From Distraction to Dreamland: Sleeping apps can transform your bedtime routine

Our smartphones has become an integral part of waking life and, more recently, part of many people’s sleep routines. Latest data states that approximately 85 per cent of Malaysian adults own smartphones.

Smartphones are used in a variety of ways aside from the basic duties of calls and texting, such as for accessing news, social media, games, calendars and even promoting quality sleep.

According to a report in the Asian Journal of Medicine and Health Sciences, nine in 10 Malaysians experience some level of insomnia and have one or more sleep problems. Around 35 per cent also have a sleep disorder with more than 53 per cent of Malaysia's workforce getting less than the minimal seven hours sleep in a 24-hour period

Meanwhile, in a combined cross sectional online health and work survey in 2021, that involved among others Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and Universiti Malaya, 54 per cent of the 11,356 working adults polled reported having insufficient sleep.

Quality sleep is crucial for a person’s overall health and well-being as it allows the body to repair and prepare for the next day, helps prevent excess weight gain and support various brain functions like memory, performance and cognition.

With the arrival of technology in our daily lives, it has consistently been implicated in contributing to sleep disturbances for several reasons, among them include:

- Blue Light Emission: The smartphone screens emit blue light that can interfere with the production of melatonin, a hormone that regulates sleep-wake cycles. Exposure to blue light before bedtime can disrupt the body's natural circadian rhythm and make it harder to fall asleep.

- Stimulating Content: Many people use their smartphones before bed to browse social media, play games and watch videos. This can lead to increased mental alertness and make it difficult to unwind and relax before sleep.

- Notifications and Distractions: Smartphones often receive notifications throughout the night, such as emails, messages, or app alerts. These interruptions can disrupt sleep and prevent individuals from achieving deep, restorative rest.

- Psychological Impact: The constant connectivity facilitated by smartphones can contribute to feelings of stress, anxiety, and FOMO (fear of missing out) that can negatively impact sleep quality and duration.

Let’s turn things around and use our smartphones to ensure we are able to get the much-needed quality sleep. These four sleeping apps could potentially help you can release pent up stress and gradually ease your mind and body into a state of rest.

Headspace: Mindful Meditation

The type to think about your life purpose right before bed? Then Headspace is the app for you as guides you to do sleep meditation and breathing exercises.

The Sleep by Headspace feature offers relaxing music and sounds to help create better sleep conditions, where you can fall asleep to nature recordings and tranquil sleep music.

Headspace: Mindful Meditation is available on both Android and iOS.

Pzizz

Use Pzizz’s ‘dreamscapes’ - a blend of sound effects, music, and voiceovers produced using the latest clinical research. It has been proven to help you fall asleep quicker and stay asleep longer.

This sleeping app also has customisable narrations that help invoke relaxation. Not only that, you can choose different genres and voices, and unlike other apps, Pzizz provides a focus module where its music helps to boost your productivity level.

Pzizz is available on both Android and iOS.

Sleep Cycle

Sleep Cycle is a smart clock app that tracks your sleep from bedtime to morning. You can also set a wake-up window, example between 8am to 8.35am for the alarm to go off.

Best part is its ability to provide detailed analysis and reports on your sleep patterns; presented them with sleep statistics and daily sleep graphs. The analysis is executed with its patented sound technology.

For those who prefers to snooze for a few minutes before getting out of bed, this sleeping app wakes you with only delicate alarm melodies while in the light sleep phase. You can easily snooze the alarm by either double-tapping or shaking your phone.

Sleep Cycle is available on both Android and iOS.

Tide

Tide is a sleeping app that helps users destress and stay focused with several features, each tasked to help you focus, relax, or sleep. This sleeping app provides tools like breathing exercises, timers, and pre-recorded sounds to help calm your mind and body and ultimately help you fall asleep.

Even when the Tide app is tasked to wake you up, it does so with gentle sounds that’ll allow you to wake up naturally without leaving you feeling upset or annoyed.

Tide is available on both Android and iOS.