The 8 Hour Project: Apps

Whilst I’m lucky not to have chronic sleep problems, a tumultuous few months left me feeling completely exhausted with some hefty dark circles – and I couldn’t work out why. I have a good diet, I get fresh air and exercise, I’m partial to warm baths and herbal tea, and I felt like I was spending long enough in bed. Why did I never feel rested when I woke up in the morning? So, over the last three months, I’ve embarked on something I’ve dubbed ‘The 8 Hour Project’…and I thought what I’ve learned might be useful to someone else.

Everyone needs (or can get by on) different amounts of sleep, but when I started tracking my sleeping pattern and found I was averaging 5 hours a night. Not insomnia but, crucially, not enough for me to feel completely well either. So I set about working up to 7-7.5 hours a night; the perfect amount for me.

There’s definitely an argument for keeping technology out of the bedroom if you’re having trouble sleeping but, since it was an app that helped me work out exactly what was going on with my sleeping pattern and another that helped me get it back on track, I thought it was well worth sharing these first.

Sleep Cycle (£0.69 from iTunes)

Sleep Cycle is touted as an ‘intelligent alarm clock’ that wakes you up when you’re in the lightest phase of sleep, supposedly making early starts a little more pleasant. However it’s the one thing that really helped me get a handle on how little sleep I was getting as it tracks when you go to bed (i.e. set your alarm with the intent to go to sleep) and when you fall asleep. This means you can see if there’s a glaring disparity between the two; say two hours tossing and turning, or if you’re really only attempting to sleep at 1.30 am (guilty). Over the two weeks I was just observing my sleep it was pretty obvious I was regularly giving in to the temptation to work late (the curse of the freelancer/self-employed) and although I might have got into bed at 11pm, I was turning everything off much later. It will also track your pulse and mood on waking and I found sometimes the quality of sleep was more important than getting towards 8 hours…which leads me on to the second app which has contributed to better shut-eye.

Headspace Take10 (free from iTunes)

I’ve practiced a form of mindfulness in the past, so I know it’s a pretty powerful tool at quietening thoughts or anxieties before bed and generally becoming more aware of any factors that might be disturbing sleep. Knowing the Take 10 course only takes ten minutes a day makes it easy to commit to, and the stages are clear and helpful in improving your mindfulness/meditation skills (it’s a hard one to explain but meditation is simultaneously an effort and effortless). The app is beautifully designed with videos, the option to pre-download days when you know you won’t have access to Wifi (and don’t fancy using up your data), and lovely illustrations which help to explain the benefits and process of meditation while making the whole thing feel a bit less ‘whale music-y’. The only, really minor, thing that irks me is the assumption you’re sitting in a chair as I’m usually curled up in bed, but I still find Andy’s guidance soothing and not intrusive. There’s also options to pay in-app for extra courses if the 10 days isn’t enough.

Check back next week for my favourite sleepy products and if you try these apps let me know how you get on.

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