and de-stress. For $9.99 a month you can unlock more soundscapes and also the focus module which is music designed to help you get more work done, get in the zone and be more productive during your day to day admin. Pzizz is your ticket to falling asleep and staying asleep.
Pillow is your smart sleep assistant, you can use it via your apple watch or by placing your iPhone on the mattress near your pillow (don’t forget to put your phone on sleep mode, you don’t want notifications buzzing through during the night). Pillow senses when you fall asleep by monitoring your movements, it also can record you so the app can tell if you snore or sleep talk and it will track your sleep in stages so you can see the periods where you are getting the deepest sleep each night plus it also finds the optimum time to wake you up. It’s an incredible app to track your sleeping habits and to give you the analytics you need to determine what is keeping you up. Did you skip a workout that day? Eat late in the evening? It’s educational while giving you back the power to track your sleeping patterns. For just $27.49 a year it’s well worth it.
Meditation has been shown to help people stress less, sleep better ad focus more throughout the day. Headspace is your guide to everyday mindfulness and it will help you to learn the gift of meditation in just a few minutes a day. There are meditation options on everything from physical health to managing stress and anxiety to sleep. It has all the flavours of spiritual meditation without the religious underpinnings you might come across if you were taking meditation classes or alike. With over 40 million users worldwide this app is simplifying meditation and teaching you the mindfulness skills you need to de-stress and engage in better sleeping patterns.