Want a Better Night's Sleep? Get in Here.

Today, I'll be reviewing one of my favorite apps in the Android Store - Sleep as Android.  If you're anything like me, a good night's sleep is one of the most important things in your life.  If you're even more like me, you need complete silence and darkness to be able to sleep well. (Sleepovers were never fun for me as a child). Most likely, though, you're a little more normal than that.  But no matter what kind of sleeper you are, you should be able to find some use for this handy app.

                                                                         

Functionality
The premise behind Sleep as Android is simple - it tracks your sleep and wakes you up gently in the morning so that you'll feel well rested and also be better educated about your own sleep habits.  This process may sound complicated, but the makers of the app make everything simple to use. The interface in the app is user friendly and easy to navigate.  There are many features that the app offers, some of which you may never use.  Everything that the app does, though, is built on the main function of sleep tracking.  Using the accelerometer and gyroscope in your smartphone (the same technology that your phone uses to recognize when it's tilted on its side), your phone will track your night's sleep.  Simply activate the app, place the phone beside your pillow, and sleep as you normally do.  The app will take into account all of the movement you do in your sleep to determine which part of the sleep cycle you are in.

Psychology 101
A sleep cycle can be roughly divided up between periods of light sleep and deep sleep.  Once you fall asleep, light sleep occurs in those first 20-30 minutes.  In this part of the sleep cycle, a person is a little more restless and is typically moving around in their bed.  If you are awoken during this period, you will most likely feel relatively refreshed.  That's why doctors tell you to keep naps in that 25 minute neighborhood.  These periods of light sleep is represented by the peaks in the graph above.  After these 30 or so minutes, your  body falls into a deep sleep.  It is during this deep sleep period that if you are roused or jarred, you'll feel groggy, grouchy, and not well-rested at all.  The valleys in the above graph represent these periods of sleep.  After going through light and deep sleep, you'll reach REM sleep which is where you start to dream.

But, enough science.  The app takes care of all that for you.  I'm just arming you with information - because that's what we do here at the Post.  So, how does it use this information to make you sleep better?  When you set your alarm in the morning, you can set a window of up to two hours for it to start trying to wake you up.  Since the app knows what part of the sleep cycle you are in, it will start to wake you up before your set alarm time - if you are in a light sleep.  Theoretically, you'll awaken feeling much more well rested and refreshed instead of feeling you've been hit by a truck if your regular alarm agitates you from a deep sleep.

Sleeping Smarter

After logging your sleep for a few nights, the app will start keeping compelling data: the average length of your sleep and the ratio of light sleep to deep sleep.  Personally, I thought I was getting better sleep as a result of this app after only a week or so of using it.  I started to notice that I was getting much better deep sleep if I went to bed before midnight.  Everyone learns that going to bed at a consistent time every night is important, but until you see the evidence staring you in the face, it's easy to shrug off this sagely wisdom and continue to burn the midnight oil.  

The app gives you several different peaceful nature sounds to wake up to.  One of my other favorite features includes the ability to record noise while you sleep - a useful option for all you sleep talkers out there.  Overall, Sleep as Android will be a fantastic addition to your smart phone, and will undoubtedly improve perhaps the most important necessities for your body - all for only $1.99!  For an extra 99 cents, you can download an companion app that will keep collect even more data about your sleep.  

Wrap-Up

Price: $1.99 

Buy, Try , or Pass:  Buy. 

iPhone User?  Try a similar app called Sleep Cycles. 

Too Long, Didn't Read (TL;DR): Use this app in order to wake up more gently in the morning and collect compelling information about how you sleep. 

Rating: 5 / 5. 

That's it for now, folks.  Thanks for reading. 

Next up, I'll be taking a look at the latest and greatest eReader from Amazon, the Kindle Paperwhite.