Better Sleep from a Smartphone

Sleep. It’s overrated, right?

Not so much. It’s truly amazing how the correct amount of sleep can do for a person…and somewhat shocking what the lack of can do. Sleep and a healthy life go hand in hand. I mean, check out some of these facts listed on this webpage from Harvard:

Many of the costs of poor sleep go unnoticed. Medical conditions, such as obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, develop over long periods of time and result from a number of factors, such as genetics, poor nutrition and lack of exercise. Insufficient sleep has also been linked to tehse and other health problems, and is considered an important risk factor. Although scientists have just begun to identify the connections between insufficient sleep and disease, most experts have concluded that getting enough high-quality sleep may be as important to health and well-being as nutrition and exercise.

Seriously, go and read the article I linked to up there. It seems like many people spend hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, trying to be healthy. We pay outrageous gym fees, meticulously plan healthy meals, and go to extremes in order to be healthy. But how many of those people get a decent amount of sleep each night? I bet a lot of health issues could be eliminated, or at least significantly improved, if we spent more time sleeping.

I’ll be the first to admit I don’t get as much as I need. Part of that comes with the territory of having a 2-month-old baby, but my issues with sleep started long before my baby was born. Sometimes, it’s just plain hard to fall asleep and especially to get some good ol’ REM sleep.

So what does this have to do with mobile healthcare? Well, it’s something I like to call white noise. It’s not a new idea. I’ve been told my entire life that putting a fan on helps a person fall to sleep, or listening to the rain. However, sometimes a fan isn’t available, and we obviously can’t control the weather. Luckily, there’s tons of white noise apps available to download, many of which are free.

A few months ago, my husband downloaded White Noise Lite for the iPhone. Not only does it lull my son to sleep, but whenever it’s on, I feel more rested and energetic the next day. All of my worries and thoughts from that day disappeared as I listened to a combination of an oscillating fan, waves crashing, and thunder. I swear by white noise, and I think it’s awesome that a phone can be turned into a white noise  machine with just the push of a button.

So are you looking to improve you health? Get more sleep. Have a hard time falling asleep? Download a white noise app. I can almost guarantee you’ll feel better in the morning, which will hopefully create more energy for more efficient workouts. And, most importantly, get amazing benefits that only sleep can give. I know that these apps weren’t created solely as health apps, but I sure think they are!

Here are some of the top-rated white noise apps for different smartphones:

White Noise:

for the iPhone: 1.99 version, free version

for Android: 1.99 version, free version

for Blackberry: 1.99 version

Simply Noise (apparently, the best sound machine .99 can buy, and has not only white noise, but brown and pink. Whatever that means). For the iPhone. For Android.

About the author

Katie Clark

Katie Clark is originally from Colorado and currently lives in Utah with her husband and son. She writes primarily for Smart Phone Health Care, but contributes to several Health Care Scene blogs, including EMR Thoughts, EMR and EHR, and EMR and HIPAA. She enjoys learning about Health IT and mHealth, and finding ways to improve her own health along the way.

   

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