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Do you have trouble sleeping? Well, you’re not on your own. According to the NHS, one in three people in the UK have difficulty getting a good night’s kip.
It can be frustrating, can’t it? I’ve tried counting sheep, avoiding caffeine late on in the day and various breathing exercises but still, no luck.
So, I recently trialled out some sleeping apps to see if the power of technology could help me get a good, well-deserved sleep. Here are the sleep apps I used:
- Sleepmaker Rain
I know what you’re thinking. I was a bit sceptical about this app too; how can the sound of rain help you drift off? Well, it does work. I’ve used Sleepmaker Rain a few times now, testing out different types of rain noises each time, and surprisingly I’ve been impressed.
The app uses real rain recordings, rather than rain effects, so perhaps this is why it’s so effective.
All you have to do is choose the rain sound you desire, be it ‘against windows with wind’ or ‘constant fall’ (the choices are endless) and then select how long you want it to play for. You can even choose the intensity of the rain!
Sleepmaker Rain is up there when it comes to the best sleep apps plus it’s free!
- Relax and Sleep Well
It’s worth giving anything a go when you’re desperate to have a good night’s sleep, so I tried Glenn’s Harrold’s hypnosis and meditation app. Having never experienced any sort of hypnosis before, I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I certainly didn’t expect to fall asleep in barely any time at all, that’s for sure.
There are various sessions available on the app, however the 48-minute hypnotherapy session is ideal for night time relaxation. It will put you to sleep at the end and enable you to enjoy a deeper slumber.
Relax and Sleep Well really does live up to its name and it’s completely free on both iOS and Android.
- Sleepy Time
Call me the master of procrastination, but there is always something else to do before it’s time to hit the pillow. That’s why I decided to try Sleepy Time, to see if it would encourage me to go to bed when I should.
Type in the time you need to wake up and it’ll give you time suggestions of when you should try to fall asleep in order to enjoy a perfect night’s kip. I put that I needed to wake up at 7am and Sleepy Time calculated that I should try and fall asleep at either 10pm, 11:30pm, 1am or 2:30am.
The app says that the average human takes fourteen minutes to fall asleep, which means I’d need to get into bed much earlier than usual to realistically be asleep by some of the suggested times. I tried this and I woke up feeling less groggy and more refreshed!
Sleepy Time is definitely worth a shot.
- Sleep Pillow
With over 70 sounds to choose from, you’re bound to find a sound that will help you to relax and drift off. In fact, when I used this app, I managed to acquire some favourites including ‘tropical rain’, ‘inside fireplace’ and ‘gentle beach waves’.
Plus, the beauty of Sleep Pillow is that it has an alarm clock built-in, so you can use the naturally-recorded sounds that the app generates to gently wake you up.
Sleep Pillow has over 5.4 million happy sleeping customers. I was one of them and you could be too!
- Pzizz
If you’re not sold on soothing sounds alone, Pzizz may be for you. The combination of soft music and a calming voice is a dream, literally.
In my opinion, Pzizz is one of the best sleep apps. Whilst every track you listen to is new, the tracks are all similar. This means that each time your brain hears the sounds, it associates them with being relaxed and falling asleep. Pretty clever, right?
Pzizz is a free app that I’d recommend to anyone struggling with insomnia.
- Long Deep Breathing
Who would have thought that some straightforward breathing techniques could help you to fall asleep? Well, they can. However, it’s not just a matter of taking deep breaths in and out, Long Deep Breathing offers much more.
Long Deep Breathing guided me in a series of exercises that relieved stress and made me feel completely calm. The app has a feature which allows the user to manually set the length of your inhales and exhales – how savvy!
I’d give this app a big thumbs up.
Tell us Your Favourite Sleep Apps
Which of these sleep apps do you love the most? Do you have a favourite that hasn’t been mentioned? Happy Beds would love to find out. Be sure to tweet them @HappyBeds and why not browse and buy the website whilst you’re dreaming of sleep. You’ll find a range of contemporary beds and more.
