A smartphone’s screen is terrible for your natural sleep cycle, but the iPhone 6 might still be the best sleep aid you ever buy.
A study published in the journal for Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes found that not only does a phone’s screen wreck your sleep late at night, but it can also leave you feeling depleted in the morning. That’s enough to put your phone away hours before hitting the sack, but the new iPhone and iPhone 6 Plus could also be your greatest ally in getting a full eight hours rest.
There are dozens of apps on Apple’s App Store that help us track, analyze and even fix our sleep patterns. Here are a few to grab if you’re having trouble getting the right amount of shuteye:
FitBit
This solution is part wearable tech and part smartphone app. The beauty of this one is that you can hide the phone away house before sleepy time and still know exactly how well you’re resting. The FitBit (usually $99) is worn on the wrist and tracks your movements while you sleep. If you’re the type to toss and turn, a graph on the iPhone FitBit app will tell you if and when you were restless throughout the night. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The FitBit also tracks your steps during the day to help you keep in shape (which in turn, leads to better sleep).
Sleep Cycle
So you don’t want to spend $99 on a wrist band to track your sleep. How does 99 cents sound? The Sleep Cycle for iPhone costs just a buck and can analyze your sleep patterns and even wake you up when your sleep is at its lightest. It’s not fun to hear that alarm go off when we’re in our deepest sleep. It does take a little maneuvering. First, open the app and place your phone at the corner of your bed, by your pillow, between the mattress fitted sheet. Any movement you make throughout the night will be picked up by the iPhone’s accelerometer and recorded in the morning.
Sunriser
Do you like to wake up when the sun rises? Sunriser knows the exact time of sunrise in your area each day and can be set to wake you up the moment the sun peaks over the horizon for a healthy, natural awakening. But if sunrise isn’t your jive, the time is adjustable to set off the alarm before or after the sun comes up. The Sunriser app is free.
Noisli
Sleep is just as much about sound as it is about sight, and the proper ambient noise can knock you right out. Remember the last time you fell asleep during a rainstorm? You probably slumbered like a baby. Noisli is a beautifully designed app built with several ambient noises like rain, wind, leaves and even a coffee shop (but that’s probably more for work productivity). And since you likely don’t want the sweet rain drops to run all night, you can set the noise to turn off after several hours when you’re already deep in your sleep. Not a bad deal for its price of $1.99.
Interesting stuff. I use the fitbit application and have been really enjoying it. Which of these, if any, do you use?
Although I do not yet own an iPhone 6(but own an cracked-screen iPad 2), I can imagine how cool it will feel to have one and use it to help help me manage a problem, like, sleeping. I give my thanks to the spike in the technological improvement that we have experienced in the last two decades.
To add to what I mentioned earlier about technology that allows one to manage his/her sleep patterns, I think that we can use that to help improve other issues(Health, Mental, Emotional, etc.). For instance, as mentioned in the original post, Noisli, Sunrise, Sleep Cycle, FitBit, are all great iPhone Apps that anyone can use to track and manage his/her sleeping pattern. As a public health professional, I would encourage the development of apps( which I assume already exist)that can be used for public health purpose.