by Melissa Aguilar |
You’ve got a lot scheduled each day and like many college students, sleep probably falls pretty low on your to-do lists. A lot of times, our phones, tablets and computers keep us up at night while we work. A study from Harvard shows the blue light those devices emit prevents us from feeling sleepy. Let those devices help you sleep rather than hindering it. We found some apps that can help take you from your pillow to Dreamland in no time.
SleepyTime
You know that feeling when you wake up from several hours sleep but instead of feeling rested and refreshed you feel like death? Chalk it up to waking up in the middle of a sleep cycle. This app estimates how many sleep cycles you’re likely to go through and gives you several times you can set your alarm to, so you can wake up between those cycles. Or you can tell it what time you need to get up in the morning, and it will tell you the best time for you to fall asleep.
SleepyTime is available for iPhone, Android and online at http://sleepyti.me
SleepCycle
As its namesake suggests, SleepCycle uses the motion sensors in your phone to determine what part of your sleep cycle you’re in. You can set a time range of when you would like to wake up, and it will choose the time when you’re in the lightest stage of sleep for a more peaceful awakening rather than jerking you out of deep sleep.
SleepCycle is $1.99 and available for iPhone.
Pzizz
This funny sounding app uses a combination of songs and sound effects to serenade you to sleep. You are free to choose the volume of the various effects and vocal tracks to your liking for anywhere from 10 minutes to 10 hours. Once it has all your settings, Pzizz creates a unique playlist each time you listen, so you’ll never be bored.
Pzizz is available for iPhone and Android.
Lucid Dreamer
A lucid dream occurs when you’re aware you’re dreaming, which can sometimes allow you to control what happens in the dream. This app plays audio or visual cues to help trigger lucid dreams. When you finally do wake up, the app includes a journal where you can record all the fun dreams you had.
Lucid Dreamer is available for iPhone and Android.
SleepBot
“Well I only got three hours of sleep,” a friend might brag as you try to one-up each other in sleep deprivation. What started out as a joke between college students comparing how little sleep they were getting during exams led to the creation of this app. Not only does it track the hours of sleep you get, but it also has a recording feature to capture any late-night sleep-talking. Sleepbot provides you with a graph of your sleeping habits for over the course of six months.
SleepBot is available for iPhone and Android.
Deep Sleep with Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson is a clinical hypnotherapist who offers a variety of other apps and recordings catering to those who want to lose weight or overcome their fear of flying. This app, however, is a guided meditation designed to help those dealing with insomnia.
Deep Sleep with Andrew Johnson is available for $2.99 on iPhone and Android.
Melissa Aguilar is copy editor for The Beacon. You can contact her at aguilarm16@up.edu.
