It can be tough to pinpoint what differentiates a great night of sleep from a not-so-great night of sleep, but you know the difference when you feel it. Understanding what you need to get your best sleep can help you set the stage for overall wellness.
Sleep allows the body to repair itself, consolidate memories, regulate metabolism, fight pathogens, and more. When you get the sleep you need, it's easier to make decisions, regulate your emotions, and perform at a high level at work or school. Prioritizing consistent, restful, high-quality sleep can help you work toward your full potential while also enhancing your quality of life.
Here, we'll take a look at why sleep is so important and how you can benefit from tracking your sleep. Plus we’ll share our favorite apps that can help you set the stage for healthy sleep, including meditation apps, sleep tracking apps, and sleep story apps.
Why sleep matters
Sleep is one of the most essential components of your health and well-being—but it's often overlooked. Sleep plays an essential role in helping you stay physically, mentally, and emotionally balanced.
Sleep isn't just important in the short-term—it also impacts your long-term health. Over time, sleep deprivation can negatively impact your body's metabolic processes, making it harder to maintain a healthy weight. Chronic sleep deprivation is associated with a number of health conditions, including high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.
When you get enough restful sleep, your body has the time it needs to regulate the production of stress hormones, like cortisol, allowing you to wake up feeling refreshed. This can reduce the likelihood of depression and anxiety, while also helping you manage difficult emotions.
Sometimes, cutting your sleep short is inevitable. Whenever possible, however, it's important to prioritize healthy, restorative sleep. Thankfully, technology can help.
Meditation apps to support healthy sleep
Meditation can work wonders when it comes to improving the quality of your sleep. When you meditate, your mind calms, your body relaxes, and you may find that it's easier to fall and stay asleep.
Here, we'll take a look at some of our favorite meditation apps that can set you up for a restful night of sleep.
Headspace
Headspace makes it easy for you to practice guided meditation on your own schedule. The app offers more than 1,000 guided meditations designed by clinical experts and trained coaches to help you de-stress at any time of day. You can try the app for free, and if you decide to stick with it, you'll be able to choose between a monthly or annual subscription option.
Calm
The Calm app provides in-the-moment grounding exercises, breath work sessions, and meditations to help you ease stress during the day so that it's easier for you to fall asleep at night. You can try the app for free, then choose between an annual individual or family subscription.
Happier Meditation
This meditation app offers a personalized experience that evolves your practice offerings over time. Creating tailored plans based on your needs, Happier pushes you to new levels of calm by challenging your current meditation practice and helping you move to the next level. You can try the app for free, then choose between a monthly or annual subscription.
Breathwrk
Designed to support physical and mental health, Breathwrk offers breathing exercises and classes that can help you clear your mind in just a few minutes. Whether you're looking for breathing techniques that help you feel energized or breathing exercises that help you calm down and focus during meditation, Breathwrk can help. You can try Breathwrk for free, then choose between a monthly or annual subscription.
Sleep story apps
The ability to drift off to sleep while listening to a story isn't just found in little ones. Listening to a calming narrative as you drift off to sleep can help the stress of the day dissipate as you make your way from the day to pleasant dreams.
Try these apps if you're in need of a soothing story to help you ease into sleep.
Slumber
The Slumber app offers relaxing music, guided meditations to help you drift off to sleep, and stories that can help you de-stress as you begin to wind down. You'll be able to choose between a free version and a paid version that provides you with full access to the app's stories and meditations.
Calm
In addition to providing guided meditations, the Calm app also offers sleep stories and sounds to help you drift off when your mind is racing. Struggling to get your little ones to get a good night's sleep? You'll love Calm's sleep stories for kids, which feature favorite characters like Winnie the Pooh.
Headspace
Another double-duty app, Headspace is one of our favorites when it comes to sleep stories. The app offers sleepcasts that are remixed each night, so you can use them on a nightly basis without knowing what's about to happen next. Each sleepcast begins with a wind down technique (typically a breathing technique or meditation exercise) followed by a narrated description of a sleep-inducing landscape, helping your mind to focus on relaxation before you drift off to sleep.
Sleep tracking apps
In order to improve your sleep, it's important to know where you're starting. Using a sleep tracking app can help you understand the steps you can take to improve your sleep.
Try these sleep trackers to help you understand your sleep patterns.
Oura
The Oura Ring provides continual feedback on your energy, activity, and stress levels, providing you with information on how you shift behaviors to boost your energy levels and feel your best. You'll get information on your readiness for the day, allowing you to continue moving forward with behaviors that help you wake up well-rested and alert.
Apple Health
If you use an Apple Watch or have an iPhone, it's likely that you already use Apple Health to track some of your metrics. Your Apple Health app can help you set up sleep goals, track the amount of restful sleep you get each night, estimate your time in each sleep stage, and help you understand your sleep debt.
Samsung Health
If you wear a Galaxy Watch or use the Samsung Health app on your Android phone, you'll be able to get information on your sleep phases, how often you snore, and see a sleep score that shows how your sleep habits stack up among your peers. You'll also be able to get a personalized coaching program that gives you tips to improve your sleep.
Integrating sleep apps with Evidation
At Evidation, we use the health data that you choose to share with us to offer personalized, content-based insights that can provide you with the information you need to drive your health forward. When you integrate your sleep tracking app with Evidation, we aggregate your data with other health tracking information you provide (such as data from nutrition, exercise, and mood management apps). We use this information to help you see connections and make changes that help you feel your best.
Evidation: Here to help you get your best rest—and more
We're excited to support you in your journey to becoming your healthiest and happiest self. Whether you're just getting started with tracking your sleep and are interested in learning more about your sleep patterns, or you've been tracking your sleep for years and are curious about how your lifestyle affects your shut-eye, Evidation can help. Click here to learn more about what we do and download our free app today.
.jpg)
.jpg)
