I can’t sleep… wait… sleep apps?

How many times have I heard that from friends and family? How many times have I said those same things to friends and family? Asking yourself those questions, the answer is almost always, “too many times.” Sleep may be something that many of us do on a daily basis but do we really understand what sleep does for our body? As far advanced as our science has come we still have yet to understand the exact reason we sleep. Many theories have been formulated but there is no one consensus other than “because we need to.”

In the morning we feel better. This is an almost universal observation. Harvard Medical School summed up sleep in an anology that shows us exactly how we might be able to grasp it more easily:

One way to think about the function of sleep is to compare it to another of our life-sustaining activities: eating. Hunger is a protective mechanism that has evolved to ensure that we consume the nutrients our bodies require to grow, repair tissues, and function properly. And although it is relatively easy to grasp the role that eating serves— given that it involves physically consuming the substances our bodies need—eating and sleeping are not as different as they might seem.

Despite the differing opinions and varied theories on why we sleep, when we don’t sleep we know exactly how much we need it and how important it is to us. Understanding why we sleep is not nearly as important as knowing what happens to our bodies if we go without sleep too long and too often.

I don’t need no sleep!

The lack of sleep–as small as a few hours a night for several days–leads to the development of microsleep. These episodes of microsleep refers to brief moments of sleep that occur when you’re normally awake. If experience has taught me anything, forgetting how you arrived at a destination or not being able to recall how fast you were going or whether or not you made any stops is a warning sign of microsleep. Microsleep can’t be controlled and if it happens when you’re doing something dangerous that requires concentration you may hurt yourself or others around you.

Physical needs when not met also make themselves well known. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute has stated that the lack of sleep can increase the risk of someone for developing diabetes. The reason comes from how sleep affects the way the body reacts to insulin. Hormones that affect how hungry you feel are also affected by sleep. Then there’s the relationship between rest and the ability of your body to repair itself. Hormonal regulation is heavily dependant on maintaining a well rested body.

Ok, maybe I do…

The benefits to sleep are many. While we may not know everything there is to know about sleep we can say without a doubt that we’d rather get more sleep than suffer with less of it. Here’s a small collection of Sleep Apps to help you Snooze.

[Price: Free]

ASMR Unique brain massage for deep concentration and relaxation. Different sounds and frequencies are combined for ultimate relaxation and brain massage.

Barebones is what we would describe this app. But since there’s really not much space that it takes up the difference is negligible. It links you to videos on YouTube but as far as introductions to ASMR go, you really can’t ask for a better introduction. If you’re familiar with white noise and falling asleep to the fan running or the sound of rain then grab this app and use it as a stepping stone to greater things ASMR.

GET IT NOW ON GOOGLE PLAY!

https://youtu.be/c_a6lLwhuNU

[Price: Free with in-app purchases]

Sleep Ambience is a white noise app that allows you to customise background sounds to listen to while relaxing or going to sleep. If you like sleeping to the soothing sound of a river, or the beautiful songs of birds, then Sleep Ambience is for you! You can use the included tracks or make your own from scratch. You can even download tracks that others have made!

By far the best app we’ve seen on ambient sounds–so far. We may have missed some but if we have leave a suggestion in the comments below!

GET IT NOW ON GOOGLE PLAY!

[Price: Free]

Music Therapy for Sound Sleep is an android music application based on the famous EEG to optimize human brains. For a necessary sound sleep, Low Speed Alpha Wave set in this app will comfort your mind, assisting you to fall asleep smoothly.

We don’t know much about the claims of having “Low Speed Alpha Waves” but we do understand one thing. This app has many sounds that works on our brains sleepy places. The rowing of a boat, the crackling of a fire, the plodding of feet through sand, all these and more await you inside.

GET IT NOW ON GOOGLE PLAY!

[Price: Free]

5 of the best ASMR practitioners on the net. Cosmic Tingles, Heather Feather, Whispers Red ASMR, Olivias Kissper and ASMR massage psychetruth. all there videos, no need to search. just enjoy.

The description off of the Google Play store definitely leaves something to be desired. Though if you can make it past that then try to judge the app by the content and not the package. Sometimes app developers are strictly developers and these pet projects are hastily released without thought on layout and user interface. It was a nice idea that it helped us save a few steps in what we would normally do.

[Price: Free with in-app purchases]

Smart alarm clock with sleep cycle tracking. Wakes you gently in optimal moment for pleasant mornings.

There was a lot about this app that we enjoyed. We have always stated that although free is a nice and we appreciate it when content creators cut us some slack, with free you really do get what you pay for. This application has many things going for it and even if it has a price to unlock the most useful features it’s a price worth paying if it helps us catch a few more z’s.

GET IT NOW ON GOOGLE PLAY!