Pillow tech
The latest gadgets and apps can help you to control the length and quality of your sleep, says Caramel Quin
10 TOP APPS SLEEP GENIUS Free (iOS and Android) sleepgenius.com
As well as tracking your sleep, Sleep Genius uses your smartphone’s accelerometer to measure your movement. It will play soothing sounds to lull you to sleep, gently wake you over the course of five minutes, and offer relaxation exercises when you’re feeling stressed.
SLEEP CYCLE Free (iOS and Android) sleepcycle.com
By tracking your sleep via your phone’s accelerometer, you can analyse how you slept in detail, and the alarm can wake you at the optimum point. It also records the percentage of sleep quality and average time in bed.
DREAM:ON Free (iOS) dreamonapp.com
An intriguing app that claims to be able to help you choose what you dream about and even support lucid dreaming. It monitors your sleep like other apps, but then plays your chosen soundscape – from “peaceful garden” to “wild west” – when your subconscious is most suggestible.
SLEEP AS ANDROID Free (Android) play.google.com
This tells you when it’s time for bed, helps you drift off with soft sounds, tracks sleep phases, then wakes you with natural sounds while you’re in a light sleep phase. It detects snoring and makes clicking sounds to encourage you to stop.
RELAX MELODIES Free (iOS and Android) ipnossoft.com
This app lets you combine sounds and melodies to create your own relaxation soundtrack. Experiment to find the mix that’s best for you – whether that is thunder or monks chanting, a flute or a cat purring. It sounds quirky, but many insomniacs swear by it.
SLEEP TIME Free (iOS and Android) azumio.com
A sleep tracker app with cycle analysis software developed with Stanford University, what makes this app stand out is its audio. Choose from a range of natural soundscapes to lull you to sleep or rouse you when you’re snoozing – you choose the 30-minute window in which you’d like to be woken.
MOTIONX 24/7 69p (iOS) motionx.com
This does all the sleep sensing offered by other apps, but also uses the iPhone camera to measure your pulse optically from your fingertip – finding correlations between your sleep and resting heart rate.
ENTRAIN Free (iOS) itunes.apple.com
A clever app from the University of Michigan that calculates how to tackle jet lag before and after your journey, by using light and darkness to support your body’s natural circadian rhythms. Tell it where and when you’re travelling and it will create a schedule of light, dark and sleep for you.
SLEEPBOT Free (iOS and Android) mysleepbot.com
This tracks data including sleep time, waking time, hours of sleep and your “current debt” – the hours of rest you’re missing out on. Unusually, it records sound, too. There’s a graph of noise levels – tap it to hear the audio – proving finally who snores and who talks in their sleep.
SLEEPRATE US$80 (iOS only) sleeprate.com
If you’re sleeping badly, the problem may be holistic. This pricey app (full kit sold for US$100) requires a Polar H7 heart rate monitor and uses Stanford University’s Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia to look at thoughts, routines and emotions by day, alongside sleep logs.