Four best apps for your smartphone designed to give you a helping hand for some extra sleep
Smartphones can now be a help rather than a hindrance in getting you off to sleep with the help of these four apps
SLEEP is vital to sustaining life — so much so that getting too little time asleep can be gravely dangerous to our health.
Not only do we find simple tasks harder when we've failed to get our eight hours in, sleep deprivation can increase the risk of obesity, heart disease and other chronic illnesses.
But in this modern age, technology is helping us go about our daily lives in a much more efficient manner than ever before.
Here we look at four of the best smartphone apps to help you on your way to the land of nod.
Sleep Genius
£3.99, iOS and Android
DEVELOPED by experts in sleep, sound, music and neuroscience following research which helped Nasa get astronauts to sleep.
It gets you off to a good night’s kip then gradually awakens you with a gentle five-minute revive cycle.
It also has a “power nap” feature to help you relax or nap for a few minutes, boosting brain power and wellbeing.
Pzizz
Free, iOS and Android
MORE than 500,000people have downloaded this app which combines neurolinguistic programming, enchanting music, sound effects and binaural beats to help you wind down.
It uses more than 100billion different sounds effects to calm your mind and ease you into a peaceful slumber. Simple and easy to use.
Sleep Cycle
Free, iOS and Android
IF you want to throw the alarm clock at a wall when it goes off, this is for you, as it wakes you more gradually from your slumber.
The Sleep Cycle alarm clock tracks your sleep pattern and wakes you during light sleep. This helps you wake up feeling rested.
Your movements vary in each sleep phase, and Sleep Cycle uses sound analysis to identify your sleep state.
Motionx 24/7
79p, iOS
AN all-in-one sleep tracker and alarm clock that monitors your snoring, heart rate, weight loss and activity.
It measures and correlates your resting heart rate and monitors advanced sleep cycles with smart alarms and power naps. It also sets goals and monitors your progress.
Experts say it is within 95 per cent of the accuracy of professional sleep monitors.