Turn Your Phone Into a Sleep Aid Instead of a Sleep Interrupter
Did you know that your phone can help you get a better, deeper night’s sleep? Used correctly, your phone becomes your best sleep aid because it can do so much. There are apps to help you fall asleep, stay asleep, and even monitor how well you’re sleeping through the night.
Unfortunately, phones are often the enemy of sleep, and not just because the phone is your morning alarm clock. Many people find themselves flipping through social media or watching videos instead of falling asleep at a reasonable time. Your sleep may be interrupted by friends sending messages past bedtime. Even the glowing screen can wake you up if it decides to light up in the middle of the night.
Make sure you’re getting a good night’s rest by adding some of the tools that help, rather than hinder, your slumber. Below are five awesome sleep apps for your smartphone, presented to you by Naturally Fall Asleep Fast.
Replace Work with Bedtime Stories
Thanks to the portability of smartphones, you can continue working long after you’ve left the office. Unfortunately, many people find themselves checking spreadsheets or emails well into the night, which can disrupt your circadian rhythm. So, instead of opening up your inbox, open up the Calm app and set your phone face-down as you fall asleep. WLOS notes the Calm app features tons of meditations and bedtime stories for adults or children read by people with soft, soothing voices. Grownup bedtime stories will help you relax your mind for bed in a way that cat videos never could!
Hold Your Calls for Some Soothing Music
The National Sleep Foundation points out that your brain continues to register noise, even when you’re snoozing. If you tend to suffer from interrupted sleep – either naturally or because your friends are up and messaging at all hours – you can change that. Start by muting your ringer and turning off vibrate. You don’t need to answer random texts during your beauty sleep!
Then, to keep out local sounds that might wake you, use Relax Music or the Headspace app to generate a soothing soundscape for your sleep. White noise or gentle music can help to drown out distracting sounds in your home or neighborhood so that you can sleep deeply without interruption. To help fully eliminate external noise, consider using a wireless speaker that connects to your phone and offers a comfortable sound level.
Ring That Alarm at Just the Right Moment
We often learn to hate the sound of our alarm clock because it always seems to ring right in the middle of a great dream. What this means is that your alarm is going off at the worst possible time in your REM cycle, when you are most likely to wake up groggy and disoriented. However, apps like Sleep Cycle and Sleep Genius are designed to analyze your sleep and wake you up during the shallow sleep phase of your REM cycle, when you are most likely to wake up feeling refreshed and energetic.
Remember Your Dreams and Learn Lucid Dreaming
Grabbing your phone first-thing can wipe away any residual memory of your sweet dreams, unless you take a moment to do a little app-based dream journaling. Capture not only includes some cool dream recording features, but it also provides some neat sounds and techniques to help you train yourself to lucid dream. Lucid dreaming is when you realize you are dreaming and then, rather than waking up, you take control of your dream for a little reality-free fun.
Are you ready to transform your phone from a sleep-hindrance into an amazing sleep aid? All you need is a high-performing phone and a few finely tuned sleep apps to create endless nights of uninterrupted sleep. Take that tool in your pocket to the next level, and enjoy a better quality of life as a result.
