If sleep doesn't come easily to you, I'm willing to bet you've tried just about every trick in the book by now: essential oils, sleepytime tea, blackout curtains — the list goes on and on. The thing about many of these bedtime rituals, though, is that they don't necessarily target the most persistent sleep-stealer of all: racing thoughts. A great way to combat all that internal noise is by downloading apps that help you sleep, because more than anything, they work to help you actually let go of all the daily stressors that are keeping you awake all night.
BTW, in case you were wondering, you are not alone whatsoever in your struggle to get a good night's sleep. According to the American Sleep Association, somewhere between 50 and 70 million adults in the U.S. have a sleep disorder, with 10 percent suffering from chronic insomnia, and about 30 percent struggling with more short-term bouts of insomnia. That's a whole lot of sleepless nights, especially when the recommended average for an adult is seven to nine hours a night, according to Mayo Clinic. And, be honest, are you getting that many hours of shut-eye every night? Really?
If your answer to that question isn't a confident "yes," consider checking out some of these apps. I mean, it's worth a shot, right?
Calm has your back for all things relaxation and mindfulness, and that includes helping you drift off into a deep and restful sleep.
Not only can you listen to books like The Orient Express read by soft, soothing voices, you can also drift off to the sound of hypnotic music, or you can follow along with breathing exercises that'll have you out like a light in no time.
A lot of the time, getting to sleep at night is all about calming down your thoughts, and getting things to slow down a bit up there in your noggin. Sometimes the thoughts that keep you at night are totally random (do flies really poop whenever they land on something?), and other times, you just can't quit thinking about why your freakin' crush hasn't texted you in 12 hours. Well, there's an app for that, my friend, and it's called Sleep Well Hypnosis.
According to its online description, this app can "change your mindset through subconscious thoughts to prepare for deeper sleep," and after about one to three weeks of using it, you should start to see a difference in your snooze.
Slumber: Fall Asleep helps you get to dreamland by telling you stories and leading you through a bunch of different visualizations. You can also add nature sounds or background effects for an extra relaxing boost.
Keep in mind, according to the app's online description, you'll have free access to a bunch of different "Slumber episodes," as they're called, but in order to take advantage of the full "sleep library," you'll have to pay a bit extra and become a premium member. But hey, you can't put a price on a good sleep schedule, right?
White noise works pretty damn well, you guys. Not only can it serve as a "soothing backdrop throughout the night," as the National Sleep Foundation points out, but it also works by diminishing the difference between regular background noise and "peak" sounds, like the slam of your roommate's door, or an ambulance screeching by outside your window.
With White Noise Lite, you can choose from a huge variety of different sounds, including heavy rain pouring, a heartbeat, a boat swaying in the water, and tons more.
But hey, don't worry if you're not feelin' any of the app's white noise sounds; you can also create your own mixes of white noise. What's more, the app allows you to share those custom sounds with your friends, because you're just oh-so-generous like that.
Relax & Sleep Well is an app designed by an actual clinical hypnotherapist and author named Glenn Harrold. According to the app's website, Relax & Sleep Well "combines powerful hypnotherapy techniques with state of the art recording technology" by using various frequencies "to help enhance the meditation effect and guide you into a deep state of mental and physical relaxation."
You'll get four hypnosis and meditation recordings for free to start out, and if you like what you hear, there's plenty more to choose from at a small cost.
This one's not exactly an app, per se, but it's pretty damn popular nonetheless, so it has to work, right?
Sleep With Me is a podcast created by Drew Ackerman, and here's how it works: You literally just listen to rambling, nonsensical stories, all of which are told in a rather monotone voice, and that's basically it. I mean, come on, who can resist falling asleep to a story called, for example, "Empty Snore Child"?
Trust me, I've listened to this one at bedtime myself, and it totally puts you right out.
