A proper night’s sleep is vital if you want to stay healthy, but these days most of us aren’t getting it. Our lives are becoming increasingly busy so sleep is taking a back seat. People also blame technology for our poor sleeping habits. It’s true that looking at screens before makes it more difficult to drift off into a healthy sleep but while it might be making the problem worse in some ways, technology is also helping to solve the problem. There are loads of great apps and products on the market that can all help you to improve your sleeping patterns and, in turn, your overall health. If you’re struggling to get your eight hours every night, try out some of these great pieces of tech.
Proactive Sleep
Using the proactive sleep app will probably be a bit of a wake-up call for most people. Its main function is to help you track your sleeping patterns and the effect that it is having on you while you’re awake. It has a simple alarm clock and music choices to help you wake up naturally but the bulk of it consists of a sleep diary where you can track how long you sleep for, your diet, level of exercise and how tired you are during the day. Once you’ve tracked yourself for a few weeks, it can help you pinpoint exactly why you aren’t getting enough sleep so you can change your lifestyle and improve your sleep patterns.
Sleep Shirts
Wearable tech is one of the biggest trends at the moment and its even found it’s way into your pyjamas. The Nyx Somnus Sleep Shirt can give you even better insight into your sleep patterns than any of the apps out there. Small electronics that are stitched into the shirt track your breathing which helps it to work out when you are in different phases of your sleep cycle. This life changing technology is important because even if you are getting the recommended amount each night, you could still be affecting your health if you aren’t getting enough deep sleep.
Zeo
The Zeo system is another piece of wearable tech, paired with an alarm clock. It’s not for everybody because you’ll need to wear a headband when you sleep which can put some people off but if you can deal with that it could really help. The main idea behind it is to wake you up at the perfect moment so you aren’t tired during the day. If you wake up during a deep sleep cycle you will be far more tired than if you wake up during a light sleep cycle. To this end, the Zeo monitors your sleep cycles and then you set your alarm clock to the time you want to wake up. The Zeo won’t go off at exactly this time. Instead it wakes you up during the light sleep cycle that is closest to this so even if you wake up a bit earlier, you’ll feel much less tired.
